David Poile may or may not have clinched the General Manager of the Year award before the season began, but several concerns could jeopardize what many expect to be another relatively successful campaign.
The Nashville Predators' GM pulled off an indisputable heist in late June, landing 2013 Norris Trophy-winner P.K. Subban from the Montreal Canadiens for Shea Weber, but how Poile's prized acquisition fits in Nashville is only one one of the factors that will help determine whether the club takes the next step.
The Predators advanced to the second round of the playoffs last spring before being eliminated by the San Jose Sharks, but they've never qualified for the conference final in their 18-year history.
Here are three significant subplots for the Predators heading into the 2016-17 season:
Will Subban get them over the hump?
The analytics community certainly believes he'll make them better, given his superiority over Weber in many categories including puck possession, shot suppression, shot generation, playmaking, and point production.
Subban is younger than Weber, more mobile, and - even with a $9-million annual cap hit for the next six years - much more affordable.
He has a reputation for taking unnecessary risks, but the numbers don't lie. Subban is a significant upgrade and should stabilize the Predators' top defensive pairing alongside Roman Josi for the foreseeable future.
Is Rinne regressing?
This should be a bigger concern.
Pekka Rinne's workload last season (66 regular-season games and a career-high 14 playoff contests) was his largest in nine campaigns with the Predators, and it showed.
The 33-year-old posted a 2.48 GAA and a .908 save percentage, while looking at times like a league-average goaltender.
Head coach Peter Laviolette can't always afford to limit Rinne's workload, because his backup options - Marek Mazanec and Juuse Saros - are less experienced, and that's on Poile.
Rinne played for Finland in the World Cup of Hockey, and he turns 34 in early November. That doesn't bode well for a potential bounce-back season, but Roberto Luongo is still effective at age 37, so it's not unprecedented.
Can Johansen flourish in his 1st full season down south?
Ryan Johansen's production improved after his midseason trade from Columbus to Nashville in January, but even over the full campaign, his goal-scoring decreased dramatically compared to his two previous seasons.
Johansen posted eight goals and 34 points in 42 games with the Predators, and while he notched 60 points combined in 2015-16, he scored only 14 times.
The 24-year-old winger can score in bunches, collecting 59 goals in a two-year span with the Blue Jackets. If Nashville is going to take another step forward, the Predators need Johansen to produce at his previous clip..
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