Sooooo Are the Predators bad?

[King In The North]

Lol, there's plenty of quality, we have a top 5-10 prospect pool.


Again, we have 11 1st rounders from the the last three drafts plus this upcoming one.

Having a bunch of middle of the pack young players is going to help you land exactly where you are now

 

[bringbacktheskate604]

I'll say it. They look like crap. Their announcers are trying to be optimistic, but everything points to this team drastically improving this offseason to what was already a a good team. What is the deal?

The preds were already an old team and added two guys in their mid 30's, it was always a risk.

I was pretty vocal in the summer about Trotz, so it's not like I'm piling on but I think he's in way over his head.

Saros isn't the Saros of before, Marsh and Stamkos has the potential to become anchors and all their core pieces are exiting their prime or close to it.

None of that means they can't turn it around and I think they will but I just don't see a cup contender in a very very short window

 

[Tryblot]

O'Reilly has been down this road before.

 

[x Tame Impala]

They'll figure things out and right the ship. It's a solid roster. Cup winning? Nah. They'll likely end up competing for a playoff spot, though.

Agreed. This is just a slow start. They’re a lot closer to the group with: St. Louis, Minnesota, and Utah than they are to the top of the division though like many predicted.

 

[TLEH]

Problem is that a slow start this bad is hard to come back from. I think they're a good team though.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

They'll figure it out. Too much talent to be bad for long.

 

[bossram]

I mean, they're not gonna lose every game. My assessment is that they are somewhere above-average true talent team, but going 0-5 is a bad start.

They were also just wildly overrated by the public and most pundits pre-season. Their offseason additions were flashy but not substantive. Stamkos is a negative contributor at ES and makes their team actively worse at ES. Marchessault is not the same player with Novak as his center vs. Eichel. Skjei was their only signing I rated decently.

I bet them to miss the playoffs before the season started.

 

[avsfan9]

They'll figure it out. Too much talent to be bad for long.

Same can be said for Pittsburgh

 

[Armourboy]

I mean, they're not gonna lose every game. My assessment is that they are somewhere above-average true talent team, but going 0-5 is a bad start.

They were also just wildly overrated by the public and most pundits pre-season. Their offseason additions were flashy but not substantive. Stamkos is a negative contributor at ES and makes their team actively worse at ES. Marchessault is not the same player with Novak as his center vs. Eichel. Skjei was their only signing I rated decently.

I bet them to miss the playoffs before the season started.

Marchessault has been fine tbh, he's just had the luck of the rest of the team. Stamkos on the other hand is a totally different matter 5 on 5.

I still think the biggest issue right now is Brunette less so than the construction of the team. While we knew we were getting the older version of these guys that was supposed to be offset by the younger guys that were finally going to be playing. Problem is the young guys aren't playing. Brunette either has them on the bench, or he is limiting them to 5 -8 minutes a game.

Another issue is apparently someone didn't tell Brunette he is getting old Stamkos rather than young. Stamkos is seeing the most ice time he's seen since 2015-2016.

Finally Brunette for some reason or another thinks his 4th line is amazing or something. They have been on the ice for 11 of the 16 goals given up and yet he just keeps running them out there.

I was always way more pessimistic about this roster than most Preds fans, but Brunette is playing too his weaknesses instead of his strength's and it is flat out showing.

 

[JPT]

Stamkos was a pointless signing because the Preds have no centers to get him the puck. The plan to play him at center even though he's been a winger for years in TB didn't make any sense. I didn't understand any of Nashville's moves and still don't. Should have focused on defense and two way forwards as that's always been their identity.

That identity has gotten them no where, though.

 

[Soundgarden]

That identity has gotten them no where, though.

Except for when we went to the finals and won the presidents trophy with Josi-Ellis Ekholm-Subban.

 

[JPT]

Except for when we went to the finals and won the presidents trophy.

Sure, but when the identity of the team was loading up with two-way forwards and developing great defensemen who may or may not stick around Nashville was a perennial overachiever club that was usually good enough to fight for a playoff spot but almost never good enough to make a lot of noise. They kind of had to be. The organization couldn't afford to have basement dwelling seasons after Leipold did his best to ruin the idea of NHL hockey in Nashville. Now they can afford it. It seems like Trotz has an idea to simultaneously ice a competitive roster and pack the system with young players, though, and they're greenlighting the money for it. Maybe it works. Maybe it blows up in his face. It's at least different from the doldrums.

 

[WTFMAN99]

They might have overachieved last year which lead to them going on a shopping spree this off-season.

Unfortunately some of the signings aren't having strong starts.

 

[FlappyGiraffe]

Their only saving grace is that Colorado has also started poorly. Dallas and Winnipeg are stacking up an early lead on the division, Wild have had a good start too