Ryan O'Reilly passes first test as Predators' go-to center

When the Nashville Predators signed Ryan O'Reilly to a four-year contract in the offseason, there was warranted skepticism about whether the 32-year-old could perform as the team's top center.

Although worries about whether he's up to that job aren't going to dissipate from a single game, the veteran did just about everything he could to show he's still worthy of that role on Tuesday.

Coming off a season where injuries cost him 32 games — and he often played on the third line after getting traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs — O'Reilly got his 2023-24 campaign started in impressive fashion on Tuesday.

The veteran scored his team's first goal of the season, finishing off an outstanding play from Filip Forsberg in the second period.

Then, his ability to keep the puck in, and keep it away from Steven Stamkos, led to a Predators goal at the outset of the third period.

A multi-point effort is notable from O'Reilly considering he managed just six last season, but there was more to his game than his appearances on the scoresheet.

The Predators had far better opportunities than the Tampa Bay Lightning at 5v5 when the center was playing — owning an 83.71% expected goal share and grabbing 87.5% of the high-danger chances. When O'Reilly was on the ice, Nashville was in the driver's seat, and he was on the ice a lot.

The 21:59 he played was a higher ice time total than he managed in any non-overtime game in 2022-23. It's a far cry from the 17:56 he averaged last season, which dropped to 16:32 after he was traded to Toronto.

Nashville's four power-play opportunities played a role in that number, but it wasn't the driving factor. Considering NHL teams averaged 3.07 chances with the man advantage in 2022-23, we're talking about two more minutes of special-teams time up for grabs than usual. That's not nearly enough to account for the mammoth workload.

The Predators clearly see O'Reilly as a player capable of reprising the role he had earlier in his career when he was a top-line center logging plenty of time on both special teams. He probably isn't going to average 21:59 per night — a number that would be a career-high — but Nashville seems like it'll ask a lot of him.

While the team's weakness down the middle is a massive factor in that, the Predators clearly have plenty of confidence in O'Reilly. If he is able to rise to the challenge in front of him, Nashville will be getting excellent value on his $4.5 million salary cap hit. There are reasons to believe his game can age gracefully as his size, strength, smarts, and faceoff ability are unlikely to abandon him in the years to come.

It will take a long time to know how this contract will net out, but for now it will be interesting to see how O'Reilly fares. In a league where gifted two-way centers like Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron, and Anže Kopitar have been able to compete at a high level deep into their thirties, it's possible O'Reilly can do the same.

While his 2022-23 didn't meet his usual standards, it might've been a down year rather than a sign of significant decline.

The Predators are poised to discover if the rest of the league slept on O'Reilly's ability to excel in a featured role when he was a free agent. His debut with Nashville doesn't provide the answer, but it hints that this team is motivated to find out.