What would it even look like if the Nashville Predators blew it up?

Every time we think we understand who the Nashville Predators are, they surprise us, for better or worse.

Eighteen months ago, they were the closest they’d been in decades to starting over. In the final days of David Poile’s 25-year run as their GM, he’d seemingly embraced a rebuild, having sold off veteran defenseman Mattias Ekholm in a trade deadline humdinger with the Edmonton Oilers, not to mention bruising forward Tanner Jeannot and scoring forwards Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter in other deals that winter. As Barry Trotz transitioned into the GM chair, Nashville bought out Matt Duchene and traded Ryan Johansen. It seemed like the Predators were finally ready to escape their Murky Middle years, having finished fourth or fifth in the Central Division four years in a row.

But they quickly subverted expectations. Trotz spent aggressively in free agency that summer, signing Ryan O’Reilly, Gustav Nyquist and Luke Schenn, sending a message that Nashville did in fact want to remain competitive. It took a while last season but, thanks to a 16-0-2 run, they did, getting back to the playoffs. Then came a scorching hot 2024 offseason in which they hooked Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei. They’d vaulted into top-tier contender status on paper. Surely, we knew who the Preds were at that point, right?

Wrong. They’ve subverted our expectations again in 2024-25. With a pitiful 7-16-6 record, they sit dead last in the NHL’s overall standings. They lost captain and top defenseman Roman Josi to a lower-body injury Tuesday. Their playoff odds have already plummeted to 2.5 percent, per Moneypuck.com. What felt like October growing pains for a team breaking in new additions gave way to legitimate concern and public expressions of frustration from Trotz in November and, in December, pure despair. The Preds have lost eight consecutive games. They’re the NHL’s lowest-scoring team, largely because they’ve been caved in at 5-on-5, outscored 60-35. They aren’t actually a horrible play-driving team, but they can’t finish; they have the worst 5-on-5 shooting percentage in the NHL at 5.57 percent.

Even if they’re unlucky, it may be too late for positive regression to pull them out of their hole. When Trotz claimed in early November that the rebuild may have to start, it felt more like motivation tactics at the time, consistent with his decision to take away the U2 Sphere concert last year, which worked wonders. But now it actually feels like the Preds have reached a point where they’ll have to blow things up. That could start with firing coach Andrew Brunette, sure, but it may be too late to save the season.

If Nashville truly has to torch its roster and admit defeat…what would that look like for Trotz? With so many of his core players signed to long-term contracts, How many of his top veterans could he conceivably move? Let’s break the potential assets into tiers.

No-Brainer option: Trade Gustav Nyquist

This one’s easy. Nyquist hasn’t matched the magic he had with Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly last season, but Nyquist remains a brainy playmaker, two-way play driver and, as Trotz told me last season, a valued veteran presence from whom younger players can learn good habits. Nyquist is 35, he’s a pending UFA, he carries a palatable $3.185 million cap hit, and he’d carry a relatively modest acquisition cost for a contender looking to deepen its top nine.

Realistic option: Trade Alexandre Carrier

Carrier is the lone Pred currently residing on DFO insider Frank Seravalli’s Trade Targets board. On one hand, Carrier’s an appealing player to keep; he’s only 28 and has just commenced a three-year extension at a $3.75 million AAV. On the other, we know there’s always a premium on low-maintenance, right-shot defensemen capable of playing shutdown minutes. If the Predators decide on a true teardown and believe Carrier will be exiting his prime by the time they’re contenders again anyway, they could net a nice return for 2.5 years of him.

Plausible option: Trade Luke Schenn, Jeremy Lauzon and/or Colton Sissons

There will always be a market for hardnosed depth defensemen to help teams grind through playoff warfare. Schenn and Lauzon fit the bill and would qualify as luxury rentals with an additional season apiece remaining on their contracts. Schenn, 35, would be the pick for leadership, and Lauzon, 27, would offer more upside as the younger choice. As for lifetime Predator Sissons, who’d also be a two-year rental: he’s struggled this season but remains an effective face-off man with a lot of experience and could augment a contender’s fourth line.

Long-shot option: Trade Ryan O’Reilly and/or Tommy Novak

Yes, O’Reilly is a key member of Nashville’s leadership group. But he’ll be 34 in February, he still carries plenty of trade value as a Conn Smythe Trophy winning shutdown center, and he has no trade restrictions on his contract, which has a highly palatable $4.5 million AAV. He signed for less in a state without income tax, and that could work to an acquiring team’s advantage now if they’re OK with taking him on through 2026-27. Novak, a late-blooming 2015 third-rounder, is the forward equivalent of Carrier. Novak was a nice find by the Preds, and he’s in Year 1 of a thee-year, team-friendly extension, but he’s not a true needle-mover in the long term. If a team wanted a middle-six playmaker and offered a viable prospect or early-round pick, would Trotz have to consider biting?

Hail-Mary options

The only way for the Predators to truly reset their roster and venture toward a proper rebuild would be to move off some of their pricier, longer-term pacts which carry movement restrictions. Jonathan Marchessault has a 15-team no trade list. Because he inked a sweetheart no-tax deal, his $5.5 million AAV is highly reasonable even for four more seasons if he’d be willing to leave. Steven Stamkos has a full no-movement clause. The only way you can trade him is if he decides Year 1 of his post-Tampa experiment didn’t work and wants to try somewhere else with full control over where he goes. He has three seasons remaining on his contract at $8 million per year – maybe just within the realm of Nashville being willing to retain some money.

I shudder to even mention it, but…Josi is 34 years old. He has defied the laws of aging to remain an elite defenseman. He has never won a Stanley Cup. If anything happened with him, it would more likely be a summer trade, a la Erik Karlsson in 2023. I’m not saying he or the Predators would want this. He’s extremely engrained in the city, as he explained to me in the summer. I’m just listing it as your “break glass in case of emergency” option.

Untouchables/Immovables

Despite the fact the demand for goaltender Juuse Saros would be high, you can’t trade him. Not when his eight-year extension doesn’t start until next year, and not after you traded Yaroslav Askarov. Filip Forsberg is Nashville’s top offensive forward and still has five seasons left at $8.5 million per. He’s likely staying put. Blueliner Brady Skjei is half a season into a seven-year deal. Too much term left to make him a realistic option, and he carries an NMC.

Will any of the names above play for different teams by the end of this season? Don’t bet against it. If the Predators in the Trotz GM era have taught us anything, it’s that they never do what we expect them to.

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