LAST SEASON
The Nashville Predators delivered a strong season in 2021-22, going 45-30-7 and putting up their best points percentage (0.591) in three years.
The team came into the season with the cloud of Filip Forsberg’s impending unrestricted free agency looming over their heads. There was some thought around this time last year that the Preds might opt to move Forsberg as opposed to risking losing him for nothing. But with the Predators firmly in the Western Conference playoff picture all year, the trade deadline came and went and general manager David Poile opted to keep Forsberg.
Unfortunately for the Preds, they didn’t have much of a chance of going on a run in the playoffs. They finished as the second wild-card team in the West and ran into the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche in the first round. With star goaltender Juuse Saros on the shelf with an injury, the Preds were swept aside in four games.
Though the playoffs weren’t at all memorable for Nashville, 2021-22 will be remembered for some spectacular individual performances.
Roman Josi scored a whopping 96 points, the closest that any defender has come to reaching 100 points in a single season since the early 1990s. Matt Duchene set a career-high with 43 goals and 86 points, a massive jump from the 55 points he scored in his first 100 games after signing with Nashvlle. Undrafted free agent signing Tanner Jeannot broke out with 24 goals and also endeared himself to his fans and teammates by getting into 10 fights over the course of the season.
KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES
Additions
- Nino Niederreiter, LW
- Ryan McDonagh, D
- Zach Sanford, LW
- Mark Jankowski, C
- Kevin Lankinen, G
- John Leonard, LW/RW
- Kiefer Sherwood, RW
- Kevin Gravel, D
- Rolan McKeown, D
Departures
- Nick Cousins, RW/LW (Fla)
- Matt Benning, D (SJ)
- Philippe Meyers, D (TB)
- Luke Kunin, LW/RW (SJ)
- Mathieu Olivier, RW (CBJ)
- David Rittich, G (Wpg)
- Matt Tennyson, D (Sea)
- Matt Luff, LW/RW (Det)
- Jeremy Davies, D (Buf)
OFFENSE
Nashville had a solid scoring punch last season as it finished 12th in the league with 266 goals. The team was led by Josi, who scored an absurd 96 points, along with their top trio of Matt Duchene, Filip Forsberg, and Ryan Johansen, who scored 86, 84, and 63 points respectively.
The big question surrounding Nashville’s offense last year was whether Forsberg was going to stick around. He carried the best season of his career into unrestricted free agency but wound up re-signing with the Preds at $8.5 million annually over eight years.