Hynes Pleased with Progress Made by Preds as Training Camp Continues

All of a sudden, the Predators are four days away from a flight to Edmonton, Alberta, and a journey they hope will carry through the start of October.

Filip Forsberg scoring goals, Pekka Rinne making saves, Nick Bonino cracking jokes - all the familiar sights and sounds are back. As Preds Training Camp Presented by Vanderbilt Heath enters its final few sessions, the group continues to make daily progress as they prepare for their Stanley Cup Qualifying Round matchup with the Arizona Coyotes that is set to begin on Aug. 2.

Those games are bound to have some physicality, especially considering what will be at stake in the best-of-5 series, and Tuesday's practice provided the highest level of body contact between players thus far. Mind you, nobody is trying to run a teammate through the boards, but introducing that physical play is a necessary component as Preds Head Coach John Hynes works to get his group "game ready."

The battle drills certainly help with that objective.

"[Our team], they understand playoff hockey," Hynes said. "They understand the readiness that we need. The way we structured the camp… and the types of things we're doing in practice is calling for [the physicality], but like everything, it comes to the energy, the effort level, the commitment level of the players and I think [Tuesday] you've seen it going up another level… It was really good to see, and we're going to look forward to that the next couple days here."

That energy exertion and physicality are important attributes at this juncture of camp, but the system Hynes wants to play continues to be implemented as well. Combine that with the level of commitment shown by the team to this point, and Hynes likes what he sees.

"They've had great competitive stamina," Hynes said of his players. "They're coming in every day, they're working, you're seeing the things we're trying to teach and implement happen in live game situations. The pace, the intensity level, the battle level continues to get better and higher, and I think that was something that probably all of us coming back weren't sure how well the players were going to be able to handle. But that's been probably the biggest - I don't want to say surprise, because you expect that from our group - but it's more so just the unknown coming into the camp because of the layoff, [and our team has been great]."

While some things are becoming clearer as camp continues, such as the familiar line combinations and defensive pairings Hynes continues to use, there are still other decisions that may not be made for a bit longer - such as who gets the start in net for the Preds in Game 1.

The goaltending duo of Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros has done exactly what Hynes thought might be the case through a week-plus of camp, and that's to show they both want to be the guy who leads Nashville out to the ice on Aug. 2.

So, is Hynes any closer to making a decision on his starting puck stopper?

"I would say that the clarity is it's going to be a tough decision," Hynes said. "The great thing for us is both of them look [great], they're working, they're healthy and they're certainly pushing each other in practice. When you look at one end versus the other end, they're both making big saves. As I've said, with the type of people we have and the type of goalies we have, it's going to be competitive. Neither one's going to give it up, and they're both going to challenge each other to be good. We're going to have a decision to make."

No matter which netminder finds himself on the right end of that decision, or which group of forwards and defensemen the Predators elect to dress for that first contest against the Coyotes, one thing has become clear to Hynes - his group is getting better each and every day.

And now, just four days away from a flight to the north, a belief is growing stronger in the Nashville locker room.

"The most important thing is, more than the tactics and the X's and O's and those things, is just the looks in the guys' eyes, the energy level that they have, the focus level that they have," Hynes said. "You have to have structure to what you're doing, and you have to have a system, but what drives all that is when really good players play to max capacity. Your team's focus, their competitive level is extremely high. At the end of the day, the players win the games, and I think the benefit of this is just trying to make sure we're reviewing and we're just touching up on some things. But the most important thing is going to be the energy level and commitment level that the players have. So far, it keeps increasing in a positive sense every day."