It’s early January, and the playoffs are painfully out of reach for the Nashville Predators. After spending plenty of money this offseason to bring in players like Steven Stamkos, Brady Skjei, and Jonathan Marchessault, Nashville sits third to last in the NHL halfway through the year.
It’s been a tough pill to swallow all season. The team hasn’t played well, but firing Andrew Brunette has hardly felt like the solution, and general manager Barry Trotz has stuck by his head coach anyway. Just when they’ve put together a complete effort or get a bit of puck luck one night, they look radically different the next two.
This team was supposed to be a playoff contender; they are not. And while we are welcome to criticize Barry Trotz for that (and I have, most notably for not exacting more oversight over player management decisions), I remain oddly excited the near-term future of this franchise.
As things currently stand (and there’s little reason to suggest they’ll change), Nashville has its best shot at a top-five draft pick in a decade. No matter how the lottery balls land, the Predators should have a legitimate chance to draft a game-breaking forward; take your pick of James Hagens, Michael Misa, Porter Martone, Roger McQueen, and Victor Eklund.
Those prospects, in particular the first three, are the kind that can jumpstart a re-tooling period. Imagine adding Hagens to an up-and-coming core of Luke Evangelista, Zach L’Heureux, Fedor Svechkov, David Edstrom, and Joakim Kemell (who is still just 20 years old by the way). Beyond this season, that group will be complemented by veterans like Filip Forsberg, Stamkos, Ryan O’Reilly, and Marchessault. Additionally, you’ve got potential longer-term options in Aiden Fink, Teddy Stiga, Matthew Wood, and Egor Surin, plus 25 draft picks over the next three seasons.
On the blue line, you can see the future already; imagine a lineup of Roman Josi, Adam Wilsby, Spencer Stastney, Ryan Ufko, Tanner Molendyk, Marc Del Gaizo, and Andrew Gibson.
Barry Trotz was wise to move Alexandre Carrier to Montreal earlier this season, and he should continue to make trades that open up ice time for the aforementioned young players. Go ahead and deal Jeremy Lauzon, Luke Schenn, and Gustav Nyquist to Cup contenders; I’m certain some would be willing to pay a premium.
Then, come the 2025-26 season, Nashville could have at least $12 million in cap space (presuming the cap rises to $92.5 million). Ryan Johansen’s buyout will be off the books by then, and they’ll be paying Mattias Ekholm and Kyle Turris for just one and two more seasons, respectively. The Predators could have plenty of free agency dollars to smartly add to this core, which I firmly believe can contend next season as players like Evangelista, Novak, Stastney, Wilsby, and L’Heureux take another step.
If worse comes to worst, and the Stamkos-O’Reilly-Forsberg core can’t get it done in the next couple of years, Nashville is already steps ahead of a full tear-it-down rebuild and equipped with a heavy arsenal of draft picks to add to their pipeline.
Much of this is, of course, contingent on Trotz and Brunette being the right personnel to lead this team to a championship, which remains a big if. However, in this bizarre season, I’m looking forward to catalyzing this roster at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft and for the Nashville Predators to return to winning in 2025-26.
