Are we cursed offensively?

[maplepred]

we have never had an 80 point player outside of Paul Kariya. We have never even had a point per game player outside of kariya. We have never had a 49 goal scorer, we are only team in league to hold such prestigious records. I know trotz ran a tight defensive shift but we still don’t do anything even with laviolette. Ovie doing great numbers under trotz as well. We won’t win a cup with lousy goaltending and 1-2 goals for a game. Our first line is a second line, they can barely get 60 points, all three of the “jofa” line.

Our offensive output is pathetic now for over 20 years. Why?

This team needs to be blown up big time, hit the reset bottom. Lavi needs to go and so does a lot of guys, nobody is untouchable except maybe saros who didn’t even get a sniff this playoffs anyways.
If we blow it up, it would certainly make us not worry about who Seattle takes, but then poile is too old and wants a cup so we probably don’t blow it up....... just lose again next season.

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[bdub24]

I'm down. I made a safe list in another thread, which I guess isn't totally blowing it up.

Just keep a couple around for Seattle bait,

 

[Legionnaire11]

@NoNecksCurse

 

[NoNecksCurse]

@NoNecksCurse

haha!

maybe it's a real thing?

i mean if he wins the cup in NYI in the next couple of years.. then oh man.

 

[LCPreds]

I hate to beat a dead horse here but top end offensive talent is most often identified early and therefore gobbled up early in the draft. The Preds haven't had a lot of opportunities to take advantage of that. Being in the middle for most of the last 20 years has been fantastic for stabilizing the franchise for the long term but to get what you want we're going to have to go through some dark days.

Take a look at Colorado. They haven't been really relevant since what, 2008? But hey they have a first line that is comprised of a 1st (Mac 2013), a 2nd (Landeskog 2011), and a 10th (Rantanan 2015). They also had a 3rd pick in Duchene (2009) who they traded away last year. Let's not forget they also have a 10th in Jost (2016) and a 4th in Rakar (2017). That's 4 top 5 picks since 2009.

So yeah they have some great offense but would you trade the last 10+ years to be where they are now? I'm with you though. I want these kind of players and I constantly have this discussion about whether it would be worth some dark days to get them. But the risk is that some of these orgs stay in the dark days for a lot longer than we're all likely willing to wager.

It gets even crazier when you look at teams like Edmonton. If you simply google "edmonton oilers draft picks" it doesn't default to an Edmonton based wiki. It defaults to "List of first overall NHL draft picks" and proceeds to show 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. as the teaser. Edmonton, Edmonton, Edmonton, Colorado. Of course we know they had the 1st in 2015 as well.

Edmonton is nuts:
2010: 1st (Hall)
2011: 1st (RNH)
2012: 1st (Yakupov)
2013: 7th (Nurse)
2014: 3rd (Draisatl)
2015: 1st (McDavid)
2016: 4th (Puljujarvi)
2017: 22nd OMG EDMONTON IS FINALLY HERE!
2018: 10th (Bouchard)

I do think we had a chance for an 80 point player with our 15th pick in 2004 (Radulov) but that was 15 years ago. Crazy to think it's been 15 years and he is still likely the best all around offensive talent we have drafted.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

it is honestly fascinating how low of point totals our forwards get here and have gotten. other than the 2 years we had kariya, our forwards production has to have been bottom 5 in the league annually. i miss kariya.

 

[LOUISVILLE ICE CARDS]

No just no. It sucks seeing this season go down the drain but does not give us a reason to blow up. The Stanley is the hardest trophy to win in sports and i believe in this team. Yes I do agree we need some changes. I feel Lavi’s shelf life is just about up and I would be fine with parting ways. Fire selling the whole team though I’m against. Trading Subban for cap relief and adding a young prospect or proven forward I’m all for. There are so many other was to address our scoring issues. There is no reason to set this team back 5+ years with our team approaching or currently in their prime. I expect Turris to rebound too. Would not be surprised it comes out he never fulling recovered

 

[valeriammm]

Suban is out, Turris is out, all coaching minus Lavi is out, and I would be shocked if the JOFA line stays where its at. This was most certainly the last yera of "enjoyable" preds hockey for some time.

 

[Gh24]

No just no. It sucks seeing this season go down the drain but does not give us a reason to blow up. The Stanley is the hardest trophy to win in sports and i believe in this team. Yes I do agree we need some changes. I feel Lavi’s shelf life is just about up and I would be fine with parting ways. Fire selling the whole team though I’m against. Trading Subban for cap relief and adding a young prospect or proven forward I’m all for. There are so many other was to address our scoring issues. There is no reason to set this team back 5+ years with our team approaching or currently in their prime. I expect Turris to rebound too. Would not be surprised it comes out he never fulling recovered

I couldn't double like the post so I'm quoting it. Agree 100%.

 

[Gnashville]

It’s strange because even when they acquire guys that are offensive players they seem to degrade when they don a Predators jersey. The team record in 20 years is 34 goals. Atlanta had 2 players eclipse that in the same year by their 4th year in existence. Columbus and Minnesota also had 40 goal scorers early. I know the Predators have never had the chance to draft someone high in a draft but they also took too many “safe” picks over high ceiling picks especially during Trotz’s tenure.

Look where Point and Kucherov were drafted. So it is possible to get someone with higher skill outside the top 10 but the team needs to make it a priority not take safe “2way” players.

Tolvanen was a overhyped kid because of 2 good months in the KHL (which isn’t known for it’s defense). He looks to be another disappointment. Certainly he can be a good 20/20 guy but this Franchise has a plethora of them. With the lottery being the way it is it’s impossible to get a top pick without luck, so what can Poile do?

 

[adsfan]

Boy, I thought when Byrddog stop posting on here the gloom and doom had ended!

Gnashville: You are correct that the team season goal record is 34 over 20 years. Last year it was 33 in 19 years. Maybe next year it will be 35 or 39 goals or 34.

LCPreds: I looked into Radulov's records. This year he had a record high 27 NHL goals and tied his record NHL points with 72. He may never have 80, but I could be wrong.

maplepred: I don't think that blowing the team up is the short term or the long term answer. The team is close to big success. In a "bad" season, they still won the division! They scored 240 goals for 19th place at almost 3 goals a game. Just 10 goals separated them from 13th place.

I think that next season will be better. Injuries really hurt the team, the team chemistry and the offense this season.

 

[LCPreds]

LCPreds: I looked into Radulov's records. This year he had a record high 27 NHL goals and tied his record NHL points with 72. He may never have 80, but I could be wrong.

Two points here. First, that’s because he spent his prime years in the KHL. Second, he scored those 72 points in only 70 games played.

I’m guessing he would have had an 80 point season had he stayed in the NHL for his entire career. Also note, I said Rads was our ‘chance’ for one. If we want to get into semantics then it actually makes the argument for being cursed worse if you believe he never would have made it.