What to make of the Nashville Predators’ start after big offseason changes

The Nashville Predators have found themselves off to a solid start to the year, with a 4-5-0 record and sitting in fifth in the Central Division. Even in a 5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, they’ve looked competitive for most of it against teams with significantly more talent than them like Vancouver thanks to new additions like Ryan O’Reilly.

Luke Gazdic joined Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk on Daily Faceoff Live to talk about what he thinks of the Predators so far this season.

Luke Gazdic: Just really average, to be honest. The Predators are not top 10 in any statistical categories that matter, they have a phenomenal goaltender who, if they want to have any success, is pretty much going to have to throw this team on his back and play most of the games, especially down the stretch, so you’re hoping he stays healthy.

The Preds are just kind of part of that murky middle in the Central, where you can throw in the Arizona Coyotes, the Minnesota Wild, even the Winnipeg Jets if you want to throw them in there. I think Nashville is more top tier than them, but I think they’re going to be battling in the middle of that Central all year.

I don’t know if the Preds are a playoff team with what they have. They just don’t have a lot of depth. Give them credit, they had a gutsy win at home versus the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime on Saturday, but Nashville is just kind of sitting on the outside looking in for me. I think at the end of things, they’ve just kind of been really average this year.

I’m not expecting too much from the Preds. But in saying that, they got a couple great vets in O’Reilly and Luke Schenn and Filip Forsberg and Tyson Barrie and these guys. We’ll see how the Preds go down the way here.

You can watch the full episode here…