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Game #46 – Predators vs. Hawks Spotlight: Ryan Ellis And They Do It Too

By Sam Fels 1422 0

In a vacuum, what would you say about a team giving a 29-year-old defenseman an eight-year extension at $6.25M per year? Crazy right? No d-man is any good past 33 or 34 unless they’re a chiseled god like Zdeno Chara, right? Fit to be tied, you’d say! Pure ridiculousness! Well, you’re not the Nashville Predators, who did just that with Ryan Ellis before this season, and he’ll be that well-paid until he’s 37. Not bad work if you can get it.

On the surface, you can see it. For most of his career, Ellis has been a nifty, second-pairing guy who really pushed the play, anchored a second power play unit, and got you around 35 points. He’s also right-handed, which NHL GMs consider something around tritium levels of valuable on their blue line. Not bad. The past couple years he’s even moved up to the top pairing with Roman Josi, perhaps being the only top pairing in the league with two players that are swift and get up the ice, and not the yin-and-yang of pusher and center-fielder you’ve seen in places like here. Certainly worked out for the Predators, who have gotten a Final appearance and a division crown out of it.

Still, look a little deeper, and it’s not as rosy. This season. Ellis has exclusively been with Josi, and they’ve been ok together. But in the limited sample that Ellis has been away from Josi, he’s been awful. 40.5 CF%, 37.5 GF%, 41.8 SCF%. And that’s not uncommon. Last year, the number with and without Josi are much more even, but that was only in half of a season as Ellis missed the first half with injury. So they have about as much sample of Ellis being useful without Josi as they do of him being utterly helpless. Two years ago, the first time Ellis was pretty exclusively with Josi, it was much the same as this year as his Corsi and scoring-chance percentages dip 5-10% without Josi.

Still, much like we discussed with Jake Guentzel on Sunday, if you sign Player A knowing he’s going to play with Player B, who’s probably responsible for making Player A what you’re paying him to be, it’s not a huge issue. There’s no reason to anticipate that Ellis won’t be playing with Josi the next few years, and both are a few years away from when you really start to worry about the aging process.

Even next year doesn’t provide much of a cap problem for the Preds. Ryan Hartman and Kevin Fiala will be RFA, but neither is going to break the bank you wouldn’t think. The Preds will have about $15 million in space, which will easily accommodate those two.

It’s the following year where things might get a touch messy. As that’s when Josi is unrestricted. And he’s going to require just a touch more than the $4 million per year he’s been making. Certainly north of Ellis’s number is a gimme, and his agent might be looking at PK Subban’s $9M and say, “Well, my guy is playing on the top pair here and shielding that guy, so gimme gimme gimme.” Are the Preds really going to pay half their blue line somewhere between $22-25 million a year? ? Or more? At the moment they’ll have room for that, but they’ll also one day have to have more than just a top line.

It appears the Predators didn’t ask themselves very hard whether or not Josi can carry a host of other d-men to impressive metrics and use, because it would appear for all the world he can. Could they have just slotted Subban there next year and found someone else to bum-slay with Matthias Ekholm? Would that have freed up enough cash to make a real splash like Matt Duchene or Mark Stone, something they might need to get past the Jets or Sharks if they fail to this season?

They aren’t asking yet, but they might be.

 

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Game #46 – Predators vs. Hawks Q&A: The One And Only…Well, A J.R.

By Sam Fels 1426 0

J.R. Lind is always our Preds guy. Follow him on Twitter @JRLind.

The Predators have only won two of their last nine on the road. What’s the story there?
It’s hard to discount the injuries the team had to deal with in the last bit of 2018: Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson, P.K. Subban and Colton Sissons all missed significant time and now Kyle Turris is out for a bit. The Preds were also due for a bit of a come-down, particularly on the road, where they started out so hot. The good news is guys are starting to come back and the team looked as good as they’ve looked all season Monday against Toronto with a 4-0 win and holding the Leafs to 18 shots.
Both Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros had something of a rough go in December. So does that make it a team problem more than the goalies having a down stretch?
 
