Nashville Predators Hockey Talk 2023-2024 II

[herzausstein]

Maybe a year worth of goaltending struggles could lead us to a draft position similar to 2013s 4th overall Seth Jones. Falling down to 27th really wouldnt take much to be honest if current goaltending and defensive trends hold. Drafting better than that would take lottery luck. Will be incredibly frustrating to watch though. Screaming at the tv at that first breakaway goal you could see a mile away was hard.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Yeah it's maybe not fair but NHL goalies have to make saves on goals that aren't necessarily their fault. I'm usually one to defend Saros when he has a rough game or two but this stretch has just been brutal even if it isn't entirely his fault.

As far as what this means for Saros long term I'm stilling willing to bet on it just being a blip. He had been playing pretty well since Thanksgiving until he gave up those goals in the Dallas game. For what it's worth Pekka had similar struggles finding his game in the 15-16 season (his stats were better in absolute terms but about the same compared to league average) and rebounded well.

I'm not sure if it can be regularly expected of NHL goalies, but definitely it would be expected of NHL goalies considered "elite."

 

[herzausstein]

I know the first line is performing but at what point does Brunette seriously consider tinkering with it to try and get the rest of the team to follow

 

[ShagDaddy]

I know the first line is performing but at what point does Brunette seriously consider tinkering with it to try and get the rest of the team to follow

I hope not. Breaking what works is not the recipe to fix what’s broke. You just end up with two broken things instead of one.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Sort of the same problem we had back in the JOFA line days. Breaking them up seemed to have mixed results. I think it may be worth trying. Not like you can't put them back together later either.

 

[Armourboy]

I think our youth and lack of solid players on the other lines is starting to show itself. Guys like Smith and Sherwood are only going to do so much and a guy like Novak has come back down to earth.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

I think our youth and lack of solid players on the other lines is starting to show itself. Guys like Smith and Sherwood are only going to do so much and a guy like Novak has come back down to earth.

Novak is still producing assists , he has been snakebitten by not having any good looks recently to score. He will always be a pass first guy and doesn't really have a strong supporting cast flanking him on the wings.

He is still more or less producing at a 50 pt/82 pace since coming back from injury

 

[Predsanddead24]

He is still more or less producing at a 50 pt/82 pace since coming back from injury

No he isn't...

He has 0g/7a in 16 games since coming back from injury which is a 0g/36a pace over 82 games. Prior to injury he had 6g/6a in 14 games which is 35g/35a pace over 82 games. That is a dramatic difference. Some of that is attributable to usage and his linemates slowing down too but he has definitely regressed some since his injury. I don't think he's as bad as his recent numbers suggest but I also think he was riding an unsustainable shooting percentage for a long time too.

 

[herzausstein]

No he isn't...

He has 0g/7a in 16 games since coming back from injury which is a 0g/36a pace over 82 games. Prior to injury he had 6g/6a in 14 games which is 35g/35a pace over 82 games. That is a dramatic difference. Some of that is attributable to usage and his linemates slowing down too but he has definitely regressed some since his injury. I don't think he's as bad as his recent numbers suggest but I also think he was riding an unsustainable shooting percentage for a long time too.

The bottom 9 isnt producing as a whole and the top line has gone untouched. So unless the bottom 9 manages to get jump started novak's numbers wont improve. Hard to get assists when noone around you is gettin goals

 

[bdub24]

I know the first line is performing but at what point does Brunette seriously consider tinkering with it to try and get the rest of the team to follow

I hear that! My worry is we just dilute the result by spreading it out. God knows we would have been on our 35th line blender rant thread now if He Who Shall Not Be Named was still here (you know, Nepomort)

 

[herzausstein]

I hear that! My worry is we just dilute the result by spreading it out. God knows we would have been on our 35th line blender rant thread now if He Who Shall Not Be Named was still here (you know, Nepomort)

Ive actually appreciated the more methodical approach but there are only 3 players scoring with regularity and theyre all on one line. At some point, we may want to consider tinkering with that line.

