2023–24 NHL team preview: Nashville Predators
LAST SEASON
With his team destined to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2014, outgoing Nashville Predators general manager David Poile embarked upon a full-scale roster teardown in the 2022–23 season. Past contributors Mattias Ekholm, Tanner Jeannot, Eeli Tolvanen, Mikael Granlund, and Nino Niederreiter are all gone. Although the Predators only missed last year’s playoffs by three points, this isn’t a team looking to contend in the immediate future. At least, that was the implication last season. A puzzling summer in which new GM Barry Trotz brought in veterans Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn and Gustav Nyquist sent a conflicting message about the team’s intended trajectory.
Roman Josi and Juuse Saros are still among the very best players in the NHL at their respective situations, but uncertainty looms for both. Saros is set to become an unrestricted free agent in two short years; Josi is signed through 2028 but just turned 33 in June. Although the 2022–23 Predators were decent defensively, they finished with the sixth-fewest goals in the entire NHL — and considering some of their offensive moves, they might end up scoring even less next year.
KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES
Additions
Ryan O’Reilly, C
Gustav Nyquist, LW
Luke Schenn, D
Denis Gurianov, RW
Departures
Matt Duchene, C (DAL)
Ryan Johansen, C (COL)
Cal Foote, D (NJ)
Zach Sanford, LW (ARI)
OFFENSE
It’s not pretty. Filip Forsberg should be the engine behind the Predators’ offensive attack, but his lack of durability is becoming a real concern. The 29-year-old winger is signed through 2030 but has sat out at least 13 games in each of the last six seasons. Last year, he missed 32. That ain’t good.
Matt Duchene led all Predators forwards in scoring last year with 56 points in 71 games, but the team decided to buy out the final three years of his contract over the summer. Mikael Granlund scored 36 points in 58 games before being traded at the deadline. Nino Niederreiter, also traded during the season, had 28 points in 56 games. Ryan Johansen, flipped to Colorado over the summer, had 28 points in 55 games. The Preds already couldn’t score last year when all these guys were on the team — now, who do they have?
Tommy Novak came out of nowhere to score 43 points in 51 games with last year’s Predators, but he’ll need to prove he can repeat that output and maintain it over a full 82 games before he can be considered a legit top-six forward. Nyquist, who signed a two-year deal with the Preds as a UFA, is 34 and more of a third-line-caliber winger at this point. And at this point, Cody Glass, Jusso Parssinen, Philip Tomasino, and Yakov Trenin are young secondary producers who don’t move the needle all that much in the grand scheme of things. Maybe Glass can finally shed that label and take a step toward living up to his pedigree as a No. 6 overall draft pick.
The Predators are slated to enter the year with Glass, Novak, Ryan O’Reilly, and Colton Sissons as their four NHL centers. O’Reilly is by far the most established of the bunch, but he managed just 30 points in 53 games split between the St. Louis Blues and Toronto Maple Leafs last year. It’s hard to fathom the soon-to-be-33-year-old performing much better with only one other bona fide top-six forward in his vicinity.
DEFENSE
Roman Josi didn’t fluke his way into winning the Norris Trophy in 2020 — and he probably should’ve won it again in 2022. Sure, he’s getting older, but Josi is still one of the very best defensemen (and players) in the NHL.
Unfortunately, he’s on an island in Nashville. After trading Mattias Ekholm last year, the Predators’ defensive group is among the thinnest in the league. Their two most likely options to play with Josi are Tyson Barrie (a pure one-way defenseman who needs a compass to navigate in his own zone) and Luke Schenn (who looked competent in Vancouver and excelled in Toronto but ideally shouldn’t be anywhere near a top-four role). Not really an ideal scenario by any means.
Ryan McDonagh will anchor the Predators’ second pairing for the second consecutive year. Although he won the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, McDonagh’s best years are very much behind him. He turned 34 in June and exhibited clear signs of decline in 2022–23. It wouldn’t be particularly surprising to see someone like Jeremy Lauzon or Dante Fabbro push McDonagh down the lineup this year.
That said, Fabbro hasn’t panned out how the Predators hoped he would. He managed just 11 points last year, a far cry from what was expected when he put up 33 points in 38 games as a junior at Boston University in 2018–19. The Predators have some decent defense prospects in the pipe, including Luke Prokop and Tanner Molendyk, but they’re years away. For the time being, it’s not great.
