I’ve held off all year from talking about this team. I’ve been waiting, just like the rest of you, for them to find their footing. But it’s not happening, and I can’t hold it in anymore—I need to vent.

Problem #1 - Franchise Direction:

The direction of this franchise gives me absolutely nothing to be excited about. We are the third-oldest team in the NHL, saddled with bloated long-term contracts that will be nearly impossible to manage. I was worried these contracts would cause problems in three or four years, but the issues have already started. Trotz outright admitted that part of the reason he let Fabbro go was to clear cap space. There are no signs of improvement, very little cap space to make moves, and we have a coach who looks lost on how to get the most out of this top heavy jumbled mess of a decrepit roster he has been given to work with.

Problem #2 - High End Talent Development Problems

The absolute ineptitude of this franchise when it comes to developing high-end (first and second round) talent is beyond frustrating. The one top-tier, franchise-level talent we had in the entire system (Askarov)—we traded him away. What we’re left with is a pipeline of good, but not great, young players.

Let’s face it:

• Evangelista (healthy scratched), Tomasino (healthy scratched), Tolvanen (gone), Svechkov, L’Heureux, Kemell, and Fabbro (gone): They were/are good players, but not the kind you build a franchise around.

We’re stuck in limbo, and nothing currently coming down the pipeline is going to change that.

Problem #3 - Win-Now Desperation

I have NO faith that any of our young prospects or draft picks will even stick around. Trotz seems desperate to “win now” (obviously) and it is yet to be seen if he is going to be willing to destroy any semblance of a promising future in the process. I fully expect him to trade away young pieces or picks in a frantic attempt to right this sinking ship, but the truth is—it’s already underwater. He has left himself no choice but to go all in, and I am scared to see what that entails.

Problem #4 - Coaching is not the Right Fit

I have to start by saying, Brunette is not a terrible coach. In fact, he’s a great coach. But his system is NOT the right fit for this old, slow team. It’s painfully obvious they can’t do what he’s asking of them offensively.

I believe the blame here is threefold:

1. The players: They’re not executing the system. (maybe because they aren't capable)
2. The coaches: They’re not adapting the system to fit the players.
3. Trotz: He put together this slow, inconsistent, aging roster in the first place.

Problem #5 - The obvious Need for Change

This team needs change, and it’s glaringly obvious. Since we can’t move on from the players, the only next step is coaching. We need someone who can work with a veteran squad, isn’t as reliant on a fast-paced system, and has a track record of experience and getting results.

Here are some potential veteran coaching options that fit what the Preds roster needs right now: Darryl Sutter, Alain Vigneault, Claude Julien.

We need change. The current setup isn’t working, and something has to give.

Correction: *making Sharks debut

It’d be very 2024-25 Preds for him to secure a shutout in his first SJ start (I still don’t think we made a major mistake trading him btw; Juuse is THAT guy).

Just about any other team in the league has had no issue holding their top talent accountable yet we only seem to do that with the young players. Tomasino makes a bad pass he's a scratch next game. Parssinen makes a bad turnover and he's benched the rest of the game. Anyone with an AAV over 3 million and Luke Schenn seem to be untouchable and I don't get it.

Boston benched Pasta for a screw up earlier this season.

Torts healthy scratched Mitchkov

Hell Cooper benched Kucherov Stamkos and Point at the same time last season.

This is getting old. Sit these guys down and call up a couple from Milwaukee with some fire in their guts

Thursday, November 14 - Wednesday, November 20, 2024

###Game thread comments

###Top Remaining Posts

This team has a locker room culture problem. And this is not a sudden onset this goes back to Hynes. I said it and it’s ok if you think I am wrong but think about it.

Hynes is coaching the Wild they are 4th in the league right now.

This team struggled under him.

This team did enough to keep their head above water last year and trotz not Bruno canceled the Vegas U2 trip. Team gets hot Bruno gets the credit.

Coaches get hired to get fired in the NHL. I don’t think Bruno is the motivator type of coach. This team will thrive under that coach. There is enough of a veteran presence that this team does not need death by power point and exes and ohs.

This team needs a coach to push buttons and get in their kitchen a little. That coach has a short shelf life but that’s what this team needs to wake up.

