The Nashville Predators didn’t conclude the NHL Prospect Tournament in Tampa the way they’d hoped on Monday - with a 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers - but that didn’t take away from previous two victories or the amount of development for a number of the organization's top prospects.
Far from it, in fact.
While winning the first two games of the tournament was nice, losing is a part of life, too, and every experience at this stage of development is valuable in one way or another.
“We're leaving with a bit of a stale taste, but two wins and a lot of the guys showed well,” Milwaukee Admirals Head Coach Karl Taylor said. “We fought through some things, but you leave with a bit of a stale taste. Maybe that's a good thing going into camp, right? So, we got humbled and a little bit exposed, and the players should be feeling like, ‘We need to focus on the next opportunity.’ And for them, that'll be main camp, playing with the big boys and being challenged playing with grown men. And that will be another level for them.”
“It was definitely a tough game today, not the way you want to go out, but I think we dug deep and we stuck through it,” Preds defenseman Ryan Ufko said. “The game wasn't going our way, but at the end, I think we were all glad we got one in. We had a bunch of chances and we couldn't capitalize. But, the game’s over now, main camp is ahead of us, so I think we're all just looking forward to that and using this as a building block.”
Cole O’Hara scored the lone Nashville goal - his second of the tournament - on Monday afternoon with just over four minutes remaining in regulation, and with only five defensemen in the lineup in the tournament finale, winger Reid Schaefer went back on the blueline and showed quite well considering the circumstances.
“We put him on defense today, and he was our best defenseman on the ice today,” Taylor said of Schaefer. “He played awesome. So, for a guy that hasn't done any of that, I thought he played awesome. Showed great leadership. I'm really proud of what he did today to be able to, in this tournament and [put] the team's needs ahead of him and say, ‘I’ll go back and give it a try.’ And then he played outstanding. So for me, I was really proud of him. I thought [Joakim Kemell], for another guy, competed very hard and tried to do the best he can to show what he's got to offer, so I think that was another guy that really competed hard.”
From here, main training camp awaits back in Nashville with a number of Predators prospects hoping to vie for a spot at some point this season. The three games in Tampa over the long weekend certainly helped, and now they’ll turn their attention to what lies ahead back in Tennessee starting Wednesday.
“We all talk about using this time as just preparation for main camp,” Ufko said. “It’s really hard to get in game shape without playing an actual game, so playing these three games really helps our conditioning. The speed is high end for a lot of these younger guys, so just building off of every game and getting ready for Wednesday [is helpful].”
“I think you leave here proud of what we did,” Taylor said. “The guys came together very well. Obviously today didn't go our way, but they should leave here with a little burr to show a little extra when training camp starts.”
Notes:
With the NHL Prospect Tournament and Preds Rookie Camp now complete, the prospects will head back to Nashville in advance of the start of main training camp, which begins Wednesday with off-ice meetings before the first on-ice sessions come Thursday at Ford Ice Center Bellevue. A full training camp schedule and roster may be found here.
The Preds open their preseason schedule on Sunday when they host the Panthers for a doubleheader at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. CT at Bridgestone Arena. Click here for tickets, and stay tuned to NashvillePredators.com and @PredsNHL on social media throughout training camp for the latest coverage.
