Have the Nashville Predators been mired in one of their worst starts in franchise history? Looking back at how previous Preds rosters performed in their first seven games, then clearly yes.
Through seven games, Nashville has a total of five points entering Friday's NHL slate: two wins, four losses and one overtime loss – which, by chance, is the same exact record of the 2009-10 Predators squad led by Jason Arnott.
Five points in seven games isn’t much to hang your hat on. In that same stretch, they’ve given up the fourth-most power play goals (8) in franchise history, tied for the most allowed shorthanded goals (2), tied for the most allowed shots towards their goaltender (237) and haven’t been able to get some of their most talented forwards on the score sheet yet.
It’s not all doom and gloom.
The 10 power play goals scored so far is a franchise record for the first seven games, besting the nine scored by the 2002-03 squad, and that’s coming off of 209 shots forced on the opposing net-minder, four above last year's team (205). Overall, Nashville hasn’t looked great throughout the first tenth of the season, but it hasn't looked awful either.
Flashes of brilliance would be the best way to put it, and putting it mildly at that.
Some of that could be blamed on the fact that the Predators have played three sets of back-to-backs over the first seven games, starting with a season-opening home-and-home back-to-back against the Chicago Blackhawks and finishing up the most recent set against the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings this past Wednesday and Thursday.
Some of that could be blamed on the fact that Nashville’s opponents so far are boasting a 24-16-5 cumulative record. This should start to tilt more in the Predators favor as the next four opponents have a combined record of 11-13-2. However, you can’t blame “facing a better team” for all of Nashville’s woes, as they were – and still are – supposed to be one of the most dangerous teams in the NHL.
Drawing my curiosity to start the year are the Predators' surprising issues controlling possession – a part of the game they dominated across the league last season.
The 2015-16 season saw the Predators average over 30 shots a game (30.2) while allowing only 27 for the opposition, producing a shots-for percentage of 52.8 across all situations – tying them for second in the league with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the eventual Stanley Cup champs, and only behind the Kings. This is only a partial factor into Nashville’s seventh-best Corsi For percentage of 52.
So far, the Preds are fifth-worst across the NHL in Corsi percentage at 46.3, which takes all shots towards the net into consideration, and sixth worst in shots-for percentage at 46.9 – averaging 29.5 shots a night to the opponents' 33.5.
Nashville was out-shot 31 times in 82 games last season, allowing over 40 shots only four times. They’ve been outshot four times already this year, twice by over 40 shots. That’s not a good way to start the season for a team that has always strived to be one of the best defensive teams in the league.
Of course, the absence of Shea Weber in the blue line can be taken into effect towards these numbers, but the addition of P.K. Subban should play more towards Nashville’s favor and Peter Laviolette’s coaching style. The run-and-gun style of play, something the Predators haven’t really been used to in the near-decade since they boasted a team comprised of Paul Kariya, J.P. Dumont, Steve Sullivan, Alexander Radulov and Peter Forsberg, just isn’t clicking yet.
Case in point: Filip Forsberg and James Neal have a combined zero goals in seven games, where the two combined for 64 and lead the Predators in goal-scoring last year. Nashville’s leader in total scoring, Viktor Arvidsson (four goals, two assists), should surprise just about everyone.
It’s bizzaro-world right now for the Predators: Things simply aren’t working when they should. The power play is über-dominant while the penalty kill has seen better days. Injuries have forced them to jumble lines. They've battled a team-crippling food poisoning epidemic, fought through three sets of early back-to-backs and are just starting to perhaps form their identity.
No team since the 1998-99 season has won a Stanley Cup without earning at least four wins in their first seven games. Pittsburgh broke that trend last season and is the only team to have fewer than eight points in seven games (6) and subsequently won the Cup.
The Predators have plenty of time to figure things out, but rest assured they have a pretty good idea of what items to address first when they do so.
The @PredsNHL led in the third period in Los Angeles, but fell to the Kings in overtime. pic.twitter.com/BE4YrP3C4r
— FOX Sports Tennessee (@PredsOnFSTN) October 28, 2016
"I got a mic on, I'm nervous!" - @jneal_18 with a great sense of humor as our #Preds Mic'd Up player from a recent practice! pic.twitter.com/nQJ8mx1jDw
— FOX Sports Tennessee (@PredsOnFSTN) October 28, 2016
