Hockey's Future ranks Nashville Predators organization at #3

Hockey's Future Spring 2009 Organizational Rankings has Nashville Predators at #3:

Nashville drafts high-character prospects, who are self-driven. Weaknesses: An organization that used to be stocked with defensive prospects, that department looks comparatively bare as of late. While there is great forward depth along the wings, the system is thin at center.

For a team that has undergone a forced rebuild after the Great Salary Purge of 2007 and the defection of Alexander Radulov, it's good to read an analysis that speaks to a brighter future with Colin Wilson, Jonathan Blum, Cody Franson and Chet Pickard.

What will be most interesting to me this fall will be to see how some prospects who were asked to play a larger role than would typically be asked of them, given Nashville's typical patience with rookies (Patric Hornqvist and Ryan Jones in particular), will fare in their 2nd crack at the NHL.