The Carolina Hurricanes face the Nashville Predators tonight, in the first meeting of the season between the two teams. Recently, I’ve been looking at how Carolina’s roster compares to other teams in the Central Division and today, I’ll be comparing the Hurricanes and Predators rosters.
Note: We’ve already released four articles in this series, which you can view here:
The Predators have some key pieces up front but most of them were underwhelming last season. Viktor Arvidsson, Mikael Granlund and Ryan Johansen all disappointed, while Matt Duchene didn’t live up to the hype either in his first season with the Predators. Filip Forsberg was productive but he has yet to replicate his near point-per-game pace that he managed in the 2017-18 season, while Calle Jarnkrok, Rocco Grimaldi and newcomers Erik Haula and Luke Kunin make for great depth, but should only be counted on for secondary scoring. Nashville doesn’t have any key top forwards, other than Filip Forsberg, who’s likely a step down from Carolina’s top three forwards. If the likes of Arvidsson, Granlund and Johansen can return to form and up their production, Nashville would have the edge here. Based on how the forward groups performed last season, however, the advantage has to go to Carolina.
Advantage: Hurricanes
DEFENSE
This is a pretty close comparison. Each team has their stars, with Dougie Hamilton and Jaccob Slavin in the mix for the Hurricanes and Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi leading the way for the Predators. Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei also make for a solid second pairing for the Hurricanes, while Dante Fabbro should continue developing and become a solid top-four defenseman for Nashville. There are arguments to be made for both sides but realistically, each team has a strong defense group and they come out looking fairly even.
Advantage: N/A
GOALTENDING
As is the case with most teams when they face the Hurricanes, the Predators have the advantage in net. Juuse Saros is poised to take over as a starter for Nashville, while Pekka Rinne, despite a down year, can still provide another option for the Predators as well. Saros should provide more consistency than Petr Mrazek, while James Reimer can be a solid backup but isn’t a long-term fix for Carolina.
Advantage: Predators
These two teams should be fairly evenly matched and we should expect the Predators to bounce back, at least to an extent, in an easier division this season.
***NOTE: We've launched a HockeyBuzz Hurricanes Twitter account! For anyone interested, you can follow @HB_Canes for updates on articles, Hurricanes news, etc.***
Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you think the Hurricanes will finish ahead of the Predators in the standings this season?
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