# 2010–11 Nashville Predators season

The 2010–11 Nashville Predators season was the team's 13th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). They were defeated by the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

## Pre-season

With their 18th-overall first-round pick, the Predators chose Austin Watson of the Peterborough Petes.

## Regular season

The Predators opened the season on October 9 at home against the Anaheim Ducks. The regular season ended on April 9, with their final game being against the St. Louis Blues.

## Playoffs

The Predators clinched a berth in the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs as the Western Conference's fifth seed. The Predators won their first playoff series in franchise history after defeating the Anaheim Ducks in six games to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals against the first seed, the Vancouver Canucks. In a low-scoring series, the Canucks managed to close out the Predators at Bridgestone Arena in six games.

## Standings

Central Division vte :
| | | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | y-Detroit Red Wings | 82 | 47 | 25 | 10 | 43 | 261 | 241 | 104 |
| 2 | Nashville Predators | 82 | 44 | 27 | 11 | 38 | 219 | 194 | 99 |
| 3 | Chicago Blackhawks | 82 | 44 | 29 | 9 | 38 | 258 | 225 | 97 |
| 4 | St. Louis Blues | 82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 34 | 240 | 234 | 87 |
| 5 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 82 | 34 | 35 | 13 | 29 | 215 | 258 | 81 |
Western Conference :
| R | | Div | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | p – Vancouver Canucks | NW | 82 | 54 | 19 | 9 | 50 | 262 | 185 | 117 |
| 2 | y – San Jose Sharks | PA | 82 | 48 | 25 | 9 | 43 | 248 | 213 | 105 |
| 3 | y – Detroit Red Wings | CE | 82 | 47 | 25 | 10 | 43 | 261 | 241 | 104 |
| 4 | Anaheim Ducks | PA | 82 | 47 | 30 | 5 | 43 | 239 | 235 | 99 |
| 5 | Nashville Predators | CE | 82 | 44 | 27 | 11 | 38 | 219 | 194 | 99 |
| 6 | Phoenix Coyotes | PA | 82 | 43 | 26 | 13 | 38 | 231 | 226 | 99 |
| 7 | Los Angeles Kings | PA | 82 | 46 | 30 | 6 | 36 | 219 | 198 | 98 |
| 8 | Chicago Blackhawks | CE | 82 | 44 | 29 | 9 | 38 | 258 | 225 | 97 |
| 8.5 |||||||||||
| 9 | Dallas Stars | PA | 82 | 42 | 29 | 11 | 37 | 227 | 233 | 95 |
| 10 | Calgary Flames | NW | 82 | 41 | 29 | 12 | 32 | 250 | 237 | 94 |
| 11 | St. Louis Blues | CE | 82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 34 | 240 | 234 | 87 |
| 12 | Minnesota Wild | NW | 82 | 39 | 35 | 8 | 36 | 206 | 233 | 86 |
| 13 | Columbus Blue Jackets | CE | 82 | 34 | 35 | 13 | 29 | 215 | 258 | 81 |
| 14 | Colorado Avalanche | NW | 82 | 30 | 44 | 8 | 24 | 227 | 288 | 68 |
| 15 | Edmonton Oilers | NW | 82 | 25 | 45 | 12 | 23 | 193 | 269 | 62 |
bold – qualified for playoffs; y – Won division; p – Won President's Trophy (best record in NHL) CE – Central Division, NW – Northwest Division, PA – Pacific Division

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

2010–11 Game Log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

## Playoffs

The Nashville Predators ended the 2010–11 regular season as the Western Conference's fifth seed. They defeated the fourth seed, the Anaheim Ducks, in the first round, 4–2, which is the first playoff series win in franchise history. Their opponent in the Western Conference Semifinals would be the Vancouver Canucks, who beat Nashville 4–2.
2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs :

