By John Glennon
A mere four points separated the Predators and Arizona Coyotes in the standings when the NHL's regular season came to an unexpected end last March.
But one of the glaring differences between these teams as they readied for their first-round playoff series was postseason experience.
The Predators, simply put, had a ton of it. The Coyotes? Not so much.
Hard as it may be to believe, the Preds still have 13 players on their roster that reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2017, including the likes of Ryan Johansen, Roman Josi, Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm among others. Nashville has reached the postseason six straight seasons, and has played in a combined 11 playoff series – including the current one – over that stretch.
The Coyotes, meanwhile, hadn't participated in a single playoff game since 2012 before Sunday's contest against the Preds. Arizona did bolster its playoff experience in a big way by acquiring Phil Kessel – a two-time Stanley Cup winner in Pittsburgh – before the 2019-20 season. But the bottom line is that the Coyotes, even with Kessel, would have missed the playoffs again this season if the NHL had stuck with its traditional 16-team format, as opposed to expanding it temporarily to 24 teams.
So given the background of the two teams, which looked more like a seasoned playoff squad on Sunday, when the . . .
The rest of this content is restricted to Broadway Insiders. Register for an Broadway Insider Pass to view this post in its entirety.
If you're not ready to unlock everything Broadway Sports has to offer, you can return to our home page and view all the free content available right at your fingertips.
MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS | STANDARD (FREE) | BSM INSIDER PASS ($6.99/mo) |
---|---|---|
Comments on Articles | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
BSM Podcast Network | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
Access to Free Articles and Videos | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
ALL Premium Articles | ✔︎ | |
EARLY Access to Select Written, Video and Audio Content | ✔︎ | |
EXCLUSIVE Access to the full Mike Herndon Show | ✔︎ | |
PRIVATE Invitations to Livestreams and Q&A's | ✔︎ | |
EXCLUSIVE Access to the New Broadway Morning Newsletter | ✔︎ | |
EXCLUSIVE Invitation to Private Fantasy Leagues and Competitions | ✔︎ |
Register New Account