Based on both guys’ last few starts, it seems like it was a general team issue, particularly on the back end. Subban’s injury led to Laviolette having to do some unusual things with the pairings, occasionally splitting up Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi and sticking, say, Dan Hamhuis – an extremely good third pair guy, but a little long in the tooth – on the first pair or playing Matt Irwin with Mattias Ekholm and so on. Since the calendar turned, the team is 3-0-1 and Saros has given up one goal in his last two starts and Rinne is coming off that shutout. I suspect Chicago will get Rinne as a divisional foe with Columbus coming on the other side of the back-to-back, but both guys have looked a lot better as the injured players have returned.
How much of this is Arvidsson and Forsberg being out?
 
Losing your two top goal-scorers is going to hurt any team, and then add into what those guys bring physically – Forsberg probably doesn’t get enough credit for that part of his game and Arvidsson is a stellar forechecker – and Nashville had to make some adjustments. It also had a ripple effect down the lines, with guys like Ryan Hartman and Phil Di Giuseppe actually seeing time on Ryan Johansen’s wing. But for a team that expects to play into June, getting more minutes for depth guys isn’t necessarily a bad thing and the extra ice time helped jumpstart Kevin Fiala, who had looked moribund early.
What will the Preds be looking for at the deadline?
 
Similar to last year with Hartman, a middle-six or bottom-six wing with a little size or physicality. The rash of injuries this year really put into focus how important depth can be and the series against the Jets last year – and it seems inevitable Winnipeg and Nashville will face-off again – the Preds did get pushed around a little. They don’t need a big, splashy move and I’m not saying Wayne Simmonds, but Wayne Simmonds.

 

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Game #46 – Predators vs. Hawks Douchebag Du Jour: Anyone Who Believes PK Subban Shouldn’t Be Face Of The League

By Sam Fels 1773 0

It seems like we do this post every year, and it’s because we do. But then PK keeps doing things that reiterate the point, so there’s not much we can do. In case you missed it, here’s a video he recorded to support a young player in Michigan who had been the target of racial abuse. Also, we could have written this about anyone who racially taunts a fucking child being first up against the wall when the revolution hits, but you already knew that so we don’t need to repeat ourselves.

Obviously, Subban is always going to be put in the spotlight for issues like this because he’s one of the few black players in the league, and certainly the only one in this echelon. Whenever there’s a problem with racism in hockey, Subban is going to be sought out. So yes, he gets more of a chance to shine. And while he has dealt in platitudes at times, he’s never shirked the responsibility. There are a host of other issues it would be great to hear from any NHL player on, but this is a world where Jonathan Toews’s reasoned views on global warming are considered radical.

Subban’s charity work, fashion sense, likability, and yes, comfort in front of a camera are all things that should be cherished by the league and fans. And yet it’s milquetoast Connor McDavid or John Tavares getting the promotion pushes, or known evil shits like the Kanes. The next interesting thing Sidney Crosby has to say will be the first.

We go through this every time. If the NHL wants to expand its audience, which it hasn’t shown a determination or know-how to do, then representation matters. Subban is about all they have. And he should be pushed, and his interest in talking about things that matter shouldn’t make anyone afraid. It certainly doesn’t in the NBA or NFL.

Subban’s ways have been anathema to how NHL players and coaches and execs think a NHL dressing room should work. Fuck, it got him traded out of Montreal. Which should have been a blessing to the league, as having him in a southern market in the US where he can do all sorts of things for you should benefit everyone. Hell, he’s even got a celebrity girlfriend! What more do you need?

He already does a lot for so many. Why should anyone be hesitant to let him do more?

