Pool Outlook for Nashville

The Predators made a good run in 2009, but fell just short of the playoffs. The Preds finished 10th in the West, 3 points out of 8th. It doesn't quite help that they finished the season 2-4-0 in their last six games, especially when the teams above them are winning games. Despite their first season out of the playoffs in the last five seasons, the Predators do have a good base of players to build from and saw some great improvements from some of those same players.

The team's top fantasy player in 2009 was actually their rookie goalie, Pekka Rinne, who finished the year with 29 wins, 7 shutouts and an assist for 73 points. That was good enough to place him 45th on the pool rankings, which is mighty impressive for a rookie in the league. Rinne took over the number one job in Nashville from Dan Ellis, who struggled out of the gate in the season, finishing with only 11 wins and 3 shutouts for 28 points. The Nashville goaltending situation has been a funny one over the past few seasons.

Up front, it was a little bit of a downturn season for the team's top four forwards. J-P Dumont, Jason Arnott, Martin Erat and David Legwand all saw dips in production, as well as time missed, in the season, making them less valuable in a fantasy sense. Dumont and Arnott did finish in the top 100 of pool players with 65 and 57 points, respectively, but that wasn't at all productive enough to make it into the playoffs. Erat fell out of the top 100 this season, as his 50 points in 71 GP dropped him down to 129th. Joel Ward was a pleasant surprise for the Predators this season, finishing with 35 points in 79 GP. He may have some potential still to be reached as well.

The blueline duo, Shea Weber and Ryan Suter, emerged as one of the most potent combinations in the league during the year. Weber's production jumped up to 53 points (including 23 goals) in 81 GP, ranking him 9th among defenders and 116th in the entire league. Suter finished the season with 45 points in 82 GP, bettering the half a point-per-game average. It's hard to believe that both of these players are under the age of 25 and have some growing still to do in the league. Needless to say, they are worthy of a good draft pick in 2010.

2010 Season Outlook
The outlook is definitely positive for the Predators, but it remains to be seen how much better they will be when compared to other playoff teams in the West. They have a good core of players signed (see below) and they are operating under a strict budget well, so depending on how they want to go about filling their open spots, the Preds' fans should be optimistic about 2010.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
J-P Dumont	Shea Weber	Pekka Rinne
Jason Arnott	Ryan Suter	Dan Ellis
Martin Erat	Dan Hamhuis
David Legwand	Kevin Klein
Jordin Tootoo
Jared Smithson

Currently, the Predators have 12 of their regular players signed for next season, including both their goaltenders, for approximately $32.4 million, which leaves them well below the cap floor for the moment. Fortunately, they still have to put 11 more players on the roster, so eclipsing the the floor shouldn't be an issue for the Predators.

The Predators aren't carrying a lot of key RFA's into the summer this year, as Ryan Jones and Antti Pihlstrom, are the only two forwards eligible who played more that 41 games this year. Neither player can provide you much for fantasy numbers, but I'm sure the team is looking forward to seeing them back in the line-up, hopefully for a full season.

The UFA market out of Nashville does have some interesting names coming from it. For forwards you'll see Joel Ward, Steve Sullivan, Radek Bonk, Vern Fiddler, Scott Nichol and Jed Ortmeyer. On defense, Greg Zanon, Ville Koistinen and Greg de Vries all spring up. I would have to imagine that Sullivan would remain with the team, especially after the patience given to him in regards to his back injury, it would be a kind gesture. Sullivan does still have some left in the tank,s coring 32 points in 41 games this season. Otherwise, the team may pick and choose a couple from the list, but it could be a good year for depth players, come July 1st.

Even if the team chooses to go away from their UFA crop a little bit, they have plenty coming down the pipe from their system. Colin Wilson, Jonathan Blum, Cody Franson and more goaltending in Chet Pickard. Wilson is the blue chip of the bunch, drafted 7th overall last summer, he'll bring a young, fresh talent to the team, something of which Predators fans haven't seen, since the potential of David Legwand. It will be interesting to see if Blum or Franson make the jump, as they both have shown a lot of promise in their junior days. These two defenders may have a spot on your team by mid-season, if all things go well. Since the Predators like to get a new goalie going every year, it's eerily not out of the question to see Pickard have a shot at the number one job by the end of the year.

Sometimes I really don't know what to think about the Predators. They have a certain anonymity to them that sort of helps me to forget about them as a whole, unless they are playing the Canucks. The team on paper has a lot of positives to it and it was hard not to notice Weber and Suter on the blueline this year, so they finally have some sort of identity. If Colin Wilson can make the jump to the big club in 2010, I might go after him as my last forward in the draft, saying that no one else is thinking the same thing I am before I am.