We have 3 captains in that locker room plus some other well respected veterans. They don’t have the right motivator in there to get them all to start pulling towards the same goal. You can’t fire 22 players and I don’t think this team needs to be torn down. At this point I just want the inevitable to happen and get a fresh start since this team is becoming more and more irrelevant by the day. As more and more shift goes to trotz being the problem because he is the GM I think he will replace the coach but this should have happened after 5 games. The players are not playing for each other. It’s a culture problem.

I mean hell haven’t people wanted a top 5 pick for years now. If we suck without getting rid of the farm and have three firsts by the end of the year that’s not entirely a loss.

Literally the only reason I haven’t been a doomer this season is the fact that we haven’t sold the farm for the new “assets”.

I suspect we will try and go get a center but I highly doubt Trotz is willing to give up a 1st for anyone, unless they are young and have term.

I'm beginning to think Trotz is fool's gold as a GM. Nearly every move he's made has been to get older and slower. He signed three aging veterans this past offseason in an attempt to "win now" and ALL THREE signings have blown up in his face and become anchors. He extended our star goaltender and in so doing pissed off the superstar prospect we had been developing, forcing him to be traded for pennies on the dollar. He waived Dante Fabbro because he couldn't get anything in return for him. He EXTENDED Cole Smith back in January. His moves do not fit Brunette's system at all.

Now he's saying something about getting another 2D, which will likely mean another 31-year-old whose game has fallen off a cliff. I'm starting to worry that he's going to trade one or more of our three first round picks to try and right the ship when it's already half-sunk. Oh, and to add injury to insult, this next draft is projected to be quite weak with no clear generational or franchise players, so even if we win the draft lottery, James Hagen is no Bedard or McDavid.

Last night was game 20 out of 82 games. We are now 1/4 into the season. This is not our year.

It seems like the hockey gods are trying to give us the 1st line center we have always needed. They are practically forcing the matter by putting us on a path for a top 3 pick in the draft even though we have the talent to be better.

Why not embrace the suck? If we do climb out of this hole we are in, it is going to be tough to make the playoffs. The worst case scenario for the team now is that we just miss the playoffs, so we have high draft picks and still don't make the playoffs.

I am not suggesting that we blow the team up. We have so many NTCs that we couldn't if we wanted to. We have enough young talent in the pipeline and three 1st round picks this year. So why not use this year to bring up young players and get them acclimated to the system so that we can hit the ground running in 25-26? It seems to me that we should just look at this year as a development year.

I don't know why everyone is freaking out. They’ve been shut out four times, can’t score, and are on pace to finish with the lowest points total of the last few NHL seasons, but it's only the end of November! Relax!

Can we just let this mummy fill in for the team for the rest of the season? Results would not differ.

For being an offensive genius, Brunette and the preds have been shutout 4 times this season (Keep in mind we only have 6 wins) and are on pace to break the NHL record for most times shutout in a season. This isn’t just the team is underperforming, this is boring hockey that doesn’t work. Everyone can see that something needs to change, but for some reason that is completely oblivious to management.

I’m also sick of being gaslit by Preds media and podcasts that one win and two overtime losses showed that we were improving when we clearly weren’t. The only reason this team has more than 1 win is Juuse Saros.

Will trotz do anything about it besides trade for a guy over 30? I doubt it but one can hope.

2024020304

NHL.com Boxscore

##Team Stats

##Goals

##Penalties

Officials

• Referees: Garrett Rank, Thomas John Luxmore
• Linesmen: Brandon Gawryletz, Travis Toomey

The bot can only be as correct as its sources, the sources it uses are linked below each table. If you notice an error that is not due to an incorrect source or you want to suggest a source [click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=TeroTheTerror&subject=HockeyMod Issue&message=Subreddit:%0A%0AIssue:) to message TeroTheTerror.

Here is the shovel and rope leaderboard so far this season. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or if I made any mistakes. Hopefully I get to make many more of these posts this season. The posts will likely be made the morning after wins.

Also, dear Preds social admin, please a) post videos for every win and b) post picture of the winners so I don’t have choose a frame from the video. 

Game Log

Leaderboard

*The rope first appeared after the November 17th win against Vancouver, but I felt like O’Reilly and Carrier passing the shovel on to the goalies was in a similar vein to the rope

Link to comment with all tables.