 

 

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Game #46 – Predators vs. Hawks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels 1248 0

Notes: It’s almost full systems go for the Preds. Forsberg and Arvidsson are back to form the top line that has given the Hawks migraines for a few years now. Turris is still out long-term, but Subban is back, whom the Hawks haven’t seen yet this year either…Saros started Monday in Toronto so it should be Rinne tonight…Jarnkrok could center the second line with Sissons moving down, they’ve tried both in the past….Smith has four goals in his last four games…

Notes: The Hawks might try and wriggle out of their defensive jam by using Seabrook’s sickness this morning (morning sickness?) as cover. They’ll have hard decisions to make otherwise. The best would be to make Keith and Seabrook the third pairing, but they won’t do that…Hayden could draw in for Kunitz, not that it matters….with no back-to-backs on the horizon it’s time to let Delia ride and see what you’ve got…some point soon they’re going to try Caggiula at center…

 

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Game #36 – Predators 1, Hawks 2 – I Will Walk Before They Make Me Run

By Rose Rankin 2011 0

The Hawks played well tonight…I’m struggling to believe I typed those words…they played better than a team that is demonstrably more talented and a legitimate Cup contender or at least conference finalist…and so I will try to make sense of this. To the bullets:

Box Score

Corsica

Natural Stat Trick

– Right out of the gate, the Hawks had a step on the Predators. Maybe this is a consequence of the Preds being on the second night of a back-to-back. You wouldn’t think that would necessarily be the case, given that Nashville is just plain better but whatever. I don’t know and I don’t care. In particular the top line had a number of quality chances and good puck movement early on, and the second line was right there with them. By the end of the second period the Hawks led in shots 28-18, and they had a 57 and 58 CF% respectively in the first two periods. They were faster to the puck, defensively competent, and they even scored a power play goal. A power play goal, guys! I don’t even know what to say!

– Related to the whole top-line-playing-well-thing is Brandon Saad, who once again had an excellent night. He ended the night with 4 shots and 56.7 CF%. In fact he had three shots on goal barely more than 5 minutes into the game. No, he didn’t score so there was a lack of finish, let’s just get that out of the way, but he played an effective two-way game all night. He was robbed via a desperation play on a short-handed breakaway that happened because he just wanted the puck more, Rinne made an outstanding save on his point-blank chance mid-way through the third, and defensively he was spot on. Saad may not have scored but his play directly impacted the Hawks’ possession and chances. If he can keep this up I won’t even bitch about him not scoring.

– Speaking of defense, that which usually scorches your face and melts your eyeballs like the opening of the Ark of the Covenant did not do that tonight. Connor Murphy and Carl Dahlstrom are just a random pairing that’s making it work somehow. They had a 57 CF% and looked, well, competent, including the final two-minute scrum when Rinne was pulled. I even saw Duncan Keith make a couple good plays to clear the puck out of the zone. Oh, and our defensemen did the scoring. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there is this thing called the Fels Motherfuck, and it’s real and it’s a force to be reckoned with. Tonight Gustav Forsling was the embodiment, and after sucking out loud he potted one past Rinne who had been unflappable to that point. And then Cowboy Gustafsson had the aforementioned unicorn, a power play goal. Up is down, black is white.

– Cam Ward isn’t better than Pekka Rinne, and that’s evidenced by the shots Rinne stopped tonight, including some excellent chances by Saad in particular but also Kane and a bunch of the other schlubs. Ward also gave up a fairly weak goal in the last minute of the first period after the Hawks had played really well, and I was honestly convinced that would be the end and the Hawks would shit the bed as soon as the second started. But tonight Ward WAS better. He is not objectively a better goalie but at least in this one instance, where it was clear Rinne was going to fuck us over, he was. Of course this means Collin Delia and his superfluous L will not get the chance he deserves (at least not for now), but fuck it, it’s a win.

