Who is the greatest player in Predators history? I know it's a tough one to choose. Kimmo Timmonen playing 8 seasons in Nashvile recording good numbers. Best name they ever had is obviously Peter Forsberg. That obvious did not work out, playing only 17 games. It does show how good of player he was though to be one of the best in Predators history. Back to my point, David Poile needs to make that kind of trade, or any trade of significant value. Don't go out and use multiple of promising prospects (especially defenseman) prospects to get a player of Peter Forsberg value. But a significant player nonetheless; a forward to be exact.
For a team in a non-traditional market, management is definatley going about the wrong way of attracting its fans. The Predators way is to draft the best (defenseman) player avaiable in they can in draft, and wait. Predators can't afford to wait. They've already been pursued by Jim Balsilie and his Blackberry empire; to relocate to Hamilton (which I would have loved). It was talked about much the past postseason, that the Predators need to advance to the 2nd round to get fans excited about the Predators (there was flouding in Nashville arena during the time when the Preds would have played in the 2nd round). The Predators have never is franchise history advanced pass the 1st round. The Predators have always been great regular season team, making the playoffs regulary.
In today's hockey you often need a star player to build and around and attract fans. This appeals the American teams, specifally the southern ones. Carolina has Eric Staal, Washington obvious has Alex Ovechkin and company (i.e Backstrom, Green) and Los Angeles has Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty who are fan favourites. Besides Washington (because of their elite players with loads of talent) Los Angeles is on the climb in attendance with making the playoffs, having a great season and exciting players. Carolina would have had a better attendance showing had Cam Ward not gone down with injury and thus the Hurricanes lost many games.
In the Preds case, they annually make the playoffs and have a great regulary. So what's the problem? They are the the Devils of the West. The difference the Devils have players that can crack 80 pts or more. Steve Sullivan and Patric Hornqvist lead the Preds in points; with 51 pts. It may be a defensive team; but 51 pts!? That should be you no. 1 defenseman numbers with your top forwards getting at least 65 pts or more. Now this wouldn't matter if the Nashville wasn't located where it is. I could barley get through the Preds vs. Hawks 1st round with the trap, and neutralzone play of the Preds. The Preds have 18 players drafted by them; only Detroit can do that and have successful years. The Preds have gone about the wrong way in attracting fans and having successfull campaigns every year.
The best part about this problem, is that it isn't hard to fix this problem. The Preds may have signed Lombardi, who is good but isn't a 1st line centre. There may not be a slew of player to get in return in a trade. The one thing the Preds have done well, is drafting successful defenseman. Their best are Jon Blum and Ryan Ellis. Teams don't carry 5 offensive defenseman: Shea Webber, Cody Franson, Ryan Suter and later adding Blum and Ellis . Not to say they aren't good defensively, but their best assest are their scoring. So it's a good geuss that one of these defenseman will be swaped in the future, hopefully for a scoring roster ready forwards.
NSH trade Jon Blum for SJ Devin Setoguchi
NSH trade Ryan Ellis & David Legwand to DAL for Mike Ribeiro and Jamie Benn
(I think that Cody Franson is interchangeable with either of Ellis or Blum with the same style and is comming off his rookie campaign)
Finally Sign (or make a reasonable trade at the deadline if they can pull it off) Alexander Semin next off season
I really think these deals are possible. David Polie could get more than Setoguchi but Setoguchi is a great alternating 1st and 2nd line player. Dallas is desperate for a defenseman, they are shopping Mike Ribeiro and would gain a little bit more cap space between him and Legwand, and Jamie Benn came off a 22 goal rookie season. Let's be honest; they would be one of the toughest teams to play against if these deals went down, and for once exciting to watch.
