Nashville Predators: The Five Tiers of Talent for 2021 Offseason

Nashville Predators players celebrate after a goal by Nashville Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm (14) during the second period against the Chicago Blackhawks at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Nashville Predators players celebrate after a goal by Nashville Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm (14) during the second period against the Chicago Blackhawks at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
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Now that we’ve all had time to mourn the loss to the Carolina Hurricanes (cue resounding boos), it’s time we took a look back on what turned out to be a surprisingly productive season for our Nashville Predators.

However, rather than looking at the team as a whole, we’re going to look at individual players.

In this article, I’ve organized the entire Preds roster into five “tiers” based on their performance in 2021, with a small explanation as to why each player ended up where he did. The tiers are labeled as follows: Elite (best of the best), Great (really good, but slightly lacking in some way), Solid (decent/average players), Meh… (some/many glaring weaknesses), and Developmental (need to see more from them before forming a full opinion).

Most players who played in fewer than 10 games were left off of this list.