The Nashville Predators begin their preseason schedule today when they travel to Tampa to take on the Lightning from Benchmark International Arena at 4 p.m. CT.
This afternoon’s contest is the first of four preseason games the Preds will play over the next week; they’ll host Tampa Bay on Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena before facing the Hurricanes twice to finish out the exhibition schedule.
Today’s game marks the first chance for Preds players hoping for a roster spot to impress Nashville’s coaches and management. The Predators currently have 55 players in training camp, but they need to be down to 23 by Sept. 28 ahead of Opening Night on Oct. 1.
There is a time crunch this season like never before as well. The NHL regular season will move from 82 to 84 games, while the preseason has been reduced by two games to just four. Couple that with an earlier start to the season - with some teams dropping the puck on Sept. 29 - and then Preds now have just nine days to assign over 30 players elsewhere.
“This is a unique camp,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said Thursday. “Obviously, with how short it is, with the four exhibition games and the mandatory days off, there's not a lot of time to be prepared… We don't have a lot of time. And I think that's the emphasis of our year here so far: that we’ve got to get geared up, we’ve got to get the engines rolling right away here.”
Additionally, veteran players are only permitted to play in a maximum of two preseason games, so the time to test out line combinations and defensive pairings while budding chemistry is limited as well.
“I’m looking for some urgency and compete, especially early, and when you do those things, usually you find a little chemistry, which we're hoping to find,” Brunette said. “I know it's hard, obviously, with a lot of the different rules and regulations. They only play two games together. It's a short camp, and it’s hard to really get a great field of practice. But I think if we have that competitive urgency right from day one, which we saw today, I think that will form a little bit of a bond, and I think it'll form a little bit of chemistry moving forward.
“I think it's going to be really hard here to get it going right away. We’ve got to do the best we can. We can't wait for anybody. We need guys ready to go, and if they're not ready to go, then we’ve got to find solutions.”
Preds forward Vitali Pinchuk was injured during the first day of training camp practice and is currently listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
For the first time, all of Nashville’s preseason games are available to watch regionally on The Spot – Nashville 28, a free, over-the-air channel.
Fans can watch all locally broadcast Predators games on The Spot – Nashville 28 (WNPX) over the air with an antenna or on cable and satellite distributors serving the Predators territory.
Additionally, all four of Nashville's preseason games can be streamed for free on the “Nashville Predators” app. Fans may watch all four preseason contests at zero cost through the following platforms with email registration.
Stream the Nashville Predators app via:
• iOS and Android
• Amazon Fire TV
• Android TV
• Apple TV
• Roku
• Web via PredsTV.com
Information and registration for regular season streaming plans will be available soon, and will be available for $74 – less than $1 per game.
More information on how to watch is available here.
Fans may also listen to the exhibition match on ESPN 102.5 The Game and the Preds Radio Network.
Stay tuned for a Predators game roster to be released ahead of puck drop.
