The 2024-25 season will start on Tuesday, October 8th but the Nashville Predators won’t start until Thursday, October 10th when they take on the Dallas Stars who they will face four times, they will face everyone except the Minnesota Wild in their division four times with them facing the Wild three times, they will face all eight teams in the Pacific division three times each as well and finally they will face each Eastern Conference team twice once at home and once on the road. The Predators finished last season going 47-30-5 with 99 points enough to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs before being eliminated by the Vancouver Canucks in six games in the first round; the Predators finished 16-8-2 with 34 points against the other teams in the Central division. The Predators this past offseason went out and spent money so who is new and who is not returning to the team this season?
Additions:
G – Magnus Chrona – Traded from San Jose Sharks
F – David Edstrom – Traded from San Jose Sharks
F – Jonathan Marchessault – Free Agency/5-years
G – Matt Murray – Free Agency/1-year
D – Brady Skjei – Free Agency/7-years
F – Steven Stamkos – Free Agency/4-years
G – Scott Wedgewood – Free Agency/2-years
Subtractions:
F – Cody Glass – Trade to Pittsburgh Penguins
G – Yaroslav Askarov – Trade to San Jose Sharks
D – Ryan McDonagh – Traded to Tampa Bay Lightning
D – Tyson Barrie – Free Agency/PTO/Calgary Flames
F – Anthony Beauvillier – Free Agency/Pittsburgh Penguins
F – Jason Zucker – Free Agency/Buffalo Sabres
F – Jared Anderson-Dolan – Free Agency/Winnipeg Jets
G – Kevin Lankinen – Free Agency/Vancouver Canucks
Roster
Forwards
Filip Forsberg – Ryan O’Reilly – Gustav Nyquist
Steven Stamkos – Tommy Novak – Jonathan Marchessault
Mark Jankowski – Colton Sissons – Luke Evangelista
Cole Smith – Michael McCarron – Juuso Parssinen
The Predators went out and added scoring with Marchessault and Stamkos and they slot right into the second line with Novak, by bringing in those two they add a player in Stamkos who averages 71 points a season on 35 goals and 36 assists and someone in Marchessault who averages 44 points a season on 21 goals and 23 assists but he’s coming off a career-high season in goals with 42. Forsberg is back on the top line as well coming off a season in which he had career highs in points, goals, and assists, he found some great chemistry playing with O’Reilly last season. The one thing this Predators team will need is to get scoring from their bottom six forwards which they are hoping they can get from Sissons, Evangelista, Jankowski, and Parssinen.
Defense
Brady Skjei – Roman Josi
Jeremy Lauzon – Alexandre Carrier
Spencer Stastney – Luke Schenn
The Predators with the addition of Skjei may have one of the best blue line corps in not just the division but the league, he is a career +21 and is coming off a season in which he finished as a +15 and also had a career high in points, now he will slide in and play with one of the top defenseman in the league in Roman Josi who finished with 85 points last season and was a +12. The bottom line of the defense is the most intriguing, with the Predators hoping Stastney can take a leap in what is expected to be his first full season and he’ll be with a veteran in Schenn who finished last season as a plus one. This group will be what makes or breaks the Predators this season.
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Power Play
Filip Forsberg – Ryan O’Reilly – Jonathan Marchessault – Steven Stamkos – Roman Josi
Juuso Parssinen – Tommy Novak – Gustav Nyquist – Luke Evangelista – Brady Skjei
The top power play line on this team is lethal as this group combined for 149 points on the man advantage from last season. Adding guys like Marchessault and Stamkos to this top unit should help raise a power play unit that finished last season 16th in the league with a 21.6% power play group.
Goalie
Juuse Saros – Scott Wedgewood
The Predators have one of the best goalies in the league in Saros who has finished top five in Vezina voting the last three straight seasons and in the top six the last four straight seasons. He finished last season 35-24-5 with a .906 save percentage and a 2.86 goals against average, I’d expect with the defense in front of him those numbers will be better. Wedgewood will now be his backup, and he played well in Dallas last season as their backup going 16-7-5 with a 2.85 goals against average and a .899 save percentage, that right there combined would give Nashville 51 wins which is a realistic number to look at this season especially with this tandem.
Wrap Up: Old & Fun
This team should bring some excitement and should certainly make the playoffs maybe even finishing in the top two of the division. They are a team to also watch at the trade deadline as they currently have three first round picks that they could entertain trading one of them to make them better for a deep playoff run. They will have some tough tests with the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars but the additions certainly give them a boost and one of the best barns in the postseason should get hockey back and could provide a boost to this team and could very well push them to a Western Conference Finals appearance if not a Stanley Cup appearance.
ITR 26: 2 Nations Fighting – Inside The Rink
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