– The second line of Strome-Anisimov-Kane was not as bad as I expected it to be. Before I go any further, do NOT take this as an endorsement of this being a line! I’m just saying that I expected a dumpster fire and instead for some reason Patrick Kane‘s give-a-shit meter was higher than usual tonight. He and Strome had multiple good sequences with shots and puck movement in the slot, from the circles, near the crease, everywhere you want them to be. Kane bulldozed over Anisimov in the first when his slow ass couldn’t get out of the way, and Anisimov was perennially a step behind his two linemates, but he wasn’t as much of a liability as he could have been. I still think that DeBrincat-Strome-Kane is as clear to see as the bulbous nose on Barry Smith‘s face, but at least tonight this worked.

– I won’t dwell here but Ryan Hartman should have gotten an elbowing penalty for embedding Marcus Kruger‘s mask into his face. No he didn’t jut his elbow into Kruger, but when he saw Kruger coming, Hartman definitely positioned it in such a way that Kruger would have to run into it. It’s kind of like an older sibling asking why you won’t stop punching yourself. Hopefully Kruger is OK soon enough.

The Hawks beat a better team in their division and did so in regulation, by holding onto a one-goal lead. I said it before but I have to reiterate—I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence. Does this mean the season is saved? Absolutely not. But it does mean that maybe they’re not an irredeemable mess EVERY night. We’ll take whatever breaks we can get, wherever we can get them. Onward and upward.

 

 

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Game #36 – Predators vs. Hawks Preview/Sadomasochism: What Are We Even Doing?

By Sam Fels 1482 0

 vs. 

RECORDS: Predators 22-10-2   Hawks WHO GIVES A FLYING FUCK?

PUCK DROP: 7:30

TV: NBCSN Chicago

PEOPLE WHO WRITE ABOUT A TEAM THAT KNOWS WHAT ITS DOING: On The Forecheck

This probably should get its own rant in its own post, but this is where we are today so we’ll just put it here. The Hawks have no idea what they’re doing, in the front office or behind the bench, and if everyone isn’t fired by the end of the season you have no reason to watch. There, I said it.

I don’t even know where to start, so I’m just going to throw a dart at the wall and start with the decision to loan Henri Jokiharju to the Finnish World Junior team. Let me remind you, in case you forgot, that the Hawks are not a NCAA or CHL team. They’re not an AHL team, though they do a fine impression of one. They’re a NHL TEAM that decided it was better for a player who is supposed to be a cornerstone of whatever comes next to play in a tournament full of children that he’s already played in and succeeded in. This isn’t sending a kid to Triple-A to get more ABs and work on going the opposite way. This is sending a kid back to High-A so he can beat up on confused kids trying to light their own farts fire who can’t throw a curveball. We know Jokiharju can hit a fastball! He needs to work on breaking stuff!

So what’s the rationale? Development? Nope, because he’s already dominated this level. He needs NHL time, and he needs it with a partner who A) cares and B) can play the NHL game. So the first one rules out Duncan Keith. The second basically rules out everyone else save Connor Murphy. So stick Jokiharju with Our Big Irish Son the rest of the year and find out what he can do. And let Keith continue his season-long pout with whoever can stand to do it.

Is it about saving this season? Because you can’t. And Jokiharju would help you do that more than anyone else if that really was the aim.

No, this is about the Hawks clogging their blue line with a bunch of useless stiffs they were somehow under the impression can play. This is so they can cram Gustav Forsling onto the ice more when it’s obvious he sucks. Gustav Forsling will never contribute to a team that means anything. Accept that now. It’s so they don’t have to simply waive Brandon Manning, because signing him to stick it to a coach you hate doesn’t really work anymore after you fire that coach and no team is dumb enough to take him off your hands because, y’know, they actually have pro scouts that don’t have vertigo and can clearly see he’s an abortion. It’s because they don’t really want to send Carl Dahlstrom down because lo and behold, he’s actually been good which they couldn’t scout or anticipate because they’re stupid. So sending HarJu away pushes off their problems for two-three weeks while they fist-fuck themselves even more and have the same problems in January.

