The Predators and Alexander Radulov: What Might Have Been

Nashville is up to 20th in the league in attendance at 93% of capacity and is 4th in the Western Conference in points…all without the services of Mr. Radulov. Would I still love to have Rads on the roster? Yeah…like a fat kid loves cake but, unlike most of the rest of the NHL, Pred fans have long moved on from what might have been.

 I’ll take this reincarnation of the Preds any day…one of the best defensive teams in the league with great goaltending and rolling 4 scoring lines. How many other NHL teams can pull players up from the AHL, from the KHL, or make a seemingly “meh, trade” and plug those players in at will and make it successful? Six players on the Pred roster have played every game this season… only 6! Tonight’s starting line-up doesn’t even remotely resemble opening night…no stars, no big media splashes. Just 20 hard-working guys plugging away, quietly taking the league by storm, 1 boring point at a time. Alexander Radulov who?

I’m somewhat new to OTF (been reading last nine months and recently posting) but linked to your article here when Dirk posted it on OTF.

Radulov’s departure was very tumultuous for the Preds and their fans – we all had high hopes for the talent he clearly is; we’ve now moved on from what might have been. It is interesting though to see where he might have gone….

I’m with TitanPredBearFan in his analysis of our club. I do wonder though if Radulov realizes whate he left behind/what he walked away from. In just a few years, the money would have been just as good and the competition clearly the best in the world. Wonder if he realizes what he stepped away from?

…but never put it in the context that Radulov had been in the CHL and AHL …. There is probably a huge back story here which, possibly, we may never know in full.

btw, I concur with your post above Derek in response to TitanPredBearFan, we absolutely do miss a 90 point scorer (heck, even if he were just a 60 point scorer, 2/3’s of that). We’ve never FULLY recovered from the Leopold firesale/loss of Radulov at wing. Trotz has worked near miracles to plug those gaps but when I say fully recovered, its a reflection that those gaps are being filled more short term (one to two year) not the long term talent a Radulov can bring.

We will get there, and are competetive in the interim, but its clear the loss of Radulov was significant from a long term perspective – that does not mean I don’t think guys like Ward (or very recent arrivals to the Preds like Svatos or Mueller) aren’t good players but they aren’t the franchise guy like Radulov (or Weber, Suter or Rinne, all of whom we need to ink to LONG term deals).

I don’t see why the last year of the entry level deal is an obstacle. You can sign players to extensions once they are in the last year of a contract. And in the new contract, you compensate for the low salary in the last year of the remaining contract via a signing bonus or some such measure.

True he’s not coming without a signed extension. But I don’t see remaining year as an obstacle per se.

If the current Preds hadn’t lost so many starting centers for the season (Lombardi, O’Reilly) and have Sullivan and Toots out for any indefinite amount of time, I really doubt Nashville would have been major players come the trade deadline. Trotz and Poile have this team just where they’ve always wanted them. They are now at a point in their system that they can call up or pick-up a particular type of player, plug him in and never lose a beat.
Look at Pittsburg, they have struggled since Crosby’s been out. With Ovechkin have a scoring drought, the Caps had to go through some MAJOR growing pains to become a more defensive oriented team. Star players are great, but if you don’t know how to score when they are out or are having an off night, that’s a problem.
 Right at this point, the Preds have 4 true defensively responsible scoring lines…teams have to pick their poison. When one line gets shut down there are 3 more to pick up the scoring slack most nights. That and the fact that injuries will not kill us come playoff time (like they have the past 3 post seasons) makes very optimistic that this is the year the Preds turn the corner in the post season.

…not sure where this post will appear but cisar is spot on, I should have listed Hornquist and Wilson too – they also need long term deals (and, to PerryK, love your comment on needing a “name change”. I am a big Ellis fan but Peks is a tremendous goalie and the Preds went to him long term – he is an amazing goalie for sure).

Also, this may be a little more debatable, but if I were the preds, I’d ink Sully to two more years. Less salary (he is less productive than in his prime, very understandable) but he really is a strong contributor – esp with guys like Wilson, Horny, O’Reilly, etc so strongly able to contribute and give Sully more options.

I just wanted to say that I appreciate you actually covering something about Nashville from a Canadian perspective that isn’t about how our team sucks an needs to leave Tennessee.

Not to mention, you really touch on a subject that was really close to our heart. EVERYONE in Nashville absolutely loved this young, energetic and skillful player. I know for a fact that people would go to the game just to watch him. I had friends that were casual fans that would say that to me.

But now I’m at the point where I have a bittersweet taste left in my mouth. I understand his reasons, but it just sucks for us. We are a team that thrives on loyalty and working hard on your way up, and it seemed as he wanted to bypass that in some sense. I’m at the point where I would want him to play on our team, and would rather just seem him traded if he ever came back. Just so that it would not stir any controversy in the locker room with the players that were there for his departure.

Anyway, thanks again for the great article. I especially loved the part with the offensive zone starts, something that probably doesn’t get discussed enough.

I would love to see what happens when Radulov takes a swing at Trotz with his stick like he did his Russian assistant coach. The kid’s talented, but he is also a head case.

http://www.thecheapseats.ca/2012/02/alexander-radulov-hits-khl-coach-with-stick.html

PS: Can’t beleive the coach did nothing. The inmates must be running the asylum in that league.