The roster didn't change much for the Nashville Predators from last season's finish near the bottom of the NHL standings, and instead the front office pushed ahead with giving the youth more opportunities to play while also bringing in some depth players to contribute.
The Predators opened last season with five-straight regulation losses, so there is at least slight progress being made in 2025-26 from that low bar. They have managed three wins and two overtimes losses for points in five of their first eight games.
The doubts remain that this team has really improved all that much from last season, but at least they're grinding in the early going and giving themselves a chance. They haven't buried themselves ina deep hole to climb out of quite yet.
The power play remains a disaster and there are only two teams that have scored fewer goals than the Predators so far; The Flames have managed just 16 goals in nine games, the Lightning have 18 goals in seven games, and the Predators have 19 goals in eight games, tied with the Flyers who also have 19 goals but in one less game.
Despite that, the Predators are in the mix thanks to some key contributors who are playing solid hockey giving this team a chance to break out of their offensive slump.
Nick Perbix has been an outstanding offseason addition for the defense early on
Very encouraging early results from the Perbix addition. He has been a key piece in solidifying the defensive front and helping the Predators penalty kill to be one of the best the in NHL at 89.3 percent, good for 5th.
Perbix has 13 blocks, which trails only Roman Josi for the team lead. He is seeing a huge increase in ice time from his days with Tampa Bay. He averaged 14:41 of ice time in his last season with Tampa Bay, but has seen his role growing exponentially with Nashville, going up to 20:41 through his first eight games while playing on the second pairing with Brady Skjei.
Now I wouldn't call the Perbix/Skjei pairing performing without its blemishes. Perbix has been pretty solid, but Skjei has seen his struggles follow him from last season. The Predators really need Skjei to look more like the player that was once in Carolina and put up 47 points.
I'm just thinking about where this team would be if Perbix wasn't added, and I have a strong feeling that they'd be giving up a lot more goals and the penalty kill wouldn't be performing at this high of a level.
Perbix starts his shift in the defensive zone 18.5 percent of the time, which is in the top-30 among NHL defensemen. He has also already flashed some sneaky offensive ability, including the breakaway goal he scored at Montreal which should've led to a big road win if not for the team completely collapsing down the stretch and losing in overtime.
The swings and misses that GM Barry Trotz has made in his time as the front office leader are well documented, but let's give Trotz some credit for what appears to be a great move by adding Perbix to this defense.
Ryan O'Reilly showing veteran leadership and the ability to still score critical goals
This guy just never throws in the towel. Ryan O'Reilly might be heading down the back nine of his storied NHL career, but he still a leader for this Predators team. I basically call him an extension of the head coach on the ice.
With the offensive struggles so obvious rigth now, O'Reilly is being leaned on to keep his offense at a high level at age 34. He has three goals, which leads the team to go along with two assists.
O'Reilly scored a shorthanded goal in the win over the Canucks on Thursday, a low-scoring affair that ended in a 2-1 final score. He is been asked to hold down the fort as the top line center with Nashville not having any other options to turn to at that critical position.
If the Predators somehow return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2026, or even stay in the playoff race deep into March, then you can bet that "The Factor" Ryan O'Reilly will be a major reason why.
Also, O'Reilly is going to be asked to get this power play cooking. It's the worst in the NHL early on at 7.4 percent.
Ozzy Wiesblatt proving his case to be here to stay this season
There was a lot of talk about which young newcomer would make their mark first for the Predators this season, and Ozzy Wiesblatt is my pick. He is playing with a high level of confidence, taking on that role of being a forechecking menace.
Wiesblatt is the protypical player that makes the most out of their limited ice time. He is averaging less than 10 minutes of ice time per game, but is still making such a noticeable impact when he's in there. Especially in the physicality department with 13 hits.
The offense has come around yet, but again that's difficult with such little ice time on a team where everyone is having a hard time putting up goals. To Wiesblatt's credit, he has two assists.
The Predators are in a transition phase and trying to get some of the younger prospect talent involved more on the NHL level while still leaning on the veteran core at the top. If Wiesblatt keeps up this level of play in a minimal role, then I'll be interested to see if coaches elevate him at all to more minutes.
Juuse Saros is your Nashville Predators MVP through 8 games, and it's not even particularly close
Saros has been the common denominator in all of the gamea that the Predators have either won or at least gotten the overtime point. There hasn't been one game where the Predators gave Saros plenty of goal support and he just had an off night.
Simply put, you give Saros some goal support and he'll eventually take you out of the depths of despair and back to being a legit playoff contender. Until that happens, Saros will keep stealing you some wins here and there, but it won't be sustainable in the long run.
Saros is tied for sixth among NHL goaltenders in Goals Saved Above Expected according to MoneyPuck. He has a 5.8 Goals Saved Above Expected, and if he makes one more clutch save against the Canadiens in regulation with less than five seconds left, then the Predators are 4-3-1.
Even though he couldn't make that game-clinching save on Cole Caulfied, even in that game Saros had a positive GSA at 0.67. In his latest win over the Canucks, Saros put up an enormous 2.39 GSA.
And if we're going back to the Predators' current 5th-ranked penalty kill, you have to first start with Saros as well. He has an impressive .909 save percentage against the opponent's power play, giving up three power play goals on 33 shots faced.
Among goalies who have faced at least 20 shots against the power play, there are only five goalies with better save percentages in this situation. The defenders deserve credit as well for clearing pucks in front of Saros, but it all starts with the franchise goalie.