Preds Expect Scrimmages to Provide Key Role in Player Evaluations

NHL preseason games don't often incite mass excitement among fans, but for players and coaches, the dress rehearsals before the impending real thing are seen as a valuable element for a season's preparation.
Of course, everything is different these days, and this version of Predators Training Camp presented by Vanderbilt Health includes a grand total of zero exhibition contests as opposed to the usual six the Preds play against other opponents.
Due to the current climate and protocols, the NHL determined there would be no preseason matchups for any team leading into the 56-game regular season. Instead, the Predators - and seemingly every other NHL club - will utilize an intrasquad scrimmage to simulate game action ahead of the real thing.

Nashville will actually hold two scrimmages - the first coming on Friday night (7 p.m. CT, watch on NashvillePredators.com) at Bridgestone Arena, and the other scheduled for Sunday evening in the same venue - to allow the Preds a chance to put the lessons they've learned in practice into game-like situations.
The Predators have put plenty of thought into the structure too - not only of the scrimmage itself, but the day as a whole. Friday will begin with a morning skate at the arena, just as a normal game day would.
Team Blue will take the ice first at 10 a.m. CT, and Team Gold will follow at 11:15 a.m. Those sessions will include team meetings and the usual routines for players who haven't gone through something of this nature since at least last summer, and longer for many. After the skate, players will have a pregame meal and a nap in the afternoon, if they prefer, just like they're used to.
Then, it'll be back to Bridgestone Arena for what's expected to be a full, three-period scrimmage at 7 p.m. CT. Saturday will be a practice day for the Preds, and then they'll do it all again on Sunday with another scrimmage planned for that evening.
It's the closest thing to a preseason game that will come in training camp this time around, and those in charge will certainly take full advantage.

"The scrimmages will be a big piece of evaluation," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "You do evaluate practice and things like that, but I think in the game situations where it's a lot of 5-on-5 and they're not situations that you're basically practicing, they're playing the game instead. We want to get our tempo or competitiveness going at a high level where we're really challenging each other to make sure that we're preparing ourselves for a regular-season hockey game."
Preds forward Luke Kunin, who signed a two-year deal with the club on Wednesday, is eager to get into a game setting as well. Practice only affords so many opportunities to face something different on the ice, and Kunin is looking forward to personally making sure he's performing the way he expects.
"With the short camp and short season, we've got to come out of the gate strong in those first 10 games, and they really mean something," Kunin said. "[I just want to] try to get to my game as quickly as possible and feel good going into that first game against Columbus on the 14th. [I want to do the things] I'm here to do and really feel good about my game going into that first one."
Veteran winger Brad Richardson has seen just about everything in his career, but never a training camp quite like this one. The 35-year-old not only put an emphasis on the upcoming scrimmages, but also on the remaining practices before Opening Night - a total of three - as imperative toward accomplishing what's needed prior to Jan. 14.

"The scrimmages are definitely important, and I think, just every day, we're trying to focus on just getting better," Richardson said. "With no preseason games, I don't think it's a huge issue, but you're trying every day to get better, get yourself in your game and get up to game speed… In practice, usually you're not quite as physical on some of your guys, but you're trying to get your game back to where you need it to be for the start of the season. You might see some more contact than maybe you would see in some years without the preseason, but the games are all important. Every day, we're just trying to improve and get better on what we just did that day."
There's nothing Hynes and his group are looking forward to more than that first contest with two points on the line, but the Preds want to be prepared, too. They have one more week to do so, and a pair of scrimmages might just provide some of the most important answers as this one-of-a-kind season nears.
"[The reason we're having these scrimmages] a little bit later in camp is we want to have some things that we can install and teach and have opportunities to practice them," Hynes said. "We'll go over them a couple times prior to the scrimmages, and then we want to see the tactics of what we're trying to do in those scrimmages. So, it's that combination of work ethic and compete, and then there's got to be the smarts and the structure involved too. We're really looking forward to having the morning skate on Friday and then also simulating the full game day."