2026-27 NHL team preview: Nashville Predators
LAST SEASON
After an extremely disappointing 2024-25 season, the Nashville Predators entered 2025-26 with significantly lower expectations. There weren’t any drastic changes made (certainly not at the level of 2025-26), and after picking fifth-overall in the 2025 NHL Draft, it felt like the Predators were beginning a much-needed rebuild phase. A 6-12-4 start to the season had them in last place in the league, and all signs pointed to another step in that direction.
But this is the Predators we’re talking about. They don’t know how to suck. They don’t know how to be good either, so they weren’t going to sit in the basement for very long. A 17-6-0 stretch for almost two months shot them back up above .500, and they were only a point out of a playoff spot. But that was about the peak of their season, as they toiled in mediocrity the rest of the way. After going 15-14-6 in their final 35 games, they wound up four points out of a playoff spot. Once again, they were too good to be bad, but too bad to be good.
Amidst the final mediocre stretch, general manager Barry Trotz announced he would step down from the role after three years of disappointing results and many, many questionable moves. The hunt for his replacement would carry in to the summer, and took until the Colorado Avalanche‘s third-round sweep for them to finally find their man: Avs GM Chris MacFarland. With a promotion to president of hockey operations on the table, MacFarland moved to Nashville and quickly made an impact, aiming for younger players with upside like Mavrik Bourque, Ross Colton, Jack Drury and Nils Hoglander.
But after falling just short of a playoff appearance, will MacFarland’s first summer push the Predators back into the playoff picture? Or will this be another year wasted as they avoid the inevitable rebuild they truly need?
KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES
Additions
Mavrik Bourque, C
Jack Drury, C
Ross Colton, LW
Nils Hoglander, LW
Alex Kerfoot, C
Vitali Pinchuk, C
Ilya Lyubushkin, D
Adam Edstrom, C
Jack Ahcan, D
Chris MacFarland, general manager
Departures
Luke Evangelista, RW (NJD)
Zachary L’Heureux, LW (COL)
Erik Haula, C (LA)
Fedor Svechkov, C (COL)
Jordan Oesterle, D (retired)
OFFENSE
The Predators have rarely been a team known for their overwhelming offense, and last season was no exception. They ranked 20th in goals for per game (2.95), tied for 10th in power-play percentage (23.1%), and generated the 13th-most 5v5 expected goals for per 60 minutes (2.81). It wasn’t a horrible offense, but it certainly wasn’t one to strike fear into anyone either.
Nashville has generally had deep lineups over the years, but what’s prevented their offense from taking the next step is the lack of star talent. Filip Forsberg and Roman Josi have been those players at some points in their career. But at 32 and 36, those days are likely in the rearview mirror. They still drive the bus in Nashville and had excellent seasons (Forsberg with 40 goals and 75 points in 82 games, Josi with 55 points in 68 games), but if those are your best players up front and on the blue line, it’s hard to expect a dominant offense.
It also doesn’t help that a majority of the Preds’ offensive big guns from last season who are returning were older players. Ryan O’Reilly (35 years old) was right behind Forsberg in scoring with 74 points; Steven Stamkos (36) had a return to form with 42 goals and 66 points; Jonathan Marchessault (36) was solid when he was healthy with 31 points in 62 games; and Brady Skjei (32) was Nashville’s only other defenseman to hit the 25 point mark. The only significant offensive contributor from last season who was under 30 was Evangelista, whom MacFarland dealt last week, so Nashville lacks young scoring talent.
It’s not too surprising to then see MacFarland pull from the playbook of two other team’s with famously old cores who found second life in the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. While Colton turns 31 later this week, Bourque (25), Drury (26) and Hoglander (26) all fall into the mold of player the Pens and Caps have gone after in recent years to support their older players. Bourque certainly has the most upside of this group (and was paid as such), but Colton and Hoglander project to be positive regression candidates this season as well, so they could be savvy additions to this team.
Beyond that, any other offensive contributors for the Preds will likely come from the younger players on the team. Matthew Wood has already shown some promise in his rookie season as a 20-year-old with 17 goals and 30 points, so he’s one to keep an eye on for taking further steps. Alex Kerfoot is an older option who can be reliable for depth scoring, but it’s also been a couple seasons since he’s topped 30 points. The remaining group mostly consists of rookies, which we’ll touch on shortly.