#Nashville Predators at Seattle Kraken

#Climate Pledge Arena

##In-Game Updates

##Team Stats

##Goals

##Penalties

Officials

• Referees: Garrett Rank, Thomas John Luxmore
• Linesmen: Brandon Gawryletz, Travis Toomey

##Time

##Projected Lineups

Source, Source

##Game Info:

The bot can only be as correct as its sources, the sources it uses are linked below each table. If you notice an error that is not due to an incorrect source or you want to suggest a source [click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=TeroTheTerror&subject=HockeyMod Issue&message=Subreddit:%0A%0AIssue:) to message TeroTheTerror.

O’Reilly has generated 3.27 expected goals on 19 shots - scored 0 goals.

Josi has generated 2.49 expected goals on 48(!!!) shots - scored 1 goal.

Marchy has generated 2.33 expected goals on 34 shots - scored 0 goals.

Evangelista has generated 1.99 expected goals on 30 shots - scored 0 goals.

Predators have a 47.43% expected goal share (23rd in the league) but their actual goal share is only 32.27%. The next widest gap between expected and actual is the Penguins with an -11% gap. The widest gap of any team last season was -6%. So this is pretty much guaranteed to improve.

Also - the Kraken’s gap is +3.5% and the Jets are +9%. So we are about to play some teams due for regression at 5v5.

Moral of the story: we all know our 5v5 production has been rough and needs to improve. But, it’s been more bad puck luck than anything.

#Nashville Predators at Seattle Kraken

#Climate Pledge Arena

##Time

##Projected Lineups

Source, Source

##Standings

Source

The bot can only be as correct as its sources, the sources it uses are linked below each table. If you notice an error that is not due to an incorrect source or you want to suggest a source [click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=TeroTheTerror&subject=HockeyMod Issue&message=Subreddit:%0A%0AIssue:) to message TeroTheTerror.

Free Talk Wednesday!

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TLDR: We're getting better, I'm not firing Bruno, I'm shopping but not at the luxury stores 😂

Let’s start with the road trip. You got the win on Sunday night and that was a much needed win following tough loss on Friday. You’ve talked about this trip a lot for this team to turn it around. Do you sense that’s happening or are you worried?

I’m actually encouraged more than anything. We’ve been able to get points. Very hard game against Edmonton, thought we deserved a point, hoping to get two. Then next night we played Calgary, thought Calgary played outstanding game and we weren’t able to find the back of net. Went into Vancouver and thought we played well but spent too much time in our own end. But we’re collecting points, five points out of a playoff position. We’ve got to continue to collect points. I feel like we’re playing better. We’re ninth in special teams in terms of power play. PK is number one in the league. Defensive game has got better, but we need to do better five on five. It’s trending up but it’s not where we need it to be. I think we’re trending in the right areas, we’re working hard, don’t feel there’s any quit and feels there’s some urgency in the locker room. The players themselves know where they are. They’re not dumb, they’re smart, good players and they understand where we are but we’re going to have to grind for every point. We’re not going to get it back overnight, so we’ve got to keep grinding and collecting points. Would like another win but feel like we’ve had a good trip.

Loss in Colorado/Edmonton: if this were any normal November where you started off other than 0-5, I could live with those results. But given the start, at what point is it like hey, it’s good that the game’s starting to come together, that we got a point, but we have to win these games because of the hole we dug?

You’re right, if we started 2-2-1, we’d be one point out of a playoff spot instead of five. Your mentality is you want to get it back right away but the reality is it’s going to take you two months to get it back because everybody’s playing and collecting points and you’ve got to stay with it. Once you start believing in your game, you can go on a four or five game run and make some ground up. But it’s going to be something that we’ve dug ourselves a hole and for us to dig ourselves out, it might take all 62 remaining games. But you have to have the belief that you can and you will.

Team is trying hard to cater to new acquisitions and allow them to fit in, get a little bit of a role and it has probably set us back by trying too hard. What you’re seeing now is Andrew’s settled in to certain things that aren’t working. You’ve got Forsberg, Marchessault, Stamkos on different lines with 4th line being identity and spreading it out might be the secret sauce. Getting everybody going at the same time would be helpful but that hasn’t been the case. Thought we’d have a better start but the reality is you look back at the summer, Skjei replaces McD, Stamkos & Marchessault added to help the special teams, which they have, but they need to help five on five. There hasn’t been that big of a change, but the names have star power and it’s taken longer than we expected. Talked to a lot of GMs at the HOF ceremony and said when they added big names (paraphrasing) it took time. Try to put good people in good positions and hopefully the whole thing gels together. Coaching staff working hard to make that happen.

