The NHL regular season is a long 82-game grind, and it’s easy to see the latest day-to-day results as being indicative of a player’s total contribution. Right now, the team is riding Sergei Kostitsyn’s hot goal-scoring touch, which has helped Mike Fisher pile up a healthy number of assists of late. It’s helpful on occasion to set those performances in proportion to the overall campaign, however.
Just before Opening Night, I took a stab at how the major offensive contributors on the Preds would fare this season.
So how are those predictions turning out so far? Let’s take a look…
The table below shows the predictions I made back in October on the left, with the season-long totals each Predator is currently on pace for.
| Prediction | On Pace For | ||||||||||||
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | Shots | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | Shots | Comment |
| Patric Hornqvist | 80 | 28 | 27 | 55 | 50 | 280 | 80 | 22 | 13 | 35 | 45 | 216 | Very disappointing so far, shots are down ~30% from pace of last two seasons. |
| Martin Erat | 70 | 18 | 37 | 55 | 40 | 125 | 67 | 19 | 35 | 54 | 22 | 101 | Same old Marty. Inspiring sometimes, invisible at others. |
| Sergei Kostitsyn | 82 | 18 | 35 | 53 | 30 | 120 | 71 | 19 | 22 | 41 | 37 | 76 | Does his recent hot streak give hope for the 2nd half? |
| Colin Wilson | 82 | 24 | 26 | 50 | 30 | 160 | 76 | 15 | 28 | 43 | 28 | 127 | A strong push to the playoffs could earn him millions. |
| Shea Weber | 82 | 14 | 31 | 45 | 70 | 240 | 75 | 17 | 43 | 60 | 48 | 233 | Could set a new franchise scoring record for defensemen (55 by Timonen in 2006-7). |
| David Legwand | 75 | 18 | 27 | 45 | 30 | 160 | 75 | 22 | 28 | 50 | 22 | 142 | Enjoying his best season since Paul Kariya rode alongside. |
| Ryan Suter | 82 | 5 | 37 | 42 | 60 | 130 | 82 | 9 | 37 | 47 | 48 | 162 | He picked a good time to challenge his career-best numbers. |
| Mike Fisher | 75 | 17 | 23 | 40 | 70 | 170 | 67 | 15 | 28 | 43 | 28 | 142 | So far, so good. |
| Jonathon Blum | 82 | 9 | 24 | 33 | 50 | 110 | 62 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 11 | 47 | When will he get back to the NHL, and will it still be with Nashville? |
| Cal O`Reilly | 65 | 9 | 24 | 33 | 10 | 70 | 48 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 7 | 24 | Waived by both the Preds and Coyotes already. |
| Niclas Bergfors | 82 | 17 | 14 | 31 | 8 | 160 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 11 | This year’s Kostitsyn? More like this year’s Svatos. Woof. |
Overall? The O’Reilly and Bergfors flameouts were a letdown, but most of the rest are in the ballpark. Obviously Jordin Tootoo has been a revelation, as I didn’t even both including him as a fantasy hockey prospect.
What are your thoughts on the performance of some of the individual Preds to this point? Who has impressed, and who has been a disappointment?