NHL Offseason Part 1: The Predators Won't Win It

This cost as much as their first line.

With the NHL off-season finally under way, just like we all hoped for, we are given the chance to look at the only league not shutting themselves down.  As such, this begins our thirty part session of why each NHL team will not win the Stanley Cup, based on the summation of their roster and various other factors, such as wind speed and number of Russian players named Ovechkin.  First up: the Nashville Predators!

1. Their leading scorer: Quick, who led the Nashville Predators in scoring last season?  If you guessed Sergei Kostitsyn or Martin Erat, congratulations! You are looking on Yahoo! Sports just like I am.  That's right, these two accomplished men, fresh off seasons in which nobody on Earth knew who they were (including Mrs. Erat), managed to be the leading scorers on an NHL team.  Sure, they would have been sixth in scoring on the Vancouver Canucks, but what do you want?  Oh, people who are good at scoring goals?  My bad.


2. Brett Lebda: First off, Brett Lebda is terrible.  This is, of course, not the reason the Predators will lose.  The man played for the Red Wings for years and they were good in spite of him (Lidstrom tends to cover such mistakes).  Of course, Brett Lebda has 72 points in his career, which would have led the Predators in scoring by 22 points if he had done it in one season, rather than in 367 games.  Furthermore, the Predators traded for this defensive mastermind.  They couldn't have given up too much though, right?  Sure, Matthew Lombardi is a proven second-line or third-line center, but he was out all last year with a concussion and costs a lot, so I guess that isn't a TERRIBLE trade.  Of course, they also gave up Cody Franson, who is a plus 25 in two seasons in the NHL and scored 29 points last year.  Also, he is 24, while Brett Lebda is not.

3. Everything but Pekka Rinne: Pekka Rinne is amazing, that is assured.  Of course, the rest of the team can't do much of anything.  Goals? 21st in the NHL.  Shots on goal? 24th.  Hell, they can't even take penalties well, they were 29th in that.  Their only strength is Shea Weber (who is a restricted free agent by the by) and the rest of their D-corps, who they insist upon drafting new members of every year.  Because God knows that when you have a front line consisting of Mike Fisher and Matt Halischuk, you're set for goals.

4. The Fans: Alright, Nashville is nowhere near as bad as most of the Southern hockey "markets," but just look at their reaction to trading for Mike Fisher.  Wow, we got a solid second-line center! Nope, that's not it.  Wow, we got Carrie Underwood's husband! Ya, that's more like it.  Seriously, the man ate up the press in Nashville for this reason alone and nothing else.  Hell, Joel Ward scored about 15 goals in the playoffs and they still only talked about Mr. Underwood.  Just think about that and realize: the Nashville Predators will lose.