Summer Skate series index
Although the weather doesn't necessarily make us think of winter pursuits, it's a good time to take the temperature of every NHL team. Hockey Prospectus will guide us through the league-wide tour, spotlighting one player trending up and one player trending down for each club, as well as a key statistic as we look ahead to the 2014-15 season. References will be made to goals versus threshold (GVT), a Hockey Prospectus proprietary statistic; for more on GVT, click here. All other advanced stats are courtesy of Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com.
After making the postseason in seven of eight seasons from 2003-04 to 2011-12, the Nashville Predators fell off and have missed the boat in each of the past two seasons. As sometimes occurs when expected success fails to materialize, the Predators parted ways with the only coach in franchise history, Barry Trotz, shortly thereafter replacing him with Peter Laviolette, a man more offensively minded than his predecessor.
Longtime general manager David Poile shook up the roster, as well, bringing in forwards Mike Ribeiro, Olli Jokinen and most prominently James Neal, hoping to add firepower to an organization long known more for stifling the opposition to death than outgunning them. Ironically, the Predators were a middle-of-the-road team offensively, as their 2.61 goals per game was tied for 18th leaguewide, whereas their defensive play struggled, as they finished 23rd, surrendering 2.84 goals per game. The latter problem already has a solution in hand, however, as veteran standout Pekka Rinne should be recovered from the hip ailments that sank him -- and the Predators -- last season.
Trending Up: Seth Jones, D
Last season: 2.6 GVT
VUKOTA Projection: 4.3 GVT