Four Players Who Have Most to Gain in Nashville Predators Preseason

We’re now less than a month away from the Nashville Predators taking the ice for preseason action as they’ll open up with a doubleheader at the Florida Panthers on September 25.

Maybe more so than any preseason in recent memory, the Nashville Predators enter a crucial preseason slate that will be full of learning moments and roster shuffling to try to find the right combination for this flipped over roster from just six months ago.

With a new bench boss in Andrew Brunette, preseason is going to have a whole new level of importance for this team. All coaching staffs will preach how important preseason is, but for the more establish NHL rosters, probably not as much so as the Nashville Predators.

Really no one should feel content with their spot within the starting lineup. Frankly every players, including Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg, should be coming into this preseason with chips on their shoulders and ready to get to work.

However, there are three players in particular who with strong preseason showings can really improve their stock once opening night of the regular season gets here and the starting NHL roster has been initially set.

Afanasyev Seeking to Become NHL Regular for the Predators

It’s going to be hard to top any player that potentially has more to gain in the Nashville Predators preseason than Egor Afanasyev.

Making his highly-anticipated NHL debut on March 11 of this past season, Afanasyev nearly cracked the Predators roster out of training camp in 2022. Now with a little NHL experience under his belt, the goal has to be proving enough to the coaching staff that he’s ready for fulltime NHL duty.

Afanasyev averaged over a shot per game in his 17 NHL games, which is an encouraging sign for a player making their debut. He only found the back of the net once, but there were several instances where he was the victim of good goaltending.

Now you’re looking for Afanasyev to polish his game some with his skating and moving without the puck. He did impact the game positively in other areas with 13 blocks and 23 hits.

After the NHL season ended, Afanasyev returned to the Milwaukee Admirals for the AHL playoffs and notched 11 points in 16 games. Completing his second full season in North America with the Admirals.

Patience is still key with Afanasyev, and it won’t be a failure if he has to start off in Milwaukee again. Either way, I think he has the talent and skillset to really find a consistent place on the Predators roster in 2023-24.

Afanasyev is 22-years-old and is due to be a restricted free agent next summer at age 23. The former 2nd-round pick from 2019 needs to find a consistent role in the NHL before he hits restricted free agency.

Gurianov Trying to Prove Himself with a New Team

Denis Gurianov once scored four goals in an NHL playoff game, and that’s pretty much the peak and his stock has taken a gradual downward spiral since then. Hence why he was available for such a modest price for the Predators in free agency.

If nothing else, Gurianov is going to provide roster competition and push others to perform at their best and not be content. However, it’s not unfathomable to think that Gurianov could find new life in Nashville and find a role in the bottom six.

Gurianov is going to be looking to impress in his preseason action to earn more than likely a fourth line role on opening night. That means he’s going to have to outshine fourth liners that were on last year’s Predators like Cole Smith, Kiefer Sherwood, Michael McCarron and Mark Jankowski.

At just barely 26 years of age, Gurianov’s NHL career is nowhere close to being one you should give up on. His time with Dallas, the team that drafted him 12th overall in 2015, ended with a lot to be desired.

Gurianov has a career high of 31 points set in the 2021-22 season, and put up 17 points in 27 playoff games for Dallas in 2020 when that team won the Western Conference.

If Gurianov can come into Predators training camp with a fire in his belly and perform well in his preseason action, then he has an excellent shot at rejuvenating his NHL career with the Nashville Predators.

This Might Be Fabbro’s Last Chance to Prove Himself in a Predators Uniform

The Nashville Predators front office would want nothing more than to fully invest in Dante Fabbro long-term, but for whatever reason, they instead decided to add 33-year-old defenseman Luke Schenn in free agency.

Now Fabbro’s place in this lineup is unclear and in jeopardy. He can’t afford a lackluster preseason campaign otherwise he might find himself as a healthy scratch to open 2023-24.

On the other hand, Fabbro could really impress in the preseason and entice this new coaching staff lead by Andrew Brunette to start him alongside Schenn, or Alexandre Carrier, and leave Jeremy Lauzon on the bench.

Fabbro’s offense has just never really taken off like you would like to see if he’s ever going to be more than a bottom pairing defenseman. That’s the issue here, and he’s got a one-year deal before becoming a restricted free agent in 2024.

Look, Fabbro has excellent defensive qualities. He positions himself well, defends the puck and even registered a career high for blocks in a season with 129 while also playing in a career-high 79 games.

However, only 11 points just isn’t going to cut it. Schenn doubled up Fabbro’s points with 22 while playing in nine fewer games.

As for Lauzon, who might be the direct competition for Fabbro getting a starting spot or not, he’s not much better offensively but he’s the enforcer who laid out 250 hits. He plays a rugged style you like from a bottom pairing defenseman.

It comes down to Fabbro or Lauzon for me, and Fabbro can win this battle if he can flash some offensive improvement in a system that’s going to look much different for the Predators from Hynes to Brunette.