# 2018–19 Nashville Predators season

The 2018–19 Nashville Predators season was the 21st season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 25, 1997. They entered the season as the defending Presidents' Trophy winners, which was won by the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 18, 2019. The Predators clinched a playoff spot on March 25, after a 1–0 win over the Minnesota Wild. They were upset in the first round by the Dallas Stars, losing in six games.

## Standings

Central Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | y – Nashville Predators | 82 | 47 | 29 | 6 | 43 | 240 | 214 | +26 | 100 |
| 2 | x – Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 47 | 30 | 5 | 45 | 272 | 244 | +28 | 99 |
| 3 | x – St. Louis Blues | 82 | 45 | 28 | 9 | 42 | 247 | 223 | +24 | 99 |
| 4 | x – Dallas Stars | 82 | 43 | 32 | 7 | 42 | 210 | 202 | +8 | 93 |
| 5 | x – Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 38 | 30 | 14 | 36 | 260 | 246 | +14 | 90 |
| 6 | Chicago Blackhawks | 82 | 36 | 34 | 12 | 33 | 270 | 292 | −22 | 84 |
| 7 | Minnesota Wild | 82 | 37 | 36 | 9 | 36 | 211 | 237 | −26 | 83 |

## Schedule and results
### Preseason

The preseason schedule was published on June 12, 2018.

### Regular season

The regular season schedule was released on June 21, 2018.
2018–19 game log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

### Playoffs

The Predators faced the Dallas Stars in the First Round of the playoffs, and were defeated in six games.
2019 Stanley Cup playoffs :
Legend:
  Win
  Loss :

## Player statistics

As of April 22, 2019

### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Ryan Johansen | 80 | 14 | 50 | 64 | 7 | 42 |
| Roman Josi | 82 | 15 | 41 | 56 | 9 | 42 |
| Filip Forsberg | 64 | 28 | 22 | 50 | 8 | 26 |
| Viktor Arvidsson | 58 | 34 | 14 | 48 | 12 | 26 |
| Mattias Ekholm | 80 | 8 | 36 | 44 | 27 | 47 |
| Ryan Ellis | 82 | 7 | 34 | 41 | 21 | 20 |
| Craig Smith | 76 | 21 | 17 | 38 | 11 | 20 |
| Nick Bonino | 81 | 17 | 18 | 35 | 27 | 18 |
| Kevin Fiala$^‡$ | 64 | 10 | 22 | 32 | −11 | 26 |
| P. K. Subban | 63 | 9 | 22 | 31 | 5 | 60 |
| Colton Sissons | 75 | 15 | 15 | 30 | 20 | 23 |
| Calle Jarnkrok | 79 | 10 | 16 | 26 | 13 | 12 |
| Kyle Turris | 55 | 7 | 16 | 23 | −6 | 33 |
| Ryan Hartman$^‡$ | 64 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 7 | 44 |
| Austin Watson | 37 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 11 | 39 |
| Rocco Grimaldi | 53 | 5 | 8 | 13 | −2 | 10 |
| Yannick Weber | 62 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 18 |
| Miikka Salomaki | 37 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 8 |
| Matt Irwin | 44 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 38 |
| Brian Boyle$^†$ | 26 | 5 | 0 | 5 | −1 | 16 |
| Mikael Granlund$^†$ | 16 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −6 | 4 |
| Dan Hamhuis | 57 | 0 | 5 | 5 | −2 | 28 |
| Frederick Gaudreau | 55 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Wayne Simmonds$^†$ | 17 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| Zac Rinaldo | 23 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
| Anthony Bitetto$^‡$ | 18 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| Eeli Tolvanen | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Dante Fabbro | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0 |
| Matt Donovan | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Cody McLeod$^†$ | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 7 |
| Anthony Richard | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Phillip Di Giuseppe | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Colin Blackwell | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
| Rem Pitlick | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Roman Josi | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −1 | 4 |
| Rocco Grimaldi | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| P. K. Subban | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −3 | 0 |
| Ryan Ellis | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −2 | 0 |
| Ryan Johansen | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 2 |
| Filip Forsberg | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 6 |
| Kyle Turris | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Austin Watson | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 6 |
| Mikael Granlund | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Nick Bonino | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −3 | 2 |
| Calle Jarnkrok | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Brian Boyle | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Mattias Ekholm | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −2 | 12 |
| Craig Smith | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Miikka Salomaki | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Dante Fabbro | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Dan Hamhuis | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Viktor Arvidsson | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 2 |
| Colton Sissons | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −5 | 6 |
| Wayne Simmonds | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Pekka Rinne | 56 | 55 | 3,219:44 | 30 | 19 | 4 | 130 | 2.42 | 1,581 | .918 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Juuse Saros | 31 | 27 | 1,696:13 | 17 | 10 | 2 | 74 | 2.62 | 870 | .915 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Pekka Rinne | 6 | 6 | 329:38 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 3.09 | 179 | .905 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Juuse Saros | 1 | 0 | 45:29 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.32 | 21 | .952 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Predators. Stats reflect time with the Predators only. $^‡$Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Predators only. Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

