Observations XX

[LCPreds]

Oh man if we're going to open up discussion on the new concessions systems....:

#1: I love the convenience of having my season ticket holder pass on my phone in lieu of carrying a card around on a lanyard. HOWEVER... I hate handing my phone over to have them scan it. Who is liable if they drop that thing? Not sure the Preds thought that one through completely.

#2: It takes way too long to buy something now. Part of it is probably related to learning curve. Part of it is potentially system glitches a la what we're seeing/hearing with the new audio/visual experience. With that said, I saw someone have to punch what seemed like at least 9 separate buttons to sell me a single beer. (Note: It was my first beer so no I wasn't seeing double.)

#3: Club bar is way too slow now. It's obvious to anyone who has been up there in previous years. They've always been slow during the intermissions due to only 3 bartenders but it's exponentially worse this year due to #1 and #2 above. Frankly we just avoid the place now since intermission time is limited and that place has been such a crap shoot on efficiency. Sucks too because it's a great central meeting point on a level of the arena that really doesn't offer much.

The jersey wall is great though.

 

[FossilFndr]

Oh man if we're going to open up discussion on the new concessions systems....:

Maybe new thread? This might get numerous responses.

 

[LCPreds]

Maybe new thread? This might get numerous responses.

Good call. Done!

 

[Pred303]

just a side note on the game. that 'great' pass from Bonino to Jarnkrok was actually just a fluffed shot attempt from Bonino that leaked to a perfect spot. worked out well though lol.

 

[Armourboy]

just a side note on the game. that 'great' pass from Bonino to Jarnkrok was actually just a fluffed shot attempt from Bonino that leaked to a perfect spot. worked out well though lol.

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

 

[Pred303]

great start for the team of course. as long as we get great goaltending, we will be an 'elite' team despite some of the problems we can all identify. So far in the first 5 games Rinne/Saros have not allowed a single 'soft' or questionable goal. To me that's the true measure of your goaltending.

Now we badly need our second line to click. we really need them to be close to a goal per game to take the pressure off the top line (which has been and continues to be great). 2 goals in 5 games from Smith, Fiala, Turris is not what we need from them on a regular basis. Tonight would be the ideal time for Fiala to net one as you can begin to see he's pressing out there and trying to do a little too much by himself.

 

[bdub24]

The speed on display this early in the season is really wild. I remember previous seasons where you could definitely tell it was the early part of a long season, but this year seems different in the Preds games so far. At least to me it does.

 

[David Singleton]

great start for the team of course. as long as we get great goaltending, we will be an 'elite' team despite some of the problems we can all identify. So far in the first 5 games Rinne/Saros have not allowed a single 'soft' or questionable goal. To me that's the true measure of your goaltending.

Now we badly need our second line to click. we really need them to be close to a goal per game to take the pressure off the top line (which has been and continues to be great). 2 goals in 5 games from Smith, Fiala, Turris is not what we need from them on a regular basis. Tonight would be the ideal time for Fiala to net one as you can begin to see he's pressing out there and trying to do a little too much by himself.

Or scoring from any line beyond the 1st line, for that matter. Last year, the Predators were driven by scoring from the D and from two lines that scored like a first line. This year, pretty much all forward scoring is coming from that first line.

(not to diminish Steve's point, cause it's 100% true)

 

[triggrman]

Anybody else worried about our drafting. We have not had a drafted player playing regularly for our team since 2014. We haven't had a good draft (3 NHL regulars) since 2009. Man, looking at our drafting, it's been awful outside of Arvidsson.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Anybody else worried about our drafting. We have not had a drafted player playing regularly for our team since 2014. We haven't had a good draft (3 NHL regulars) since 2009. Man, looking at our drafting, it's been awful outside of Arvidsson.

How many 1st round picks we have those years? 3 (Fiala, Tolvanen, Fabbro)? Feels like we've traded a lot of picks over that span--not just 1sts, but picks in general. I'm sure it's probably much less than I'm thinking though. Drafts have not been impressive, but there also just really isn't anywhere for the players to go. NHL roster has been pretty hole-free, which may be part of the underwhelming development of some of those players.

 

[LCPreds]

Anybody else worried about our drafting. We have not had a drafted player playing regularly for our team since 2014. We haven't had a good draft (3 NHL regulars) since 2009. Man, looking at our drafting, it's been awful outside of Arvidsson.

Well to be fair we have traded away a good amount of our decent draft picks. We lost one due to the college rule. Hopefully it just ends up being the one. I also think part of it is the same "curse" (if you want to call it that) we've had in always being average to good over the last 10-15 years so the picks we do get are rarely in the upper half of a round. The 'awful' year we ended up with Seth Jones who doesn't play for us because we flipped him for Joey. We've also traded away a lot of draft picks over the years as well.

Funny enough our roster is still hits right at NHL average age so it's not like we're void of youth. With that said, the current strategy may come back to bite us eventually unless Poile can continue to flip assets for youth instead of building through the draft. This is the only reason I would ever anticipate him flipping Subban before the end of his contract.