GOALTENDING
Juuse Saros is terrific. He’s capable of stealing games on any team in the league, including these Predators. He probably elevated them by around 10 points in the standings just by himself last year. As long as he’s in net, the Preds will maintain some semblance of competitiveness. Plus, the Predators have Kevin Lankinen, who went 9–8–1 with a .916 save percentage in 19 games with the team in the 2022–23 season. The Saros–Lankinen tandem can undoubtedly be the backbone of a strong team.
But with two years left on his deal, Saros — who will be 30 when his next contract kicks in — might not fit in with this team’s window. He’s a top-flight goalie on a team with very few other notable players. Does it really jive for him to spend his last prime years on a Predators team going nowhere in the immediate future? It might make more sense for the Preds to trade Saros for a haul next year and fully commit to bottoming out while top prospect Yaroslav Askarov continues to develop in the AHL. Until then, however … we’ll just have to see how it all plays out.
COACHING
John Hynes lost his job as head coach in Nashville as a consequence of being the man behind the bench as the Predators missed the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade. The Preds won just three playoff games in four years under Hynes.
Former Predators head coach Barry Trotz is now the club’s GM, and he elected to hire one of his old players in Andrew Brunette over the summer to replace Hynes. Brunette, who played for the inaugural Predators team in 1998–99, led the Panthers to the Presidents’ Trophy in 2022 before being replaced by Paul Maurice after a subpar playoff showing. While Maurice guided the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Final in 2023, Brunette worked as an assistant coach with the similarly strong New Jersey Devils.
Brunette is still something of an unknown quantity as a coach. He has less than a full season of experience as an NHL head coach, having served on an interim basis after Joel Quenneville’s dismissal early in 2021–22. It was a great year for the Panthers, but how much of that was really Brunette’s doing? He certainly didn’t hurt the Devils last year. But it’s now truly up to him to show what he can do with an undermanned Predators team.
ROOKIES
Luke Evangelista burst onto the scene with the Predators late in the 2022–23 season. The 2020 second-round pick (No. 42 overall) built upon an excellent showing with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals by racking up seven goals and 15 points in 24 games with the Predators down the stretch. The 21-year-old winger is barely still eligible for the Calder Trophy and could be one of the better under-the-radar picks for the award this year.
Also, keep an eye on defenseman Jake Livingstone. The 24-year-old righty is coming off an outstanding junior year at Minnesota State – Mankato, but it certainly isn’t unusual for a 6’4″ defenceman to dominate his younger, smaller peers in the NCAA. Livingstone was one of the top college free agents available last spring, but he was also one of the older ones. He likely doesn’t have a whole lot of development runway left, so he’ll pretty much end up being what he is right now. If Livingstone doesn’t prove himself to be an NHL-caliber defender this year, he might not at all.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. Who will lead this team in scoring? Among the forwards under contract with this year’s Predators, Tommy Novak scored the most points in 2022–23. But then again, Filip Forsberg could very easily surpass him if he plays a full season. But if Forsberg gets hurt again, Ryan O’Reilly could get more high-leverage deployments in the offensive zone. Buuuuuut who are we kidding, it’ll be Roman Josi for the fifth consecutive year … right?
2. Will Juuse Saros be traded? We laid out the reasons above for why this might end up happening. If the Winnipeg Jets end up keeping Connor Hellebuyck, Saros could become a major focal point for on-the-up teams like the Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings. He’d be exactly what the doctor ordered for those two organizations. Trading Saros could bring a windfall of future assets to Nashville.
3. Is Tommy Novak for real? If Novak were to score at his 2022–23 rate over a full 82 games, he’d rack up 27 goals and 69 points. Imagine that. Novak was playing in the ECHL (!) at one point during the 2020–21 season. He was barely considered a prospect before he broke out in Nashville last year. But he’d hardly be the first player to fizzle out after one strong season.
PREDICTION
There isn’t a whole lot to like about this Predators team. Although they have some star power, the Preds lack depth at almost every position. It’s hard to imagine them scoring very much at all in 2023–24. In fact, we’re going to go ahead and say they score the fewest goals in the entire league.
After making the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons, the Predators are in the midst of changing directions. They’ve been through one of the most aggressive selling periods of any team in recent memory. As a consequence, Nashville hockey fans will be treated to a pretty bare-bones roster next year. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — rebuilding is completely valid — but it also doesn’t mean there won’t be pain.
Our bold prediction: Nashville won’t come close to competing this season. It’s not out of the question that they finish dead last in the Central – and maybe even contend for the most ping-pong balls at the draft lottery.
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