Nashville Predators vs. Edmonton Oilers Preview: Ekholm’s Return

Mattias Ekholm returns to Nashville for the first time since his trade in February.

Nashville Predators

In late February, the Predators decided they would go nearly “scorched earth.” GM David Poile traded Mattias Ekholm to the Edmonton Oilers for Tyson Barrie and a prospect. Barrie has been great for the Predators, jumping in on the blue line fairly seamlessly. It’s never easy to bid farewell to a homegrown player like Ekholm, but he was put in a great place to succeed in Edmonton.

Nashville is 1-2-0 on the season. Both of their losses were winnable games, but when you hand the other team a ridiculous number of power play opportunities—and penalty shots—you don’t have a very high chance of…