Nashville Predators’ goaltending dilemma takes center stage. Can Juuse Saros bounce back from a challenging season, or will Justus Annunen steal the spotlight?
Ann Kimmel and Emma Lingan break down the Predators’ netminding strategy, dissecting Saros’ performance and debating the ideal workload split. The duo also tackles John Hynes’ controversial exit, Ryan O’Reilly’s uncertain future, and Nashville’s impressive goalie development pipeline.
Tune in for expert analysis on the Predators’ path forward and potential trade deadline moves that could reshape the team’s season.
0:00 Intro: Predators goaltending and mailbag questions
5:57 Analyzing Juuse Saros’ struggles last season
11:26 Expectations for goalie split next season
13:59 Evaluating John Hynes’ tenure in Nashville
21:39 Was Hynes treated unfairly by Predators?
28:24 Will Ryan O’Reilly be traded at deadline?
32:44 Hosts share favorite Predators interviews/articles
36:55 Preview of upcoming rebuild discussion episode
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11 Comments
Yes he can. Saros rescue 🛟 activated……
Puckpedia doesn't have O'Reilley on an expiring contact. They show he's signed through this season and next. No clue if that's right or not.
I dont know where the girls find these fans that blame Saros for everything and I am not particularly interested in knowing either. As a matter of fact when Ann deepdives into Saros’ stats around 9’ I would take one step further- in those first 15 games last season Saros was pretty much the ONLY reason that Preds did not loose all 15 of them. In front of an abysmal D he was not only on his head, he was a living wall. One element was .916, but he also faced 40-50 SOG. He was how Henke used to be in the garden back in the day. Saros eventually fizzled out, thats another story. But he sure as hell tried. He also eventually picked up some undisclosed(minor) injuries IIRC
AK/EL, good points, there are a lot of people going after Juuse Saros. The defense in front of him was awful–in fact if you look at numbers on the defense Saros had a save percentage of .895 on high danger chances (that was 4th worst amongst goalies)….so 10 percent of high danger chances got by him….a whole lot of 2 on 1s, odd man rushes, and other high danger chances. Is there some aspects to this on Saros—eh maybe but largely the defense really let him down quite a lot how much has the defense improved? I think the only way we are really going to see if this is a trend or just the "way it is" is if we see some blue line improvement. I'm a little skeptical if we've done enough with Perbix and Hague..certainly need their size, shot blocking and competence in the d-corp..not to bag on Nick Blankenburg or Englund but they are bottom pair defensive guys at best and healthy scratches at worst on a lot of other teams. We've never adequately replaced Dante Fabbro–and now my hope is Gibson or Molendyk just flat out make the team because that'll balance the defense. Roman Josi–you have to really be concerned with his injuries and what will will happen here if he goes down (on offense AND defense). Brady Skjei is going to have to really bounce back here—and Justin Barron–I don't even know what you say there but we are going to need to see him paired with someone that's going to cover for him on defense. Whenever Josi got hurt the 2nd of last year you see how the defense went even MORE south …this is a top heavy defense (just like the offense) with Josi doing a whole lot–and without him? It might be one of the worst defensive corps UNLESS we see Tanner or Gibson jump in here and Perbix and Hague fit this club and provide kind of stability they lacked last year. I liked the Cam Reid pick but if we are talking "win now" well I don't really know if we've done enough to fix the defense.
I think O'Reilly has as much, if not more value than Brock Nelson at last years trade deadline so they should be looking for a return that's pretty similar to what the Islanders got for him. A 2nd round pick would be pretty disrespectful
I liked Hynes as a coach and he was fired at the end of a season where everyone on the team got injured or traded (and the previous season the team lost to Colorado in the playoffs with Ingram/Rittich in net). I felt like that was a tough break for him. Under Hynes the team actually had an identity which we can't yet say after two full seasons with Brunette… not for sure saying Hynes was/is better but I had more trust in him when he was the coach than I have ever had in Bruno. Time will of course tell
Letting Kiefer Sherwood go was a huge mistake for the Preds. He’s so much fun to watch and his play on the ice was record breaking for Vancouver and for his personal best stats. You’ll need another guy like him on the roster next year.
It’s not that some of us think Saros is “bad”. But rather a question of where he fits in their timeline? They had a chance to retool before they extended him.
Saros was not to blame for last season at all…
We had several different factors that affected Saros!!
First off, we let Sherwood and Trenin leave. Both of those players brought grit, speed, and penally kill.
We lost our speed and a grit, and it made us chase the puck quite a bit, which resulted in a lot more penalties being taken by us ….
Also, the defense was an absolute mess …. Every night it seemed to be a different pairing on defense, we had third line D-men playing on the first line…. Luke Schenn is no longer a first pair defenseman…. Maybe not even a second pair anymore, he’s gotten slower…. Also, there didn’t appear to be much chemistry on the backend!!!
I think the defense will not be much of a problem this season. We look much better at the end of last year, also with the new additions. I think we have good and maybe a great defense this season!!!
We already know about the lack of chemistry on the top six, I think some of that blame goes to the coach, switching players around way too much, not giving them a chance to build some chemistry, he needs to keep the lines, and stop tweaking them every game… the players know how to play and they’ll have to find their game together….
Again, I think we made some good pick ups last year, I think the most exciting player I’m waiting to see for full season is Bunting, we have some sandpaper once again with a scoring touch!!!
I do believe we will make the playoffs this year and I don’t think Saros’s numbers are gonna be a much better cause we’re gonna have a better chemistry, I think we’re gonna score more , not take as many penalties and a better protection on D…
Saros 65 starts
37-23-5
.925 sv
Ask for the Hynes thing…. I think Barry didn’t want him, and had him fired before he took over the team at the GM so he can bring in his own Coach which we know he did.
People always blaming the goalie (especially when Saros is an elite goalie) is just a classic never-played/hardly-watch hockey scenario. Puck has to get through 5 other players before it gets to the goalie
I liked Hynes as a coach and he was fired at the end of a season where everyone on the team got injured or traded (and the previous season the team lost to Colorado in the playoffs with Ingram/Rittich in net). I felt like that was a tough break for him. Under Hynes the team actually had an identity which we can't yet say after two full seasons with Brunette…