So now that’s out of the way, let’s get to tonight’s lineup, which will only infuriate more. While the Hawks did get mullered on Sunday, they had show signs of life in the previous two games. And they had a third line that looked pretty spicy with David Kampf centering Dylan Sikura and Brendan Perlini. And while defensively they were an adventure, Dylan Strome between Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane was producing goals if nothing else. And the fourth line seemed to function. So why not blow all that up to appease Artem Fucking Anisimov! And let’s move Dylan Strome to a wing! Because hey, that’s where his future lies, right?! No? WELL FUCK YOU THEN!

Stick Arty’s overpaid useless ass on a fourth-line wing until it’s time to trade him for the second and third round pick at the deadline you were always going to get anyway. Strome needs reps at center in this league. He’s not going to get better at it playing a wing, where his lack of footspeed is probably even worse for him. We know what Arty is at center, and it’s overrated garbage. The season is lost, and you better find out what you have on the younger portion of the roster.

Oh but we’re not done. I got it, let’s pair Duncan Keith and his refusal to reign in his game combined with his inability to play the one he wants that’s sprinkled with a complete lack of give-a-shit, and pair him with a d-man completely incapable of covering for him in Erik Gustafsson. That sounds good! On his offside no less! Fucking genius if I understand it correctly! Swiss fucking watch! I’ll have that and then a dessert of strychnine please! And we’ll continue to toss Murphy and Carl Dahlstrom at the top lines because there’s simply no one else even though both have been with the Hawks for about seven minutes this season.

Oh, and I’m sure Cam Ward will start because it’s not like we don’t need to find out what Collin Delia is in case Corey Crawford never returns from the land of wind and ghosts.

Jeremy Colliton, at best, is in way over his head with a roster no one can save, especially if you can’t tell any of the veterans to go screw. Or he’s a complete blithering idiot. Guess we’ll find out!

Anyway, they’re playing the Predators. They’re really good and are going to kick the shit out of this outfit while barely breaking a sweat. Even if they did play last night. Pekka Rinne will probably start after getting pulled last night in Ottawa, which is a sentence. So he’ll actually be trying because of that. Which is good when he’s been the league’s best goalie this year against a team that can’t manage a piss-up in a brewery. They’ve lost a bunch of road games of late. It won’t matter.

Fuck this.

 

 

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Game #36 – Predators vs. Hawks Spotlight: Time And Tide Wait For No Man…Except This Guy

By Sam Fels 1286 0

It was only two or three years ago that you’d be forgiven for thinking that Pekka Rinne was finished. It feels like eons, but in reality it was only a few grains of sand in the hourglass of life (whoa, trippy).

Just over three years ago, Rinne was borderline terrible against the Hawks in a first-round series and really was the difference between the Preds pulling their upset then instead of waiting for two years. The following season he was mediocre at best throughout the entire campaign, posting a .908, and leading to the first calls for Juuse Saros to start to take over in the Nashville net. Preds fans were actually anxious to see the crease filled by someone else for the first time in a decade. Rinne wasn’t much better in the playoffs, posting a .906 that was good enough to see off another Ducks choke in a Game 7 at home but was pretty much railroaded by the Sharks.

Even the following regular season was only league average at .918. But something clicked in the spring of 2017, as Rinne put up a .923 in March. You’ll then recall the .980 (yes, .980) he threw at the Hawks in that authoritative and comedic sweep. Rinne would go on to produce a .930 throughout the Preds playoff run, though it came apart in the Final against the Penguins.

And it hasn’t stopped.

Rinne deservedly won his first Vezina last year, though his Game 7 full-body dry heave against the Jets perhaps colors things in some people’s eyes. And this season he’s the clubhouse leader for the award again, with the league’s best SV% at .926 and league’s best GAA at 1. 96. He has the league’s best even-strength save-percentage, and the best difference between his even-strength save-percentage and his expected one. The only thing he isn’t leading in is penalty-kill save-percentage, but he’s in the top-20 in that just in case you thought he sucked there.