DEFENSE
The Predators had a forgettable season in their own end with a 3.26 goals against per game (26th in the league), with their chance suppression ability not being much better with a 2.88 5v5 expected goals against per 60 (tied for 21st). They did have the fifth-best penalty kill (81.7%), although they also moved on from four of the 10 most-used players from that unit (Erik Haula, Michael McCarron, Cole Smith and Nick Blankenburg).
So it’s not all that promising that Nashville is keeping most of their defense corps from last season intact, especially when most of that group struggled in their own end. The biggest culprits are their most-used defensemen: Josi (0.052 5v5 regularized adjusted plus minus xGA/60 in the past three seasons) is losing his defensive game as he ages, while Skjei (0.091) was never known for being good in his own end.
If the Predators could be properly insulated with a defensive defenseman, that wouldn’t be a problem, but the other two members of the top four in Nicolas Hague (0.015) and Nick Perbix (0.023) aren’t much better. Add in new addition Lyubushkin (0.001), and that’s a blueline littered with defensive ineptitude.
The only two defensemen on the Preds who have some semblance on a defensive game were their least-used ones in Justin Barron and Adam Wilsby. Barron’s play is only passable (-0.004 5v5 RAPM xGA/60 in the last three seasons), which is still an improvement on anyone else, but Wilsby is actually responsible in his own end (-0.083). He was tied with Josi for the second-most difficult minutes on the blueline last season for good reason, and he’ll probably need even more ice time if Nashville wants their blueline to prevent as many chances as possible.
At the very least, the Predators have a forward group who is a bit more defensively responsible, and can potentially make up for their blueline’s deficiencies in their own end. New additions Bourque (-0.066 5v5 RAPM xGA/60 in the last three seasons), Colton (-0.036), Drury (-0.174) and Hoglander (-0.113) will certainly help in that regard, but they also join a forward group with some defensive smarts, including 2019 Selke Trophy-winner O’Reilly (-0.024) in the higher end of the lineup, and depth forwards like Kerfoot (-0.054), O’Hara (-0.011) and Wiesblatt (-0.007). O’Reilly and Bourque will certainly have their work cut out for them in the top six though, as all four wingers in that group (Forsberg, Marchessault, Stamkos and Wood) don’t bring much defensively.
GOALTENDING
Juuse Saros has been the Predators’ starter for the better part of seven seasons now, and there’s very few reasons to believe that will change this season. However, one of those few reasons to doubt that is his performance. He’s coming off a poor season, as despite his 28-22-8 record, he sported a .894 save percentage (a career low) and a -5.07 5v5 goals saved above expected. Those aren’t one-offs either, his play has been trending downwards for the last three seasons. At 31, it’s possible his game is already falling off or that his lack of size is struggling to adjust in an era of pre-shot angle movements. This makes Trotz’ decision to commit to Saros and trade dynamic prospect Yaroslav Askarov to the San Jose Sharks two years ago already look like a bad one.
At the very least, backup goaltender Justus Annunen took major strides last season. While it would take another significant swing in his and Saros’ game for Annunen to usurp the more-experienced Finn in the chain of command, the 26-year-old had a .907 SV% and 13.31 5v5 GSAx in 28 games last season, and could easily play another 10 or so games to alleviate Saros’ workload. It’s hard to tell what Annunen’s ceiling is, but if he builds off of last season, Nashville no longer has the excuse of “Saros is all we have in net.”
COACHING
Andrew Brunette enters his fourth season as head coach of the Predators, and for now, MacFarland has elected to keep him in the role. It’s probably still deserved at this point, as he hasn’t exactly put a foot wrong since joining Nashville. Most of the team’s issues during his tenure can be chalked up to Trotz’s poor roster decisions.
In Brunette’s three seasons with the team, the Preds are only have a .514 points percentage (27th in the league), but have also been victim to the sixth-worst luck in the league (98.9 PDO). In reality, they’ve been a middling team with a 50.82% 5v5 expected goal share in that time.