## Player stats
### Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Martin Erat | 64 | 17 | 33 | 50 | 14 | 22 |
| Sergei Kostitsyn | 77 | 23 | 27 | 50 | 10 | 20 |
| Shea Weber | 82 | 16 | 32 | 48 | 7 | 56 |
| Patric Hornqvist | 79 | 21 | 27 | 48 | 11 | 47 |
| David Legwand | 64 | 17 | 24 | 41 | 13 | 24 |
| Ryan Suter | 70 | 4 | 35 | 39 | 20 | 54 |
| Colin Wilson | 82 | 16 | 18 | 34 | 9 | 17 |
| Joel Ward | 80 | 10 | 19 | 29 | −1 | 42 |
| Cody Franson | 80 | 8 | 21 | 29 | 10 | 30 |
| Marcel Goc | 51 | 9 | 15 | 24 | 10 | 6 |
| Steve Sullivan | 44 | 10 | 12 | 22 | 4 | 28 |
| Jordin Tootoo | 54 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 8 | 61 |
| Kevin Klein | 81 | 2 | 16 | 18 | 9 | 24 |
| Cal O'Reilly | 38 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 4 | 2 |
| Nick Spaling | 74 | 8 | 6 | 14 | −10 | 20 |
| Jerred Smithson | 82 | 5 | 8 | 13 | −6 | 34 |
| Matthew Halischuk | 27 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 5 | 2 |
| Mike Fisher$^†$ | 27 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 2 | 10 |
| Francis Bouillon | 44 | 1 | 9 | 10 | −3 | 27 |
| Shane O'Brien | 80 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 83 |
| Blake Geoffrion | 20 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 7 |
| Jonathon Blum | 23 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Alexander Sulzer$^‡$ | 31 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −5 | 14 |
| Chris Mueller | 15 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Marek Svatos$^‡$ | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Matthew Lombardi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Wade Belak | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 18 |
| Steve Begin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 4 |
| Teemu Laakso | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Andreas Thuresson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
| Linus Klasen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Joel Ward | 12 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 4 | 6 |
| David Legwand | 12 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 8 |
| Mike Fisher | 12 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −1 | 11 |
| Martin Erat | 10 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Jordin Tootoo | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 28 |
| Ryan Suter | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 6 |
| Cody Franson | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Spaling | 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Shea Weber | 12 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| Sergei Kostitsyn | 12 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| Steve Sullivan | 9 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Kevin Klein | 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Patric Hornqvist | 12 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 6 |
| Jerred Smithson | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Blake Geoffrion | 12 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Matthew Halischuk | 12 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −1 | 0 |
| Jonathon Blum | 12 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| J. P. Dumont | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 2 |
| Shane O'Brien | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 18 |
| Colin Wilson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime losses; GA = Goals against; GAA= Goals against average; SA= Shots against; SV= Saves; Sv% = Save percentage; SO= Shutouts
Regular season :
| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Pekka Rinne | 64 | 3789 | 33 | 22 | 9 | 134 | 2.12 | 1905 | .930 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Anders Lindback | 22 | 1131 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 49 | 2.60 | 576 | .915 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Dekanich | 1 | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3.60 | 25 | .880 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Pekka Rinne | 12 | 748 | 6 | 6 | 32 | 2.57 | 343 | .907 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Anders Lindback | 1 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 9 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Predators. Stats reflect time with the Predators only. $^‡$Traded mid-season Bold/italics denotes franchise record

## Awards and records
### Awards

Regular Season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| Pekka Rinne | NHL Third Star of the Month | January 2011 |
| Pekka Rinne | NHL Third Star of the Month | March 2011 |

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Shane O'Brien | 300th Career NHL Game | October 9, 2010 |
| Anders Lindback | 1st Career NHL Game 1st Career NHL Win | October 13, 2010 |
| Jerred Smithson | 400th Career NHL Game | October 24, 2010 |
| Linus Klasen | 1st Career NHL Game | October 30, 2010 |
| Ryan Suter | 400th Career NHL Game | November 16, 2010 |
| Anders Lindback | 1st Career NHL Shutout | December 11, 2010 |
| Nick Spaling | 1st Career NHL Goal | December 13, 2010 |
| Mark Dekanich | 1st Career NHL Game | December 18, 2010 |
| Francis Bouillon | 600th Career NHL Game | December 26, 2010 |
| Chris Mueller | 1st Career NHL Game | December 28, 2010 |
| Marcel Goc | 100th Career NHL Point | January 5, 2011 |
| Kevin Klein | 200th Career NHL Game | January 5, 2011 |
| Joel Ward | 200th Career NHL Game | January 5, 2011 |
| Cody Franson | 100th Career NHL Game | January 8, 2011 |
| Chris Mueller | 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point | January 16, 2011 |
| J. P. Dumont | 800th Career NHL Game | January 23, 2011 |
| Alexander Sulzer | 1st Career NHL Goal | January 23, 2011 |
| Sergei Kostitsyn | 200th Career NHL Game | January 24, 2011 |
| Shea Weber | 200th Career NHL Point | February 9, 2011 |
| Sergei Kostitsyn | 100th Career NHL Point | February 9, 2011 |
| Jonathon Blum | 1st Career NHL Game | February 22, 2011 |
| Blake Geoffrion | 1st Career NHL Game | February 26, 2011 |
| Jonathon Blum | 1st Career NHL Goal 1st Career NHL Point | February 27, 2011 |
| Martin Erat | 600th Career NHL Game | March 1, 2011 |
| Blake Geoffrion | 1st Career NHL Goal 1st Career NHL Point | March 1, 2011 |
| Colin Wilson | 100th Career NHL Game | March 3, 2011 |
| Jonathon Blum | 1st Career NHL Assist | March 6, 2011 |
| Blake Geoffrion | 1st Career NHL Assist | March 12, 2011 |
| Jordin Tootoo | 400th Career NHL Game | March 19, 2011 |
| Blake Geoffrion | 1st Career NHL Hat-trick | March 20, 2011 |
| Martin Erat | 400th Career NHL Point | March 31, 2011 |
| Patric Hornqvist | 100th Career NHL Point | April 2, 2011 |
| Mike Fisher | 700th Career NHL Game | April 5, 2011 |
| Nick Spaling | 100th Career NHL Game | April 5, 2011 |
| Shea Weber | 400th Career NHL Game | April 5, 2011 |
Playoffs :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Jonathon Blum | 1st Career NHL Playoff Game 1st Career NHL Playoff Assist 1st Career NHL Playoff Point | April 13, 2011 |
| Blake Geoffrion | 1st Career NHL Playoff Game 1st Career NHL Playoff Assist 1st Career NHL Playoff Point | April 13, 2011 |
| Matthew Halischuk | 1st Career NHL Playoff Game | April 13, 2011 |
| Patric Hornqvist | 1st Career NHL Playoff Goal | April 15, 2011 |
| Jerred Smithson | 1st Career NHL Playoff Assist | April 17, 2011 |
| Matt Halischuk | 1st Career NHL Playoff Goal 1st Career NHL Playoff Point | April 20, 2011 |
| Anders Lindback | 1st Career NHL Playoff Game | April 20, 2011 |
| Nick Spaling | 1st Career NHL Playoff Assist 1st Career NHL Playoff Point | April 22, 2011 |
| Kevin Klein | 1st Career NHL Playoff Goal | April 22, 2011 |
| Nick Spaling | 1st Career NHL Playoff Goal | April 24, 2011 |
| Cody Franson | 1st Career NHL Playoff Goal | May 5, 2011 |