Rinne’s renaissance (alliteration noted) in his mid-30s is nothing short of astonishing. In fact, he’s having one of the best seasons by a goaltender over 35 in history at the moment. No goalie has bested his current .929 at 35 or older except for Tim Thomas‘s .938 in 2010-2011 which saw him win a Vezina, Conn Smythe, and Stanley Cup. And as we’ve mentioned before, Thomas didn’t even crack an NHL lineup until after he was 30, so he didn’t have the miles. Roberto Luongo matched Rinne’s .929 last year at 38, and is really his only comparable. Ryan Miller was just a tick below at .928, but he was a backup. Rinne’s .927 is the third-best mark by any starter 35 or over.

Which makes Rinne’s next two years at $5M something beyond a bargain. Luongo is the cautionary tale of course, as he got hurt at 39 (this year) and has been pretty terrible since. He’s also three years older, exactly when Rinne’s contract would be up. Tim Thomas lost it at 39 as well. Martin Brodeur went off the diving board at 38, though he kept playing because no one could seem to tell him no. The Preds and Rinne might have this one clocked perfectly.

There are goalies who have won the Vezina Trophy at older than 36, a feat Rinne looks odds-on for. But the only one in the modern era is Thomas and Dominik Hasek in 2000-2001. And only Hasek for a second time, and no one for a second-straight year. Brodeur won at 34 and 35. Hasek won at 34 and 36. This is just not something we see very often.

Maybe there’s an injury right around the corner. Or a dip in form if Juuse Saros can’t spell him more consistently. Maybe it all hinges on what he does in the playoffs and if he can get the Preds where they’ve never been before. But we might not see this again, or at least for a while.

 

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Game #36 – Predators vs. Hawks Q&A: JR

By Sam Fels 1232 0

This one’s on us. We didn’t give our Nashville friends enough time for this, so we’ll just rerun what we did with JR Lind a couple weeks ago when the Hawks were in Nashville. We’ll make it up to you. 

Most points in the West, second-best goal difference, the Vezina leader…is there anything to complain about in Predators Land?
 
As Blackhawks fans know, there’s always something to complain about, no matter how sterling the season is. Obviously, the Preds are very, very good and were able to sustain success from last season with a minimum of moves (David Poile’s biggest free agency acquisition was bringing back Dan Hamhuis on the traditional This Guy Used To Play Here Contract).
The acute complaint is that the Preds are on a two-game losing streak, just the second time this season they’ve gone consecutive games without a point; largely this is a result of a bizarre inability to solve the Arizona Coyotes.
The more chronic issue is the power play (currently 30th ahead of only…uh hi!). It’d be easy to blame that on the recent spate of injuries with Viktor Arvidsson, Kyle Turris and Pernell Karl Subban all out, though it was worse when everyone was reasonably healthy.
Kevin Fiala has been in a season-long slump (he finally scored five-on-five Tuesday) in what many expected to be a big year for him after a breakout season last year. And while he was sparkling when he was playing everyday when Pekka Rinne was injured, Juuse Saros has been mediocre in a lot of his spot starts lately.
There’s always something to complain about.
Seriously, how has Pekka Rinne been able to come up with a career renaissance at 35?
 