Heard some rumors over the weekend that you’ve been making a lot of calls. Rumors are you’re looking for more established guys, top 4D with term. You really haven’t touched draft picks. I was thinking if this team was in contention you might unload to get a guy here or there, but with where you are in the standings, how do you view the futures market and adding to that with more NHL ready players?

Well, I look at it this way. The plan that I think I expressed on your show and to you and everybody is that I’m bringing in a few players that are established. They’re going to hopefully make us a threat and get us in the playoffs and try to build a top nine that will be placeholders until we get the kids ready. I’m not going to deviate from the plan. We’ve got a lot of young players that are developing, getting better, getting more ready. When I said maybe some roster construction, that may be as simple as some of the younger players come in and we move out a player to make room. At this point in time I’m not interested in moving first round picks for established players. The plan is a long term plan so we have a really good hockey team in Nashville for a long time so I’m not going to do anything knee jerk to set us back. I think we’ve got a roster that is coming in behind the existing roster that is going to be a good one for a long, long time. I trust the group. I’ve always said, show me that you’re there or you’re going to be close to there, I’ll help you out but if not then we’ll go in a different direction. Your team tells you where you are. I can’t tell them, you can’t tell them. The team itself tells everybody where they are and I’m going to listen to the team based on how they play, where they are. They could tell me that they’re there, but they’re going to have to show me. And if they are, then we’ll look to always improve our club. I have made calls. I’m not trying to take away and burn it down. I’m trying to make sure that anybody we bring in is a little bit of a longer term solution. Not looking for a rental; looking for players that will be here a couple years and make us better.

When it comes to calling other teams for a 4D man or a 2C, are you saying high end prospects would be out of the discussion because that’s the future and you’re still looking to add to the current roster, or would you be willing to move some of those premium assets to add to current roster?

I think both apply honestly. If it’s the right player that’s a little bit of a long term solution, then I would … to get those players you have to give up some premium assets. But if it’s not there I’m not going to force it. I’m not looking to trade a premium asset for a marginal or average player. It would have to be one that would knock your socks off a little bit. We’re going to be very, very conscious of that because we’ve got some good players coming. Kemell is having a really good year so far. Building this team with the future in mind, but with the present. If we could add a 20 something high prospect, maybe a young established NHL’er that will be a long term guy then yeah, I would step back and allow one of our premium guys to be part of a trade. But unless it’s something that’s really really strong that helps the future and the now, I won’t look at it.

Is anybody talking about that at this point in the season?

Very few. There’s probably a few teams in a position similar to us, a few maybe going in a different direction or have multiple assets at a position. They’re starting to talk. A lot of people talk about Thanksgiving, but I look at it 20 games in. Our team started out 0-5 and I think we’re 6-5-3 since. We’re trending up. Special teams are good, we’ve got to get five on five going, our goaltending is good. We’ve got to pull together and they’re slowly pulling it together. Adversity makes you stronger and that brings teams together.

I’m going to say I’m worried about this but idk if thats how I’d phrase it. I remember last year how long it took for the team to hit their stride. Then I remember when you added Beau and it felt like it took a month before he started contributing. And I’m starting to think this might be a trend with Bruno’s system. There’s a part of me that thinks that this is going to click but by the time it does, it might be too late. The reason I bring that up is because I just saw Boston fired Montgomery. So I’m thinking to myself if you’re spending all this time getting these guys acclimated to Bruno’s system but it might take too long this year, where does that put you given the fact that I think it would be crazy if it started to click …. if you spend all this time trying to get everybody up to snuff on Bruno’s system, they finally do, and then changing the coach, I feel like would set you back, but I also know how there’s only so many games and everybody’s competitive and I know how this league works. How do you process how long it’s taking these guys to get this and what do you do if it takes too long?

I wish I had the right answer for you. You have to trust your instincts. Is the team getting better, playing the right way more consistently, is some of the inconsistency due to schedule? Do you have enough depth in some of the key positions if someone gets hurt? I don’t have a crystal ball but I can tell you that if you said you have 62 games left and we seem to be trending a little bit better, then I’d say we’ve got enough time. But at the same time if you start trending down are you going to panic or stay with it?

I always trust my instincts and I’ll go with my instincts and when I know over what people say or think, it doesn’t bother me one way or the other. I’ve got to use my experience and my instincts. I think we have enough talent to make the playoffs but it’s going to be a grind and an uphill struggle because we’re chasing it and there’s a lot of good teams.