 

[Armourboy]

At some point you pay the price, it's not a matter of if but when. We will eventually reach a point where this core just can't do it anymore and whether its Poile or another GM we will be letting some guys go in order to reload.

 

[GoldOnGold]

Anybody else worried about our drafting. We have not had a drafted player playing regularly for our team since 2014. We haven't had a good draft (3 NHL regulars) since 2009. Man, looking at our drafting, it's been awful outside of Arvidsson.

Since 2014 we've had no high picks, and we've traded our 1st twice. With the 1sts we did have, we picked Fabbro (a pretty good pick) and Tolvanen (a very good pick). Besides that, we also picked Girard, who looks like a great pick despite us no longer having him.

I feel like without high 1st round picks, 1-2 NHL regulars per year is about all you can hope for.

 

[Drake744]

Are we like......waiting on a GDT?

 

[Jonesey]

Are we like......waiting on a GDT?

Well I didn’t have time to get one together at work today.

 

[PredsV82]

Anybody else worried about our drafting. We have not had a drafted player playing regularly for our team since 2014. We haven't had a good draft (3 NHL regulars) since 2009. Man, looking at our drafting, it's been awful outside of Arvidsson.

Um, wait wut?
Girard was a good pick but needed to be used as a trade.

Tolvanen will be a good pick

Vesey was a good pick

Fabbro will probably be a good pick. And there are several others(Mishmash, Farrance, Allard, Carrier) would probably be able to play but are a victim of both the Preds success and Poiles ability to sign guys cheap. Other teams lose guys like Ellis or Ekholm because they are too expensive for the second pair. And Sissons, Watson and Jarnkrok have made cracking the lineup as a third liner and working your way up difficult.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

The reason Yannick Weber's Corsi is so off the chain is due to him deciding to play forward and not defense.

I don't like where we put Smith on the power play.

Happy with a win but pleanty to be unhappy about.

 

[triggrman]

Salomaki might be the weakest link

 

[Drake744]

Maybe you all know this, but this blows my mind.

We haven't had a 65 point scorer since Dumont in 08-09

 

[Pred303]

a few thoughts;

..rinne's save on the breakaway with 2 minutes to go. they don't get bigger than that
..johansen can be such a dominant force. early signs that he is ready to play this year.
..Forsberg can shoot the puck
..good to see the PP score again. also good to see the way we scored with a rebound in front.
..lol that ekholm leads our d-corp in scoring.
..three solid posts early. immediately I assumed we were going to lose.
..ellis remains our most snake bitten player. three posts already that I've counted this year.
..hamhuis=weber played ok, but man you can't let them split the middle with a stretch pass that late in a one goal game
..Turris first star? come on.
..is it just me or does anyone else want to cover their eyes when subban is pressured behind our net?
..salomaki. talk about falling in cowshit and coming out smelling ok.
..that was a very long final 15 minutes trying to protect a 1 goal lead.
..MIN was stupid to save Dubnyk to play against ARZ at home. hope it costs them both games.
..fiala is really pressing badly. badly needs something positive to happen.
..our defensemen aren't going to score a goal a game all year, we need more from the bottom 6 obviously
..really wish we would shift our top line a little more each game at the 4th line's expense. just a couple more shifts

5-1. might find things that need to get better, but can't fault that

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Pretty under-the-radar 5-1 start, though we've only beaten two playoff-caliber teams and we're not that blue team sporting foliage on their chests. All the better.

 

[Pred303]

a few other morning after thoughts;
..ellis has been on ice for 6 even strength goals for, and only 1 goal against,
..we have given up 4 PP goals. on ice for those 4 goals: bonino 3, hartman 2, jarnkrok 2, sissons 1, subban 4, ekholm 3, bitetto 1.
..we have only given up 8 even strength goals in 6 games. that will win you a lot of games.
..on ice for those 8 even strength goals; forsberg 5, johansen 5, arvy 4, fiala 2, jarnkrok 2, subban 6, ekholm 5, josi 3. no one else with more than 1
..our fourth line hasn't been on ice for any goals allowed. meanwhile sissons has been on for 4 es goals scored

..there continues to be some confusion over whether forsberg's empty net goal against NYI was technically a PP goal or not. right now both individual and team stats show it as an even strength goal. Hickey tripped Sissons at eactly the 17:00 minute mark. Forsberg's goal crossed the line at exactly the 19:00 minute mark. Technically that should be a PP goal, well i think (not that it really matters in the big scheme of things). anyway it's an interesting ruling. might see official stats change, might not.

 

[drwpreds]

a few thoughts;


..Turris first star? come on.

Yes- what in the heck was up with that??? Made no sense whatsoever. Rinne absolutely should have been one of the stars.

 

[Pred303]

totally agree drw, didn't understand that at all

 

[Drake744]

Yes- what in the heck was up with that??? Made no sense whatsoever. Rinne absolutely should have been one of the stars.

I'm only basing this on my experience seeing the media at Panthers games operate, but the process of selecting the three stars seemed, in the immortal words of Lavy cursing out the Flyers on the HBO series, "as fu**** casual as it gets."

I saw someone get a star of the game after two beat writers looked at each other and one said "Sure, why not?"