Brunette is still lucky he had a former head coach as a boss beforehand, as Trotz understands the business and never had an itchy trigger finger despite many outside the organization predicting a firing. Heck, he never even used Brunette as a scapegoat, as he opted to step down as GM before even making a coaching change. MacFarland also never fired a coach as an NHL GM, but his coach with the Avs was Jared Bednar. Brunette ain’t Bednar, so it will be interesting to see how much rope MacFarland gives Brunette, especially since he wasn’t the incoming GM’s hiring.
ROOKIES
We currently have one prospect projected to start on the roster: Russian center Vitali Pinchuk. He has nothing left to prove in the KHL after garnering 31 goals and 66 points in 65 games, so he signed with the Predators in the spring, and looks to start on the fourth line. His KHL production is certainly promising, but the transition from the KHL to the NHL is tough to predict, especially among unsigned players.
Ryan Ufko is another player who got a look in the NHL last season, and will probably look to get a bigger role this year. He’s waiver exempt, meaning he’s on the outside looking in when the Preds have seven defenders who aren’t. But his play in the NHL thus far looked promising, especially his 11 points in 18 games last season while averaging only 12.25 5v5 minutes per game. His 2.21 5v5 points per 60 minutes ranked first among defensemen with at least 200 minutes last year.
Brady Martin and Tanner Molendyk are also potentials to crack the NHL roster, but they don’t feel like nearly as much of a lock. Martin impressed in training camp last year to the point where he earned a three-game trial with Nashville, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility he does. Molendyk looked good in his first professional season with the Milwaukee Admirals. But the Preds have enough depth that these two will likely get time to marinate in the AHL.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. Will Nashville regret not moving on from Marchessault and Stamkos? Trotz’s high-spending summer of 2024 is one for the Hall of Infamy, with the former GM cashing out far too much money for veterans Marchessault, Skjei and Stamkos. However, Marchessault and Stamkos recouped their value last season to the point where they could have been dealt at the 2026 Trade Deadline, or in the offseason. And yet, here both are, getting ready for another season in Nashville. This past window may have been the best opportunity for the Preds to move on from both players AND get a decent return for them (or at least not have to give up assets for another team to take their contracts). This is made even more confusing when they are trading away players like Luke Evangelista instead.
2. Can Juuse Saros return to form? From 2019 to 2023, Saros was one of the league’s top goaltenders. He had finally taken over starting duties from Pekka Rinne, and thrived as a result, with his 49.77 5v5 GSAx being the fourth-highest in the league. But for the last three years, it’s been the exact opposite. Since 2023, only Samuel Ersson and Arvid Soderblom have a worse 5v5 GSAx than Saros’ -17.18. Some of that is due to volume, as he has the most games played among any goalie in that span, but maybe that’s a sign of Nashville’s need to adjust his deployment. He clearly can’t start 58+ games a season anymore, especially at 31, so maybe it’s time to give Annunen more starts to ease Saros’ workload and attempt to improve his play.
3. Will Chris MacFarland’s first offseason pay off? The Predators have been one of the faces of mediocrity, particularly in the 2020s. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2018, and they needed a disastrous 2024-25 season to give them their only top-five draft pick since 2013. With Evangelista dealt, all of Nashville’s core players are over the age of 30. The hockey world has been screaming for a rebuild in Smashville, but management refuses to do so, regardless of who’s in charge. That includes MacFarland, who spent his first summer as GM picking off players in their mid-to-late 20’s in hopes of improving the team. It’s not the worst strategy for a retool, as we’ve seen it work wonders for the Penguins and Capitals, but is a retool the right play here? Or should Nashville focus on a proper rebuild and accumulate superstar talent for the next era?
PREDICTION
For what it’s worth, I do think this year’s Predators squad is an improvement on last season’s, particularly with their forward group (although I would have liked it a lot more if they didn’t trade Evangelista). But have they done enough to truly move the needle from the mediocrity they’ve sat in for several seasons? Barring major steps taken from every player under 30 or a return to form from Saros, not likely. Any improvements they did make will be lost by playing in one of the more competitive divisions in the league which also saw improvements. Ultimately, Nashville will remain where they’ve always been: lingering around the playoff conversation without making any significant noise.
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Scott Maxwell
Editor & Writer / PHWA Member
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scott.maxwell@bettercollective.com
226-980-6703
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