The Nashville Predators' penalty situation has reached a peak
You may not have realized this, but the Nashville Predators are the most penalized team in the NHL. Or maybe you did realize this because, watching the games, you observed how often the Preds find themselves killing penalties. It seems like every game the Preds are committing more and more penalties, creating more and more […]
You may not have realized this, but the Nashville Predators are the most penalized team in the NHL.
Or maybe you did realize this because, watching the games, you observed how often the Preds find themselves killing penalties.
It seems like every game the Preds are committing more and more penalties, creating more and more scoring opportunities for opponents, and making wins harder and harder to come by.
But just how bad are the actual penalty numbers for Preds? Let's look at it.
Preds are the most penalized team in NHL
To start, the Preds lead the league in penalty minutes with 623 in 48 games. That's an average of nearly 13 minutes in penalties per game, a mark which also leads the league.
But that's not all. They also lead the league in major penalties with 33. Most of those are fighting majors, but some are serious incidents involving elbows and knees. Mark Borowiecki and Tanner Jeannot lead the team with nine major penalties each.
Again, most of those are fighting majors, but they also include egregious plays like last Saturday when Borowiecki elbowed Evgeny Svechnikov in the head, leading to a five minute major penalty for the Preds to kill off. The Jets scored twice on that major power play, sealing the Preds' 2nd consecutive loss.
The severity and timeliness of the penalties for the Preds is starting to accumulate. Players like Borowiecki, Jeannot, Trenin, and others are building a reputation (or adding to it?) as reckless players, which only leads to more frequent calls on close plays. Refs know what to expect when those players hit the ice, and their play makes it easier to call fouls. This is not to pile on those players specifically, but admittedly their aggressive play has gotten out of control.
When you see the Preds' penalty taking represented in graph form, compared with the rest of the league, it looks even worse:
Look how much farther down the chart the Preds are from everyone else.
Seriously, that's bad. Even considering the rate at which the Preds draw penalties, you simply cannot call yourself a good team and continue taking that many penalties.
Penalties making Preds easier to play
The Preds pride themselves on being "tough to play against." If you've watched the Preds over the last three years or so, you know that wasn't the case in previous years. This bloody-sandpaper, fight-in-their-eyes, battle-for-every-loose-puck style has been a welcomed sight for Preds fans tired of seeing their team getting pushed around.
But the Preds have seemingly lost control. Instead of being hard to play against, the Preds are playing a man down most of the time. Something that Hynes pointed out makes the Preds much easier to play against.
"We want to be a hard team to play against, but there's different components. Hard to play against is physicality, is puck battles, it's also blocking shots, it's also making wall plays," John Hynes said after Saturday night's loss. "But also being hard to play against is staying out of the penalty box. Right now I would say we are a pretty hard team to play against except for that area. And that's allowing teams to get on power plays and get offense and get momentum in the game and change the momentum in the game."
"That's what we have to understand. Hard to play against has a lot of definitions. And right now in the penalty department, we're making ourselves easy to play against."
Thankfully, the Preds' penalty kill has been much improved compared to years past. They currently rank 14th in the NHL with an 80.7% success rate. If not for their effectiveness at killing penalties, the Preds might not find themselves with as good a record as they do. And they wouldn't find themselves in a playoff position as the trade deadline approaches.
The Preds are holding steady in 3rd place in the Central Division. They've surprised most of the league with their play so far, getting solid contributions from their top paid players. Guys like Roman Josi, Matt Duchene, Filip Forsberg, and Juuse Saros are carrying the team, which you would expect looking at the payroll.
The Preds have played well enough at this point to be seriously considered a playoff team. But if the penalty taking doesn't subside, they might find themselves backsliding into "bubble team" territory.
— Featured image via Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports —
