The Nashville Predators are easily the most disappointing team so far this season. They sit dead last in the league, with a record of 7-15-6 through 28 games played. But that’s not why they’re so disappointing– no, the Predators are disappointing because they were expected to be good, if not great. They spent big in free agency, signing big name free agents like Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei.
But here they sit, on December 10th, at the very bottom of the league.
Why?
The way I see it, there are four main reasons for Nashville’s catastrophically bad season. Let’s unpack them.
Finishing woes
According to moneypuck.com, the Predators have scored -22.5 goals above expected, which is the worst in the league. In layman’s terms, that means that the team as a whole has scored almost 23 goals less than they should have. Their 61 goals scored puts them dead last in the league. And their 2.18 goals per game puts them at, you guessed it, last in the league.
I couldn’t tell you why this team can’t score. Maybe age regression hit every Nashville Predators player at once. Maybe there’s a team-wide case of the yips. Maybe they angered a witch. But it doesn’t make much sense that a team with Filip Forsberg, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Ryan O’Reilly, and Roman Josi is this bad at generating offense.
Goal differential
So, they can’t score. But their league-worst -25 goal differential indicates that there might be a bigger problem than that. Sure, they’re ridiculously snakebitten, but this goal differential means that they’re not defending well enough, either. When teams can’t keep up with high-flying offenses, they should focus on playing low-event hockey.
Powerplay
Nashville’s powerplay is just a tad below average. It’s the 20th ranked powerplay in the league, and is firing at 18.8%. But if you take a closer look, in their last nine games, Nashville has converted on just two of 27 attempts. The Predators have a 1-5-3 record over that stretch, and it’s not much of a reach to place much of the blame on the powerplay.
I say again: it doesn’t make much sense that a powerplay of Filip Forsberg, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Ryan O’Reilly, and Roman Josi isn’t significantly better than it is.
Overtime losses
The Predators have gone to overtime seven times through 28 games, and have an abysmal record to show for it. Nashville is 1-6 in overtime, and while that’s just six points left on the table, a win is more than just two points in the standings. For a team as vulnerable as Nashville, a win is a giant morale boost– one this Predators team desperately needs.
