The Nashville Predators have been the hottest team in the playoffs. Nashville has lost only four times so far. They swept the Chicago Blackhawks and limited them to three goals, which is no easy feat. They were the first team to clinch a conference finals birth by defeating the St. Louis Blues in six games. They beat the Anaheim Ducks in six games to get to their first Stanley Cup Final performance. With all that, the Predators are the first 16 seed to make it to the Stanley Cup finals. Nashville is a true underdog team, and they’ve earned their way to the Cup.
Hockey is in a weird state in terms of growth. It’s huge in Canada, the sport’s birthplace. In the U.S., however, hockey is really only big in the Midwest, the Northeast region. Most of America is focused on football, basketball, or baseball. Not that there is anything wrong with those sports, but it results in hockey fans having an inferiority complex. It used to be pretty bad everywhere else in terms of growing the sport, but it’s getting better. It helped when the NHL started putting expansion teams in the south and western cities to combat this. But there are still a lot of people who don’t think hockey in the south or the west coast makes sense simply because it’s hot. Over 20 years, the NHL has increased its growth a lot in those areas. Since then, LA, Anaheim, Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Carolina have all won a Cup since they’ve expanded. San Jose, Tampa, and Florida both were in the Stanley Cup finals as well. When teams are good, fans will go. Nashville would be another team to add to this list. This also helps build the Nash identity. Nashville doesn’t get a ton of respect as a hockey city.
[the_ad id=”384″]Because the Predators aren’t in a big market, they can be underexposed. Goalie Pekka Rinne has been under the radar his entire career. The 34-year-old Finn has a career record of 269-155-62 in the nine seasons he’s been the starter. Rinne has never won the Vezina but has been nominated three times. He’s slipped in recent seasons. He even had some competition this season with backup, Jusse Saros, in the mix, but Rinne’s still a good goalie to rely on. He’s been incredible in these playoffs with an insane .941 SV% and a 1.70 GAA in 16 playoff games.
Rinne isn’t the only reason the Predators have been so successful in these playoffs. A lot of the Predators’ players were castoffs, players that other teams didn’t want. On more than one occasion, GM David Poile has been able to see the potential of these players. Filip Forsberg, who has 15 points, the most on the Preds’ playoff run, was originally drafted by the Washington Capitals in the 2012 draft and was ranked as the #1 overall European prospect. He then got traded to Nashville the next year for Martin Erat. Forsberg is considered one of the best young stars in the game and has .72 career points per game. This is a trade the Capitals would certainly want back.
Poile was also able to take advantage of other teams’ situations. This past offseason, the Montreal Canadiens were supposedly having issues with their star 27-year-old defenseman, P.K Subban. There were reports that he wasn’t getting along with the coach, Michel Therrien, who felt that Subban was egocentric and not about the team. Montreal traded Subban to Nashville for Shea Weber, the captain. Weber’s subtraction hurt, but Subban has been a good replacement and should be even more valuable a couple of years down the road. Now, Subban made the Stanley Cup finals in his first year in Nashville, and Montreal lost in the first round, with their window slowly closing. Subban has been great on defense and has 10 points in the playoffs.
Another example of the Predators taking advantage of another team’s mishaps happened last season before the trade deadline, when the Columbus Blue Jackets traded their #1 center, Ryan Johansen, to Nashville for Seth Jones. Johansen reportedly didn’t get along with coach John Tortorella. Johansen got injured in Game 4 of the Conference Finals, but he had 13 points in the 14 playoff games he played. Even further back in 2014, Pittsburgh traded James Neal to Nashville because he didn’t get along with his teammates. Neal hasn’t had as much of an impact compared to Forsberg, Johansen, and Subban, but all of these players that have been spited by their old teams have a chip on their shoulder and have helped build Nashville’s identity.
Poile has also gotten players who have grudges in the NHL draft. Roman Josi, who has filled in during Shea Weber’s absence and is severely underrated, went in the 2nd round of the 2008 draft. Josi has 239 points in 406 career games. Ryan Ellis is another example. The 5’10” defenseman was thought to be too small to be a good NHL defenseman when he was drafted. However, Ellis has 10 points in the playoffs and has been a big reason why the Predators are hot. It should be noted that Ellis did go 11th overall in his draft. Viktor Arvidsson went in the 4th round and had a breakout year with 31 goals and 61 points on Nashville’s top line. Lastly, Colton Sissons, who just a year and a half ago was a career AHLer, had a hat trick in the series-clinching game of the Conference Finals and has provided good depth for this team.
Whether through trade or the draft, the Predators have built their team based on grudges. They have all battled adversity, and that builds a team’s identity. Every player is battling something, but they are fighting together. Now, whether they can win the Cup is another question, but every Nashville player has earned his chance.