## Transactions

The Predators have been involved in the following transactions during the 2010–11 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 19, 2010 | To New Jersey Devils Jason Arnott | To Nashville Predators Matthew Halischuk 2nd-round pick in 2011 – Magnus Hellberg |
| June 19, 2010 | To Philadelphia Flyers Dan Hamhuis Conditional 7th-round pick in 2011 | To Nashville Predators Ryan Parent |
| June 29, 2010 | To Montreal Canadiens Dan Ellis Dustin Boyd Future considerations | To Nashville Predators Sergei Kostitsyn Future considerations |
| August 5, 2010 | To Florida Panthers Mike Santorelli | To Nashville Predators Conditional 5th-round pick in 2011 – Josh Shalla |
| September 1, 2010 | To Atlanta Thrashers Ian McKenzie | To Nashville Predators Grant Lewis |
| October 5, 2010 | To Vancouver Canucks Ryan Parent Jonas Andersson | To Nashville Predators Shane O'Brien Dan Gendur |
| February 10, 2011 | To Ottawa Senators 1st-round pick in 2011 – Stefan Noesen Conditional 3rd-round pick in 2012 – Jarrod Maidens | To Nashville Predators Mike Fisher |
| February 25, 2011 | To Florida Panthers Alexander Sulzer | To Nashville Predators Conditional 7th-round pick in 2012 |
Player signings
PlayerContract terms
Wade Belak1 year, $575,000
Jani Lajunen3 years, $1.845 million entry-level contract
Anders Lindback2 years, $1.375 million entry-level contract
Roman Josi3 years, $2.625 million entry-level contract
Atte Engren2 years, $1.22 million entry-level contract
Blake Geoffrion2 years, $2.125 million entry-level contract
Francis Bouillon2 years, $2.7 million
Andreas Thuresson1 year, $575,000
Teemu Laakso1 year, $600,000
Sergei Kostitsyn1 year, $550,000
Ryan Parent2 years, $1.85 million
Mark Dekanich1 year, $550,000
Patric Hornqvist3 years, $9.25 million
Taylor Beck3 years, $2.07 million entry-level contract
Cody Franson2 years, $1.6 million
Taylor Aronson3 years, $1.8 million entry-level contract
Jerred Smithson2 years, $1.6 million contract extension
Austin Watson3 years, $2.7 million entry-level contract
Ben Ryan2 years, $1.13 million entry-level contract :

## Draft picks

Nashville's picks at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles, California.
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Previous Team |
| 1 | 18 | Austin Watson | RW | United States | Peterborough Petes (OHL) |
| 3 | 78 | Taylor Aronson | D | United States | Portland Winterhawks (WHL) |
| 5 | 126 (from Tampa Bay) | Patrick Cehlin | RW | Sweden | Djurgårdens IF (Elitserien) |
| 6 | 168 | Anthony Bitetto | D | United States | Indiana Ice (USHL) |
| 7 | 194 (from St. Louis) | David Elsner | F | Germany | Landshut Cannibals (DEL2) |
| 7 | 198 | Joonas Rask | C | Finland | Ilves (SM-liiga) |