We’ve partnered with On Goal Analysis to bring you a team-by-team preview of the upcoming NHL season. (Just scroll down on the OGA website and hit the calendar.) Here is the preview for the Nashville Predators…

Team Play: ISSUE – Of Biscuits and Baskets. Last season, just three Predators scored more than 17 goals (Jason Arnott – 33, Shea Weber – 23, and David Legwand – 20). Nashville’s 213 goals were good for 24th in the league in scoring. Having (a healthy) Steve Sullivan on board will give the Preds a fourth 20+ goal man, but they desperately need another to jump start Legwand and Martin Erat on the 2nd line. The interwebs are rife with stories and speculation: On one hand, Nashville is pursuing Boston’s disgruntled RFA, Phil Kessel (h/t to On the Forecheck) . On the other hand, Ranger castoff Nikolai Zherdev might be The One; time will tell, but the preseason is underway and time is running out. UPDATED: Looks like Zherdev will play in the KHL this season. The Predators play in what is arguably the toughest division in the NHL. Since 1 July, the Red Wings are the only Central Division rival which can be said to have lost a step, and they were a couple of steps above the rest to begin with. Nashville must add another scoring winger in order to keep up with the Joneses. If not, the Predators and their fans already know the answer to the question, “Is it possible to finish last in the Central Division and still make the playoffs?”

Click here to read the rest of the preview (which includes the site’s unique Playoff Qualifying Curve and fantasy information) at the On Goal Analysis site.

The NHL Board of Governors is privately discussing a plan to place a second hockey franchise in Toronto alongside the Maple Leafs. Their thinking is the Toronto market is big enough to support two franchises.

Some members of the board feel the league would be better served by moving an existing team as opposed to granting an expansion franchise. They fear becoming the laughingstock of professional sports, as the NHL already has too many financially-troubled franchises. The board wants to concern themselves first towards making the existing franchises in the league solid before thinking about expanding to new markets.

Media speculation is Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, developer of Blackberry, would become owner of the new franchise in Toronto as reward for his assistance in restoring the financially strapped Nashville Predators last season. He attempted to buy the Predators with the intent of moving the franchise to Hamilton, Ontario. The league blocked the move because it would have ruined the Buffalo Sabres’ share of the southern Ontario market.