Where it comes to Bruno, how you feel like the players and he are working together. You said everybody’s going to do this together, he’s going to do it with you guys. I know what it looks like when a team’s quit and I know your team hasn’t quit. So I wonder what you see when it comes to him and the players and where they sit together getting this team out of this.

I think you watch the interaction between the players and coaches. You know when people are engaged and aren’t engaged. I look for those cues as a GM. Andrew has been a player’s coach. He believes in the players, in playing the right way, in them getting better. He’s lived those situations, he can talk it out with them and he has. I know on this trip he’s had lots of one on ones. I see him out for coffee with this player and that player. The players recognize that, when a coach is really trying to help. And he has been. So I would say that the engagement between the coaches and the players has been very good. Would we like better results? Yes, no question. But players always will let you know if they’re not engaged. They won’t make eye contact, you’ll hear bickering behind the scenes, and you can feel it. It’s like a coworker when you don’t get along with them and they walk in the room and the mood changes. When the players and coach don’t get along, it’s the same type of feeling. That is not the case at all. I’m really encouraged by what we are capable of doing in the future here. So I’m looking forward for us to dig out of this hole and get back home. We’ll have some tough games. There’s no gimmes in this league. We’ve got our work cut out for us but we’re not afraid of the challenge.

I can get a feel for when you really like somebody. And I saw that you said that you expect Svechkov to maybe make an appearance sooner rather than later. What sort of impact do you think he could make to the lineup on the top three lines?

He’s a very smart, cerebral player. The biggest adjustment for every player that comes up …. Happy was leading playoffs in scoring and in Milwaukee and he comes to NHL and he’s mostly playing on fourth line and playing well. But it is a big jump. A guy like Svech, I know he can play. He thinks the game at this level. It’ll be getting his pace. There’s not as much space as in the AHL. It’s a lot more chaotic. Sometimes it’s easier in the NHL for players with a high hockey IQ because they’re positionally in their spots a lot quicker, etc. Sometimes those guys can enhance their game further but it’ll be the pace.

Barry loves the positivity Jared has. Stillman basically has to force him off the phone 😂

Post Trotz Talks:

Stillman is not happy with himself, he doesn’t think he conducted a good interview, especially when it came to … I’m asking questions but I want to be honest with everybody including him and you and I told him what I thought but it was kind of in a round about way.

Here’s what I think is going to happen. I think Trotz is totally on board with Bruno, not even thinking about firing him, not interested in any talk about firing the coach and I’m okay with it. I think what’s going to happen is it’s going to click for this team, for whatever reason it takes forever to learn Bruno’s system, but once you do, you play it pretty well. Beau is a good example of this. Stamkos will be Stamkos, Marchessault will be Marchessault, Brady Skjei won’t suck. And I think it will be too late. (Tells story about Hal talking about a Toronto team he was on that got hot and nobody wanted to play them, then they missed playoffs by one point.) I think this team will miss the playoffs. And when that happens, there will be a lot of calls to change the coach, this huge belief that there were sky high expectations and they didn’t even make the layoffs, change the coach. And 95% of the time I’d say do it. But if what I think is going to happen happens, I don’t want to change the coach. If you spend all that time learning Bruno’s system, you finally learn it, and then you get good at it and then you fire Bruno, a new coach comes in and the same thing. Maybe I’m wrong about that. But that’s what I think is going to happen. And if that happens, I don’t want to fire the coach. I don’t think Barry’s going to change the coach now, and I don’t think he should. I know when a team’s quit and I don’t think this team is quitting. Takes Trotz’s word for it that there’s no behind the scenes bickering, etc.

Thoughts? Might be the right coach considering what he did with the Bruins.

**Just as an edit, I am not advocating for the switch. Just curious on opinion.

The preds are 6-10-3 (0.316) currently.

We would need to achieve one of the following to hit 95 points over the next 63 games.

• 40 - 23 - 0 (0.635)
• 39 - 22 - 2 (0.619)
• 38 - 21 - 4 (0.603)
• 37 - 20 - 6 (0.587)

*95 is not the set number, as it will move, but it gives a general guide for the fans watching how well we need to play moving forward.

Who was the last forward we drafted that is actually consistently effective. We don’t give anyone a chance. If you’re drafted here it’s almost like killing your career before it starts. Why is that? Will svetchkov or kemell ever get to play a game in a preds jersey not on the fourth line.