Who’s to Blame for the Nashville Predators’ Start to the Season?
The Nashville Predators had high expectations going into this season. They made a splash this offseason by signing Stanley Cup-winning forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, as well as adding defenseman Brady Skjei in free agency. As a result of these moves, the Predators tied for the ninth-highest preseason Stanley Cup odds with the Vegas Golden Knights at +1600. However, things haven’t gone according to plan, as the team is currently sitting at a record of 7-12-6, the second-worst record in the entire NHL when accounting for points percentage. Many people will face blame for this atrocious start, let’s take a look at who the culprits are.
Andrew Brunette
The first person to blame when teams are underperforming, and often a scapegoat, is the head coach. Brunette didn’t do himself any favors by taking the most embarrassing penalty of the season, sending out the wrong lineup for the opening faceoff. On November 20th, Brunette submitted his lineup to the Seattle Kraken, but he reported that Stamkos would be the center instead of Filip Forsberg, who took the ice, which led to the penalty via Kraken assistant coach Jessica Campbell reporting the infraction to a referee. Despite a very bad reputation right now, Brunette has been very successful in the regular season. He’s compiled a regular season record of 105-60-17 while making the playoffs every season as head coach. He’s projected as the next coach to get fired, but only time will tell if that comes to fruition.
Barry Trotz
While Trotz is one of the all-time greats behind the bench, he’s certainly not innocent when it comes to the abysmal product on the ice at Bridgestone Arena. He was hired as the second general manager in Predators history in 2023, even though he had no previous executive experience. According to Hockey Reference, the Predators are the second-oldest team in the league, which has been cited as a reason for the team performing so abhorrently since the Pittsburgh Penguins, with the oldest roster, have been playing badly as well. That is a pretty flimsy excuse, though, considering the Panthers won the last Stanley Cup with the fourth-oldest team, and there were several Red Wings teams from the 1990s-2000s that had older teams while dominating the league. However, if one argues that the failure of this team is 100% on Brunette, then, yes, Trotz should be absolved since Brunette was hired by David Poile before he retired. An interesting thing to monitor will be how long is Trotz’s leash? After all, the Buffalo Sabres have given first-time general manager Kevyn Adams more than four years to prove himself and no playoffs to show for it.
The Players
The one player who’s not at fault is Juuse Saros. The Finnish goaltender has been the one saving grace this season, posting a .911 save percentage, 2.62 goals-against average, and two shutouts through 21 games. The defense, on the other hand, is a different story, with Roman Josi being the only defenseman worth his weight. Though his actual plus-minus is -13, his expected plus-minus, which takes into account his positioning and where shots come from, is the best on the team at 0.3, which is good enough considering the offensive load he takes on this team. Speaking of offense, this is where the team has been struggling the most. Placing dead last in the league in goals per game and shooting percentage, with Josi and Forsberg leading the team with even-strength goals at six. Nashville’s special teams have been surprising, leading the league in penalty kill percentage and ranking a respectable 16th in power play percentage, but the players have to figure out how to get clicking on five-on-five, or this will be one of the most underwhelming NHL teams of all time.