Then again, if we move that one line ... we may never score again.

 

[Armourboy]

The bottom 9 isnt producing as a whole and the top line has gone untouched. So unless the bottom 9 manages to get jump started novak's numbers wont improve. Hard to get assists when noone around you is gettin goals

Good thing about Novak is that he was the one producing the goals, which is one reason the bottom 9 isn't producing.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

When Tomasino and Novak have played together they have gotten good looks

I'd like to see Sissons-Novak-Tomasino as the 2nd line

 

[101st_fan]

Good thing about Novak is that he was the one producing the goals, which is one reason the bottom 9 isn't producing.

He was a 17g in 51 game player last season ... had 6g in his first 11 games this season ... none since. His disappearance from the goal column is the biggest gap in secondary scoring right now.

 

[101st_fan]

 

[PredsV82]

Joakim Kemell come on down!!

 

[101st_fan]

Joakim Kemell come on down!!

 

[herzausstein]

Wrt Juice:

It really has been a big ol' mixed bag. I wouldnt say unfortunate luck though. Bad defense isnt "luck". Bad positioning, angles, etc isnt luck. Bad bounces off our defenders, etc id chaulk up to luck but thats probably less than half his problems.

Kemell i gotta agree with. Afanaseyev is already contributing across the board in all aspects of the game. Dont know how much more basting in the AHL you can have him do

 

[101st_fan]

Wrt Juice:

It really has been a big ol' mixed bag. I wouldnt say unfortunate luck though. Bad defense isnt "luck". Bad positioning, angles, etc isnt luck. Bad bounces off our defenders, etc id chaulk up to luck but thats probably less than half his problems.

The goals off our defenders are back breakers. Saros having difficulty on breakaways is a back breaker. Minimizing those two goes a long way to fixing things ... not letting players get free rushes right out of the box would be a nice change.

 

[herzausstein]

The goals off our defenders are back breakers. Saros having difficulty on breakaways is a back breaker. Minimizing those two goes a long way to fixing things ... not letting players get free rushes right out of the box would be a nice change.

Those rushes out of the box are killers to me.... you can see those from a mile away... time management

 

[101st_fan]

Those rushes out of the box are killers to me.... you can see those from a mile away... time management

There was the difference Tuesday night.

 

[101st_fan]

5,1,5,2,3,5,5,2,0,5,3,5,3,1,3 .... goals allowed by our starting goalie in each of the last 15 games. Three goals from the starter is the norm for our goalies over the past month. As a starter, Lanks hasn't held the opposition to less than three since mid November. Saros is up and down from game to game.

 

[herzausstein]

Silver lining ... Seattle lost too.

The Lauzon/Carrier pairing got taken advantage of but Lauzon got those hits in. They made sure to mention it several times on the broadcast because that is the stat that matters the most. 12 hits in one game add that to Schenns 6 hits and we mustve dominated the game. Throw in Trenin's 7 hits and youve got 25 hits between 3 players... thats more than Vegas' whole team. Mark Stone had 3 goals.... thats more than Nashville’s whole team.... one of those stats matter more. Hits dont win games. Goals do.

 

[jumb0]

The Athletic's ranking of U23 players.

Tier 7 (Bubble top/middle of lineup player)
#57 Yaroslav Askarov
#69 (nice) Matthew Wood

Tier 8 (middle of lineup player)
#83 Juuso Parssinen
#87 Joakim Kemell
#95 Phil Tomasino
#100 Tanner Molendyk
#123 Luke Evangelista
#136 Reid Schaefer

 

[herzausstein]

The Athletic's ranking of U23 players.

Tier 7 (Bubble top/middle of lineup player)
#57 Yaroslav Askarov
#69 (nice) Matthew Wood

Tier 8 (middle of lineup player)
#83 Juuso Parssinen
#87 Joakim Kemell
#95 Phil Tomasino
#100 Tanner Molendyk
#123 Luke Evangelista
#136 Reid Schaefer

Color me shocked to see Schaefer that high