After his surgery and then missing so much time because of the post-surgical infection, it really looked like he was on the downhill. Then goalie Yoda Mitch Korn left with Barry Trotz and the overwhelming feeling really was that it was time for Poile to go franchise goalie hunting in the ninth round again. And then we all realized there wasn’t a ninth round anymore. Fortunately, Rinne had a career year and finally won the Vezina, signed a very team friendly extension for two more years counting $5 million against the cap (somehow David Poile got the guy to take a pay cut after winning a Vezina).
So I don’t know what kind of magic he’s working. The only complaint (and this is a weird one, I recognize) is that he might be playing too well, because as a Preds fan, you’d like his regular season workload to be a little lighter so he’s tanned, rested and ready for the playoffs. Last season, he played a lot more down the stretch as the Preds pushed for the President’s Trophy and as he secured the Vezina. Ideally, he’d get a lot more rest in March and April.
If there’s one quibble, the Preds have gotten 14 goals from Filip Forsberg but no more than eight from anyone else. Is scoring something of a worry down the line? Or is the socialist method of scoring going to see them through?
Part of that is the injuries. Arvidsson, who hasn’t played since Nov. 10 and is out for a few more weeks, is the guy with eight. Then it’s a jumble of dudes – nine with between four and seven goals, led by Old Friend Ryan Hartman (who I contend should just be signed to a series of one-year deals from now until the end of time).
Arvidsson’s absence has meant a rotation on Ryan Johansen‘s wing opposite Forsberg, which has included such strange experiments as Rocco Grimaldi. The STF line of Smith-Turris-Fiala has been ho-hum outside of Turris, who is hurt. Smith is inconsistent and Fiala can’t score. But, there are worse things that having one guy who scores 40, another who scores 25 in an injury-plagued year and nine or 10 who go for 15 to 20.
How is the power play this bad with all the weaponry on it? (please don’t turn this question around on us)
 
Who knows? Nothing seems to work. Subban is hurt and Ryan Ellis has had trouble scoring (at evens and on the power play), which takes away two of the big outside weapons. With Arvidsson out, the coaches haven’t really found a consistent net-front threat (having tried Nick Bonino, among others, down low). Eventually, it’ll click, we’re told, but it’s getting close to 30 games in now and it’s still 14 some-odd percent so.

 

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Game #36 – Predators vs. Hawks Douchebag Du Jour: Treat Boy…Save Us Treat Boy

By Sam Fels 1089 0

Hey, remember two years ago when Ryan Johansen signaled the new wave of young centers that was going to take over the league and send players like Jonathan Toews to a farm upstate? Remember how analysts like Pierre McGuire stained their shorts over shots of Johansen barking at Ryan Kesler, as if that wasn’t something that happened every night and whenever Kesler goes to the CVS? Remember Johansen playing him into dust before getting hurt?

We hope you better, because you probably won’t see it again.

While Predators fans were busy proclaiming Johansen the NEXT THING and their first #1 center in team history, they forgot to notice he turned back into the underachieving lard-ass that got him punted from Columbus in the first place. He had less points than Jonathan Toews last year, and everyone was doing their best to put a toe-tag on Toews last year. He has less points than Toews this year. He has five goals.

Sure, he can float around the outside in a perfect imitation of Ryan Getzlaf, another player who finds it hard to locate the box marked “Fucks To Give” most nights, and rack up assists and Filip Forsberg drags his ass into relevance (no small feat). It helps that Forsberg is shooting 16% this year, and it also helps that he rips.

Maybe Johansen is saving it for the spring, as he’s been a dynamic playoff performer the past two runs the Preds have had. He was over a point-per-game last year as Nashville got to the very end of the second round. Maybe the game getting more about battles on the boards is good for him as no one can properly deal with his bloated frame. We’re sure the Preds are delighted to hand $8 million to a player who doesn’t care until April, if he even does then.

Johansen is obscenely talented, which is how he can rack up 50-60 points like clockwork without really putting himself into it. It’s why when he does care he looks like a world-beater. But it seems that when it counts, he’ll come up against someone who is just better, or at least wants it more than he does, much like Mark Scheifele last year. He’ll see Scheifele again. He may see an even better Nathan MacKinnon again. The Sharks might throw three different centers at him if they get that far.

Don’t you worry, RyJo Sen will be reaching for the M&Ms soon enough.

 

Game #36 Preview Suite

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

Lineups & How Teams Were Built