What to Expect From James Neal in Nashville

By Hunter Hodies on Sunday, August 10th 2014
What to Expect From James Neal in Nashville

James Neal was recently traded from the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Nashville Predators and now there is question as to how much he can produce there with new centers. Evgeni Malkin is not there to get him to 40 goals and he's on a team where the offense wasn't as big as the defense last season. Here's what to expect from "The Real Deal" James Neal.

30 Goals or less- This should easily happen. I know Nashville went out this season and signed Mike Ribeiro who played with James Neal a lot but there's no way he can get to 40 goals with him being his center. Mike Ribeiro just does not have the talent that Evgeni Malkin has to get him there  The bottom line is that James Neal will provide them with a lot more offense than they have had in recent years.

Play on Top Power Play- This should also easily happen. James Neal was lethal on the power play for the Penguins and I would expect him to be nothing less than outstanding on the power play in Nashville which isn't known for being a top power play team in the NHL. He'll have players like Shea Weber (who has a rocket from the point), Mike Ribeiro, Seth Jones, and most likely Mike Fisher when he becomes healthy again. This looks to be a great power play in the NHL this season and we'll see if it can be consistently good.

Cut down on stupid penalties- Though James Neal was a lethal goal scorer in Pittsburgh, he was also known to make dirty hits that ended up in suspensions and just take stupid penalties in some of the biggest times of the game. Dan Byslma never did anything to take him off the second line when he took penalties but I'm sure new coach Peter Laviolette will definitely have some words for Neal if he does dumb penalties. Let's see how James Neal's first season in "Smashville goes.

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