Predators expect tough West again
NASHVILLE — Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi heard about the San Jose Sharks trading for Erik Karlsson just before talking with reporters Thursday at the start of training camp.
The Predators haven’t even raised the banner yet for winning the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s best team in the 2017-18 regular season, and it’s already ancient history — at least in the arms race that is the Western Conference.
Even with all the trades last season and more deals and signings during the offseason, the pace had only quickened as teams prepared to open training camps. First, the Vegas Golden Knights added Max Pacioretty from the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, and the Sharks tried to top that by picking up two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson from the Ottawa Senators.
“Those are two great players, and yeah, it’s definitely a tough conference, and we’re in a tough division, too,” Josi said. “The whole season is tough. I mean, your first goal is to make it into the playoffs, and it’s not an easy thing in our conference, in our division. You’ve got to be ready for it. It’s going to be a battle all year.”
The Predators essentially stood pat this offseason after posting 117 points to win their first Central Division title and Presidents’ Trophy. Their biggest move was signing defenseman Ryan Ellis to an extension last month and extending the contracts of some other players. Last season, Predators general manager David Poile did his best work after play began, with a three-way trade bringing Kyle Turris to Nashville in November and the team adding Ryan Hartman at the deadline.
Nashville wound up losing its Western Conference semifinal series against the Winnipeg Jets in seven games, but the standard has been raised since the Predators reached the franchise’s first Stanley
Cup Final in the 2016-17 season.
“It’s very competitive …,” San Jose general manager Doug Wilson said. “When teams go out and get better, it forces other people to get better.”
That’s exactly what everyone in the West has been trying to do.
Paul Stastny went from the St. Louis Blues to the Jets at the trade deadline last season, then he went to the Golden Knights this offseason as a free agent. The Sharks added Evander Kane last season, then re-signed him to keep him around. This offseason, the Blues acquired Ryan O’Reilly from the Buffalo Sabres, the Calgary Flames signed forward James Neal after he spent a season with Vegas and the Los Angeles Kings signed Ilya Kovalchuk.
“The West is, like, loaded right now,” Poile said. “It feels like anybody could not only make the playoffs, there’s going to be some unbelievable top teams that don’t make the playoffs this year. It should be fun and exciting for the
fans and the players. It’s probably going to be nerve-wracking for us.
“If you’re going to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best, and I think the West certainly has more than its share of top teams.”
Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban, who came from Montreal and the Eastern Conference in a June 2016 trade, said it’s a little different game going from the East to the West, but he cautioned against thinking the latter absolutely is the conference to beat when it matters.
“Everybody had a Western Conference team pegged to win the whole thing, and Washington ends up winning,” Subban said of the Capitals, who beat surprising Vegas — the expansion Knights won their division and reached the Stanley Cup Final in their first season — in five games to win last season’s NHL title.
The answer to whether West is best? Check back next spring.
“Once you get in the playoffs, it doesn’t really matter,” Subban said. “Anything can happen.”