By Alex Daugherty
The Nashville Predators season came to an end Monday night when John Klingberg scored an overtime goal to carry the Dallas Stars to a 2-1 win. The Stars won the series 4-2 and now advance to the 2nd round to play the St. Louis Blues.
A season full of high expectations for the Predators now ends with a first round exit… something the Predators haven’t experienced in four years.
Honestly, you could consider this game a microcosm of the entire Predators season, as several familiar themes emerged. A good start, a late fade, a porous defense, inconsistent offensive play, and the league’s worst power play unit.
A long summer full of big decisions
The Predators now have a very long summer to consider how to fix the problems with their team.
The obvious place to begin would be the power play. And that does need to be fixed. But the bigger issue might be with the lackluster defensive play we saw much of the season.
A considerable chunk of the Preds’ roster is committed to high priced pieces of that defense: P.K. Subban and Ryan Ellis are the highest price blueliners. Then there is Roman Josi, who has one year left on his deal and will be due a new contract.
Do you keep this Predators defense together? Or is it time to split it up?
