The Nashville Predators were supposed to be fun.
After making some of the biggest signings in the offseason and making the 2024 playoffs, the Preds are 30th in the NHL standings and competing for the 2025 first overall pick.
They were assumed to be Stanley Cup contenders after they seemed to have built a super team within a few days in July.
First, they locked up goaltender Juuse Saros, who had been top 10 in his position since entering the league in 2015, with an eight-year deal worth almost $62 million. Since then, he has performed far below his usual standards. His save percentage has dipped below .900 this season, and he’s letting in close to three goals per game.
The defense hasn’t played well in front of Saros, either.
Captain Roman Josi is considered one of the best defensemen in the league, and the Predators signed skilled defenseman Brady Skjei to a seven-year deal to help balance out their blue line with his speed and offensive threat after his best offensive season yet.
Both were top 25 in points for defensemen last season.
Now, the defensive corps is giving up the league’s eighth-most shots on goal, and Saros isn’t cleaning up the mistakes.
The Predators aren’t scoring enough to make up for the bad defense, either.
They’re 31st in the league in goals scored and fourth worst in goals per game, while simultaneously standing at seventh in goals allowed per game. They have the fourth-worst goal differential in the NHL.
Last season, the Predators were tenth in goals scored per game. It wasn’t groundbreaking offense, but they got into the playoffs — and they weren’t nearly as bad as they are now.
This lack of production comes after signing two-time Stanley Cup champion Steven Stamkos off a 40-goal season for four years and $32 million, and Jonathan Marchessault, who also has a Cup and won the Conn Smythe Trophy for the Las Vegas Golden Knights’ playoff run.
These moves were supposed to add to a roster with good offensive pieces like Josi.
All-Star Filip Forsberg had the sixth-most goals in the NHL last season with 48. Nashville had four different players with more than 20 goals and depth down the rest of the lineup. Forward Luke Evangelista, who turns 23 in a couple days, looked to be a rising star.
They’re even maintaining offensive zone time, which usually means better differentials. If the Preds have the puck on their sticks trying to score more, it means the other team should be getting fewer opportunities to do the same. However, their shooting percentage is dead last. Pucks aren’t hitting the back of the net.
Usually that kind of number evens out with time, especially with the star players like Nashville has, but too much of the season has passed at this point for the damage to be reversed.
The lines are not working.
Nashville’s general manager Barry Trotz just seemed to be going after the big names, not taking into account how these players would fit into the existing system, and that has become exceedingly obvious.
Enough games have been played that an adjustment period cannot be used as a justification for the lack of performance.
The Predators did what every fan wants to see their team do — grab as many flashy names on the market that the salary cap would allow — and showed why that doesn’t always work.
They could’ve been such an exciting team, but instead, Nashville has become one of the more compelling storylines in the NHL for the wrong reasons.
The entire league will be watching to see what the team does to try and fix whatever is not working.
