Expecting Hannan to cover for Suter defensively is like hoping for Colaiacovo to cover for Lidstrom offensively, and part of their success was pairing two elite defensemen and playing them for half the game in the playoffs. But their defensive prospect depth will soften the fall a lot..
I think that's the Predators plan. They are not as good, but can be pretty near even. Especially when you play Hannan with Weber. I think it could go as well as Woolley/Lilja/Dandenault/Olausson with prime Lidström.
Scott Hannan played 17 ES minutes and same 2 min SH like Suter did. No PP time, Suter had 3:40. That Suter PP time goes for Ellis, who is maybe even talented quarterback than Suter. Of course Ellis is worse defensively at ES, but he is sheltered ES at 3rd pair like last season and off from PK. Somebody else on left side is going to eat those 3 ES minutes, and that goes to promising Josi. Or why not use Klein more. He's a defensive stud. Hal Gill will probably be the same.
Last season:
ES minutes:
Suter - Weber, 20-20 minutes (Hannan 17 minutes at Flames, 3 minutes slide to other defencemen)
Josi - Klein, 16-17 minutes
Gill - Ellis 13-13 minutes
PK
Gill - Klein
Suter - Weber (add Hannan)
PP
Suter - Weber (add Ellis)
Josi - S.Kostitsyn
And it's not just the defence. There's also team defense. What the forwards do is as important. I could just believe Nashville won't miss a beat, cause they have pretty young core developing better.
They will replace Suter as a comittee, can I borrow these lovely words from Ken Holland.
But if Weber gets injured, then they are in deep trouble. Suter would be nice insurance on that scenario, now it turns to be an immediate disaster without their Odin (Shea Weber). Maybe Tootoo will bang him out, I hope.
This division will continue to be extremely close imo, I actually don't think Columbus are too many pieces away from becoming relevant either. But the same could be said for the entire league. A lowered cap will just spread the players around further, and teams will rely on the home-grown talent to fill spots. The league will if possible become even tighter.
There was a rumor from Larry Brooks that Winnipeg is swapped with Columbus to Central division, if we have a season.
So Central goes even tighter. Winnipeg got 19 points more at last season than Columbus. But maybe it's more exciting to play against them, no more sloppy uninterested nights with floating and lazy Franzen against the hopeless Blue Jackets.