Nashville Predators: 6 Forwards That Need to Produce for a Stanley Cup Run

The Nashville Predators won 11 of their 13 games in January, riding on the back of goaltender Pekka Rinne and the team's new-found scoring potential. Since then, they have lost three of four, but have lost three of four in February and face arguably the most daunting remaining schedule in the NHL.

Like always, Nashville is a defensive-minded squad. In January though, they scored the second-most goals in the league with 45, just behind the Boston Bruins' 50. Their leaders in goals are Patric Hornqvist and Mike Fisher, each with just 16, meaning they are getting scoring from a wide variety of players.

There is no doubt that the Preds will need to keep up their surprising offensive efficiency and for Rinne to continue to play up to his new $49 million contract if they want to take the league by storm and make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. 

The Predators will need these six forwards to come into their own and play lights-out hockey to be capable of taking down the Western Conference giants, Detroit, Vancouver and Chicago, in the playoffs. 

Legwand holds nearly every Nashville career record and has been a Predator since the franchise's inception, but he's never shown the high level of play that the former first overall pick was expected to show.

The 31-year-old Detroit native is in the top five in points once again for the Preds, but needs to show offensive leadership and scoring explosiveness for Nashville to get over the hump and make a deep playoff run.

Despite his contributions to the Predators throughout his career, he will go down as a bust unless he can hush the critics and help lead his team to the Stanley Cup. This might be the best all-around Nashville team he's played on, and more blame will be on his shoulders than anyone else's if offense is the Preds' downfall this year.  

Sergei Kostitsyn made just over half a million dollars last season, but splashed onto the NHL scene in Nashville by leading the Preds in goals and points in 2010-11. He was due a raise, so they went to arbitration where he was awarded $2.5 million. 

Kostitsyn is just 13th on the team with 57 shots, but is making about 25 percent of them with 14 goals. He isn't the dominant player that he was last year, but he's keeping up production enough to be featured as a top six forward. 

If Kostitsyn can keep it together and increase his production, it will greatly help the Preds, who face some of the league's top scoring teams in the coming weeks. Failing to do so will also hurt his chances of getting a big payday this offseason. 

The Predators made a risky move to acquire Mike Fisher from the Ottawa Senators at last year's trade deadline, but it paid dividends as he was able to assume a leadership role immediately and produce on Nashville's front-line.

After a shaky start to the 2011-12 season, he rebounded in January with a plethora of game-winning goals and is playing at the level Nashville needs from him.

If he keeps up his January production, the Preds could make a run at the West's top-seed and roll into the playoffs with high expectations.

If not, his wife—and some diehard Smashvillians—might take a Louisville Slugger to his car. 

Colin Wilson has been one of Nashville's most reliable forwards and has only missed three games in the last two seasons. The youngster has shown flashes of why he was picked seventh overall in the 2008 draft. 

He has been productive this season and is only five points away from having a career-high in points, an impressive statistic given that he isn't exactly playing on a top line every night.

The Preds will need him to come into his own down the stretch this season and put more pucks in the net to make a playoff run. 

Rookie Craig Smith has more than exceeded his expectations for this season, as he currently sits at sixth on the team in points (31). But his numbers have fallen off pretty drastically since the first quarter of the season, when he led the team in the points column.

Smith, an All-Star Rookie selection, is one of the league's fastest players. He's swift with the puck and creates his own scoring opportunities more than anyone on this team. If he can continue to develop his shot and make strides in that category this year, he could be the Preds' most dangerous scorer come playoff time.

Patric Hornqvist has been one of Nashville's most reliable scorers the last two seasons, scoring 48 and 51 points, respectively. January of 2012 was kind to him, as he notched 13 points, but it doesn't hide an ugly season production-wise for the Swedish forward.

His 16 goals are tied for the team lead, but he only has 11 assists to add to that. At 25 years old, Hornqvist is entering the prime of his career and needs to help create more goals if Nashville wants to beat the likes of Detroit and Vancouver.