“There’s no point in fixing something that’s not broken,” Filip Forsberg said after a practice this week. “That’s an old saying, I guess.”

The Swedish-translated version without usage of the word “ain’t,” anyway. The point is just as clear. Forsberg was talking about this Predators team, which looks remarkably like the last Predators team.

A core group that reached the Stanley Cup Final two postseasons ago and won the Presidents’ Trophy last season logically will be kept together. But general manager David Poile isn’t just keeping the core. The 2018-19 Predators serve as a remarkable replica of the 2017-18 Predators, with a few minor tweaks.

Shoot, one of the new forwards in this lineup that will open the season Thursday on the road against the New York Rangers, Frederick Gaudreau, is an old playoff hero in Nashville (from 2017). The top three lines are the same as they were for most of last season, the top two defense pairings, the goalies, the coaches, the uniforms, the high expectations inside and outside the room, the accents, the haircuts, the famous P.K. Subban girlfriend (Lindsey Vonn). Just about everything.

The only actual new faces on the opening night roster belong to third-pairing defenseman Dan Hamhuis – a former Predator, by the way, and an upgrade over Alexei Emelin – and forward/agitator Zac Rinaldo, who previously played for coach Peter Laviolette in Philadelphia.

This means Poile and Laviolette place a lot of value on the consistency last season that produced the best record in the league, despite the complete absence of consistency in a postseason that ended with a second-round, seven-game loss to Winnipeg. As another sprawling regular season gets started, keep that in mind if you’re in the “regular season means nothing” crowd.

Roman Josi and Co. made a case

It also means a lot to these players. They were forceful and coordinated in voicing this hope to Poile in the aftermath of a loss to the Jets in the first Game 7 ever played at Bridgestone Arena. It wasn’t the easiest time to sell, after the top defense corps in the league seemed to soar and crash from game to game; after the second line went silent for two series; after the Predators finished 3-4 in the postseason in their building.

But it was their only time to sell. And they were selling to a guy who, two offseasons earlier, shipped the captain and most popular player in Predators history, Shea Weber, to Montreal for Subban. Who was being asked by media after the loss to the Jets about a (comically uninformed) report that Subban was on the block.

“I mean, I know David cares a lot about what the players think,” captain Roman Josi said this week. “But obviously a lot of things can happen throughout the summer. He’s the one who makes the moves. But we’re all really glad he didn’t make too many moves and that we’re all still together. It shows that he cares about the players and their opinion, too.”

Said Forsberg of Poile: “It’s ultimately his decision, but when we have that strong of a voice from the team that everybody wants to stay the same. … I mean, you never know. Crazier things have happened. But in my mind there was no doubt we were going to go with this team. Still no doubt.”

It enters the season as a Stanley Cup contender. For the record, out of 79 analysts between ESPN.com, NHL.com and The Athletic, nine have the Predators winning it all and 20 have them winning the Western Conference. (Give me the San Jose Sharks over the Tampa Bay Lightning, for the record, unless I’m wrong).

That’s high expectation, but it’s not the same pressure as in the spring when the playoffs began and everyone was picking the Predators to win it all – some had moved on to trying to predict the exact parade route in Nashville. This is now simply one of the best teams in the league. And it’s built to stay that way.

Pekka Rinne, Kyle Turris among key questions

Two of this team’s projected starters are older than 30 – Hamhuis (35) and reigning Vezina winner Pekka Rinne, who turns 36 on Nov. 3. Rinne's performance and the level of transition this season to Juuse Saros is one of this team’s big questions. So is the saga of forward Austin Watson, who is serving a 27-game suspension after he pleaded no contest in July to a misdemeanor domestic assault charge.

So is the response of Eeli Tolvanen, the 2017 first-round pick with tremendous offensive potential who did not make the team and was sent to Milwaukee. Will he flourish there and become a top-six NHL forward this season? Will he end up opting for a return to the KHL instead? And will second-line center Kyle Turris prove something after his ghostly postseason?

“The way we approached it with him is, this is game one of a new year,” Laviolette said of Turris. “And he can write his own book.”

So can this team, with mostly the same collection of authors. Just remember, Poile engineered the trade for Turris one month into last season. There’s a popular saying that sums up his level of patience for well-built teams that don’t play like it right away:

“Ain’t nobody got time for that.”

Reach Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @joerexrode.

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