As 2025 gets underway, here’s the latest on a handful of Preds prospects from the NCAA to Europe.
Semyon Chistyakov
One of the biggest mysteries of the Nashville pipeline is whether Semyon Chistyakov will ever come over from Russia. The defender was picked 117th overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and has played in the MHL and KHL ever since. At 23 years old, he’s on track for a career season with Avangard Omsk, totaling 12 goals and 26 points in 47 games so far.
Chistyakov sits first amongst KHL defenders in goals and eighth in points; he’ll also be representing Omsk at the KHL All-Star Game next month. His current contract expires after next season, and it’s unclear if there is any out clause for the NHL. I wouldn’t give up on seeing him in North America just yet, but another KHL contract extension wouldn’t shock me, either.
Tanner Molendyk
After being bounced early from the 2025 World Junior Championship with Team Canada, Tanner Molendyk returned to the WHL and was unsurprisingly traded from the Saskatoon Blades to the Medicine Hat Tigers. While the Blades have overperformed this season, the Tigers have serious Memorial Cup aspirations; they sit atop the Eastern Conference and second in the league with a 30-15 record.
Molendyk was the top defender on the trade market in the WHL and has been a big boost to the Tigers’ blueline; through eight games, he’s posted one goal and seven points.
The 2023 first-round pick will be in Nashville or Milwaukee next season and could join the Predators this spring if the Tigers’ championship hopes fall short.
Aiden Fink
Last week, Aiden Fink was announced as a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award—given annually to college hockey’s best player. It’s the first step in a process that will whittle down dozens of nominees to ten and then three finalists before picking a winner. But if you had to crown a champion today, Fink would be hard to pass up.
The 2023 seventh-round pick hasn’t let up one bit in his sophomore season at Penn State University. After a 34-point freshman campaign, he’s scored 16 goals and 34 points in just 24 games; he’s also the first Penn State player to start their career with consecutive 30-point seasons (h/t Chase Fisher). Fink is currently fifth in goals across the NCAA, fourth in points, and third in points per game (1.42).
I suspect Fink will return for at least one more college season, but a potential path to the NHL is becoming clearer and clearer.
Adam Ingram
Adam Ingram has struggled in his third year at St. Cloud State University. After scoring at least 20 points in his first two collegiate seasons, Ingram has been snakebitten this year; he has just two goals and five points (only two primary ones at even strength) in 20 games for the Huskies and didn’t score his first goal until the very end of December. Ingram’s ice time has been impacted too, averaging just 13:35 a night—tenth amongst St. Cloud State forwards.
Ingram’s shot remains his best asset, but his skating and mobility are still limiting his ability to drive plays to the middle of the ice. While I liked the value Nashville got in him falling to the third round, I was suspicious about his NHL chances when he was drafted in 2022. So far, this year has been an unneeded setback.
Kalan Lind
Speaking of setbacks, Kalan Lind continues to face one after the other. Last year, Lind was limited to just 46 games due to injury and illness. This year, Lind has missed 28 games for the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels with a: lower-body injury from a knee-on-knee hit, a suspension for a check to the head, and an upper-body injury due to a hit from behind.
In the 17 games he’s played, Lind has managed four goals and 11 points, including just three primary ones scored at even strength. The 2023 second-round pick should matriculate to the Milwaukee Admirals next season (and might join them in the spring, too), but I wonder if he doesn’t end up starting the 2025-26 season in the ECHL. He needs ice time and still could afford to beef up his frame.
Miguel Marques
Elsewhere in the WHL, Miguel Marques has excelled for the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Lethbridge currently sits fifth in the league standings with a 29-15 record, and the 2024 third-round pick has been a key reason why. Currently injured, Marques has posted 11 goals and 33 points in 25 games, including 15 primary points scored at even strength; that puts him fourth on the team in scoring.
I’m a little surprised Nashville hasn’t signed Marques to an entry-level contract yet, but I have no doubt that will come—especially if he can’t help engineer a lengthy playoff run for the Hurricanes.
Teddy Stiga
Teddy Stiga had an okay start to his college career, scoring 11 points in his first 16 games with the Boston College Eagles. But after scoring the World Junior Championship-winning goal for the United States, he’s taken off. In his last seven games, Stiga has scored five goals and nine points. He’s leading the second wave of offense behind the Eagles’ dominant top line of Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perreault, and James Hagens and sits fifth in forward ice time on the team (17:19 per game).
Stiga is currently tied for ninth in freshmen scoring across the NCAA. He’s playing with a ton of confidence on and off the puck and is doing what he did best at the U.S. National Team Development Program: pushing the transition, executing difficult passes, and finding soft ice to bang home goals.
Erik Påhlsson
I’ll be the first to admit I underestimated Erik Påhlsson’s ability to produce at the college level. When the Nashville Predators selected him 213th overall at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, I saw an overage player who didn’t skate amazingly well but made a living off being a well-position F3 in the offensive zone.
In his first campaign at the University of Minnesota, Påhlsson has been given plenty of opportunities by the Golden Gophers’ coaching staff. He’s averaging nearly 15 minutes of ice time per night and has posted 13 points in 18 games, feeding many of their top producers at even strength and on the power play. I’m still not high on his NHL chances, but maybe Nashville has found a decent AHL piece.
Juha Jatkola
It’s becoming harder and harder to see a future for Juha Jatkola in the Nashville organization. The Finnish goalie was drafted in the fourth round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and has continued to play with KalPa in the Liiga since. Last year, he posted a 0.875 save percentage, and he’s sitting on a 0.893 save percentage this year.
He’s surrendered 0.130 goals above average, which shows you how low the league average save percentage is (0.893), but he’s effectively ceded the starting job to veteran Stefanos Lekkas. Jatkola’s Liiga contract expires this summer, and so do Nashville’s exclusive negotiating rights if he doesn’t sign an entry-level contract before June 1.