Photo: Eric England



It was business as usual the day after the Nashville Predators secured their spot in the NHL playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. During their morning skate at the Centennial Sportsplex, the guys showed no sign of slowing down or stopping to catch a breath before the postseason began.

After all, there was still plenty of work do. This season was rife with adversity that the Preds are still seemingly recovering from — play was often inconsistent night to night as several star players unpredictably bounced in and out of the lineup with injuries, and no matter how hard they tried, the team just couldn’t figure out their power play. In that category, they sit last in the league, with a 12.9 percent scoring rate. Ouch.

Still, the Preds managed not only to clinch yet another playoff berth, but also to finish at the top of the Central Division for the second year in a row after a down-to-the-wire race against the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues. That success is due in no small part to center Ryan Johansen.

While his fellow members of the JoFA line — teammates Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson — were both out for several weeks with midseason injuries, Johansen adapted. With sharp no-look passes and a somewhat mystifying ability to know where a player would be several seconds into the future, he helped his ever-shuffling cast of linemates shine by constantly creating opportunities for them to score. During a March 29 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Johansen was the first Nashville Predator to rack up 50 assists in the regular season since Paul Kariya more than 10 years ago. Not surprisingly, Johansen also leads the team in points with 64, and a number of his 14 goals have been white-knuckle game winners.

After practice, Johansen sat down with the Scene to discuss some of this season’s most memorable moments, as well as talk about his bulldogs Doug and Dozer, who’ve become stars in their own right. Photo: Martin B. Cherry

So my first question, and I’m really sorry to start it off with something so divisive — I know this might be hard to answer. Who snores louder, Doug or Dozer?

[Laughs] Dozer, by far. Doug actually, surprisingly, doesn’t snore. We were expecting him to. But unless he’s really tired, he’s fine.

How does it feel to have stuffed versions of your dogs in the Predators’ merch shop? When did the dogs become their own celebrities?

My fiancée [Madison], with posting her own stuff about the dogs, people were coming up to us nonstop, like, “We need more pictures of the dogs, we want more pictures.”

It’s the underbites.

Yeah, they’re pretty photogenic. So Madison was like, “Let’s just make them an account and have some fun with it.” And then, boom, they have a huge following. We enjoy taking goofy pictures of them.

So as we stand here today, you have 49 assists, breaking your own personal record of 47. In 2006, Paul Kariya set the franchise record at 54. Is that number in your head at all as the season starts to wind down?

You know, stats and things like that can be distracting. I think that’s something I’ve been aware of these last couple weeks. It’d be really cool to be up there with his name, but at the same time, all you can control is what you do and your work. So for me, I just want to make sure I continue going out there and playing my game. I think numbers take care of themselves when you go out there and you just keep putting the team first, and put work boots on every night — and whatever happens, happens.

Your shootout approach lately has caused a little bit of controversy. In the back-to-back games against the Minnesota Wild, you scored twice by slowing way down while approaching the net — kind of pushing the rule that a shooter must always be moving forward in a shootout. Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk said it was “a mockery.” How do you respond to that?

I kind of agree with him. I’m not a big shootout fan. But at the same time, just trying to help our team win a game, that’s what works for me. And unless they change the rule, I’m gonna keep taking that kind of approach. So sorry, Devan. [Laughs]

Do you have a name for it?

No, I don’t.

Have you considered “The Slowhansen”?

The Slowhansen? [Laughs] There you go. Yeah, you could use that. Photo: Martin B. Cherry

I want to know how you’re feeling going into the playoffs. There was a lot of talk at the beginning of the season about keeping the roster the same, and then, of course, at the trade deadline David Poile made some moves that you could assume were a response to the physicality of the Jets and the Sharks. So you bring in Brian Boyle, you bring in Wayne Simmonds. How are you feeling about those additions?

To what you said earlier, with just the talk, you go through the whole year like, “Can this team win the Stanley Cup? Are they made to win a cup? Can they beat teams like the Jets?” And there’s no more talking around this time of year. It’s either you got it, and you find ways to win, or you don’t. And with bringing in those guys, that’s gonna do nothing but help our group.

Boyle especially is looking really good. I’m liking what he’s doing.

Oh yeah. I think all three of them [Boyle, Simmonds and Mikael Granlund] have been doing really well within our team game and the details of our game. They’re big-time players, and that’s been my message to them. They wanna score more goals and have bigger impacts, and my opinion is, when those big moments come, I believe you guys will be there. Just keep doing your thing. Photo: Eric England

Tell me about your clothing line, Journey Risk True.

There’s the three of us, three best buds — two of them are gonna be my groomsmen in my wedding this summer. Jason, Ryan and Travis — we wanted to pick three words that described us and how we approach our lives and go about our day-to-day. We wanted to make it where people can relate, and we feel like the way we live our lives can inspire people and make it fun as well. “Journey,” you know, everyone’s got their own path and their own passions and dreams. Everyone can relate to striving for something. And being “True,” that was a big thing about us three — I don’t get to see them during the season at all, really — you’re always sticking by each other’s side and supporting each other. And then “Risk,” you know, life’s all about risk.

The Slowhansen is a risky move.

[Laughs] The Slowhansen, it is very risky.