## Transactions

The Predators have been involved in the following transactions during the 2018–19 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 23, 2018 (2018-06-23) | To Florida Panthers3rd-round pick in 2018 | To Nashville Predators3rd-round pick in 2019 |
| October 1, 2018 (2018-10-01) | To Buffalo SabresJack Dougherty | To Nashville PredatorsNicholas Baptiste |
| January 14, 2019 (2019-01-14) | To New York RangersConnor Brickley | To Nashville PredatorsCole Schneider |
| February 6, 2019 (2019-02-06) | To New Jersey Devils2nd-round pick in 2019 | To Nashville PredatorsBrian Boyle |
| February 6, 2019 (2019-02-06) | To New York Rangers7th-round pick in 2020 | To Nashville PredatorsCody McLeod |
| February 8, 2019 (2019-02-08) | To Arizona CoyotesEmil Pettersson | To Nashville PredatorsLaurent Dauphin Adam Helewka |
| February 24, 2019 (2019-02-24) | To Toronto Maple LeafsNicholas Baptiste | To Nashville PredatorsFuture considerations |
| February 25, 2019 (2019-02-25) | To Minnesota WildKevin Fiala | To Nashville PredatorsMikael Granlund |
| February 25, 2019 (2019-02-25) | To Philadelphia FlyersRyan Hartman Conditional 4th-round pick in 2020 | To Nashville PredatorsWayne Simmonds |
| June 14, 2019 (2019-06-14) | To Tampa Bay Lightning7th-round pick in 2021 | To Nashville PredatorsConnor Ingram |

### Free agents

| Date | Player | Team | Contract term |
| July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) | Connor Brickley | from Florida Panthers | 1-year |
| July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) | Rocco Grimaldi | from Colorado Avalanche | 1-year |
| July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) | Mark McNeill | to Boston Bruins | 1-year |
| July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) | John Ramage | to New Jersey Devils | 1-year |
| July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) | Jarred Tinordi | from Pittsburgh Penguins | 1-year |
| July 2, 2018 (2018-07-02) | Zac Rinaldo | from Arizona Coyotes | 1-year |
| July 3, 2018 (2018-07-03) | Colin Blackwell | from Rochester Americans (AHL) | 2-year |
| July 3, 2018 (2018-07-03) | Zachary Magwood | from Barrie Colts (OHL) | 3-year |
| July 12, 2018 (2018-07-12) | Harry Zolnierczyk | to Springfield Falcons (AHL) | Unknown |
| July 25, 2018 (2018-07-25) | Dan Hamhuis | from Dallas Stars | 2-year |
| July 30, 2018 (2018-07-30) | Trevor Smith | to San Antonio Rampage (AHL) | Unknown |
| September 2, 2018 (2018-09-02) | Alexei Emelin | to Avangard Omsk (KHL) | 3-year |
| September 16, 2018 (2018-09-16) | Anders Lindback | to Davos (NL) | 1-year |
| November 4, 2018 (2018-11-04) | Matt Donovan | from Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) | 2-year |
| February 19, 2019 (2019-02-19) | Tom McCollum | from Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) | 1-year |
| April 5, 2019 (2019-04-05) | Lukas Craggs | from Bowling Green Falcons (WCHA) | 2-year |
| April 5, 2019 (2019-04-05) | Brandon Fortunato | from Quinnipiac Bobcats (ECAC Hockey) | 2-year |
| April 18, 2019 (2019-04-18) | Josh Wilkins | from Providence Friars (Hockey East) | 2-year |
| May 1, 2019 (2019-05-01) | Mathieu Olivier | from Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) | 2-year |

### Waivers

| Date | Player | Team | Ref |
| January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01) | Phillip Di Giuseppe | from Carolina Hurricanes | |
| January 25, 2019 (2019-01-25) | Anthony Bitetto | to Minnesota Wild | |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Contract term |
| July 16, 2018 (2018-07-16) | Ryan Hartman | 1-year |
| July 16, 2018 (2018-07-16) | Juuse Saros | 3-year |
| July 30, 2018 (2018-07-30) | Miikka Salomaki | 1-year |
| August 14, 2018 (2018-08-14) | Ryan Ellis | 8-year |
| November 3, 2018 (2018-11-03) | Pekka Rinne | 2-year |
| February 27, 2019 (2019-02-27) | Laurent Dauphin | 1-year |
| February 27, 2019 (2019-02-27) | Adam Helewka | 1-year |
| March 1, 2019 (2019-03-01) | Troy Grosenick | 1-year |
| March 22, 2019 (2019-03-22) | Rem Pitlick | 2-year |
| March 27, 2019 (2019-03-27) | Dante Fabbro | 3-year |

## Draft picks

Below are the Nashville Predators' selections at the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 22 and 23, 2018, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 4 | 111$^1$ | Jachym Kondelik | C | Czech Republic | Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL) |
| 5 | 131$^2$ | Spencer Stastney | D | United States | U.S. NTDP (USHL) |
| 5 | 151 | Vladislav Yeryomenko | D | Belarus | Calgary Hitmen (WHL) |
| 7 | 213 | Milan Kloucek | G | Czech Republic | Dynamo Pardubice (ELH) |