Nashville Predators: 2019-20 NHL season preview, predictions

NASHVILLE, TN - APRIL 20: Teammates celebrate a second period goal by center Ryan Johansen (92) during Game Five of Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars, held on April 20, 2019, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images /

Weaknesses

Scoring Depth

The Predators defense is great enough to win a Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, their offense has far more questions. Last season, the Predators scored 240 goals, 19th in the NHL. They got over 33% of their goals from three players – Viktor Arvidsson (34), Filip Forsberg (28), and Craig Smith (21).

Granted, adding Duchene should definitely help. It might help them get more from Mikael Granlund and even more from Smith as well. And, for what it’s worth, they ranked 16th in five-on-five goals last season and 13th in five-on-five goals per hour. The Predators were also 12th in expected goals. By comparison, the Blues were ninth. That’s far from terrible.

I’m optimistic they’ll be better, but the Predators likely aren’t going to get much from their bottom-six forwards. Nick Bonino should be the third-line center and he’s solid. But Kyle Turris hasn’t been good in Nashville and unless Nashville wants him or Bonino on the fourth line, someone’s going to have to play at the wing.

Power Play

The Predators power-play was without question their biggest weakness last season. No team converted on fewer of their power plays, as they converted on merely 12.94% of their opportunities. Their four PP goals per hour were not only last in the league, but it was also nearly a full goal per hour lower than the Montreal Canadiens, who had the second-worst rate.

Nashville also had the third-lowest expected goals per hour rate on the power-play. Simply, the Predators need to be much better there. They aren’t an overwhelmingly strong scoring team at five-on-five, so they need their power play to help out. The Predators have far too much talent to be that bad again.

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