With the Nashville Predators opening night roster nearly complete, Joakim Kemell wanted to make one last major impression for coaches in the preseason finale on Saturday night in front of a home crowd at Bridgestone Arena.
Kemell's game-winning overtime snipe that gave the Predators their third win of the preseason maybe wasn't even his top highlight of the night. Just before that, Kemell laid out one of the most textbook and bone-shattering hits to remind everyone he's coming for the regular season next.
Before scoring the OT winner Joakim Kemell ROCKED Svechnikov 💥pic.twitter.com/p0dexXNdV6
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) October 4, 2025
Kemell would receiver top star of the game honors with the game-winning goal, a secondary assist on Tyson Jost's goal, and four shots on net. He kept it pretty straightforward in his postgame comments to Brooks Bratten of the team's official website:
"“I mean, just a part of me. I like to play hard and I like to hit. I mean, that was good timing. I don't know what to say - good hit, good goal. I like to shoot, so I hit the net so I can score.” "Per Brooks Bratten
Joakim Kemell leaves no doubt that he should be in the Nashville Predators starting lineup in Thursday's season-opener vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
This caps off what has been an outstanding preseason and training camp overall for Kemell. Now you wonder where he slots in now that Luke Evangelista has finally gotten his new contract and also plays on the right wing like Kemell does.
Kemell started the game off on the third line with Fedor Svechkov at center and Jost on the left wing. There were two projected opening night starters that were healthy scratched in this one; Steven Stamkos and Luke Evangelista.
It was also encouraging to see Jost score in his Predators debut on a line with Kemell. Jost was claimed off waivers last week from Carolina, and then he turned around and got a goal against them for some poetic justice. He looks like a strong candidate to be a rotational player in the bottom six.
Jonathan Marchessault also got in on the scoring by tallying a power play goal in the first period off of assists from Filip Forsberg and Roman Josi.
Saros looked to be in sharp form after giving up the early Carolina goal on a 2-on-1 breakaway. He would rally to make 23 saves on 25 shots.
The Predators get a momentum boost to carry themselves into the regular season, and you need all the positive mojo you can get after the challenging season you endured last season finishing with 68 points in the standings. They now get a four-day break before taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets at home on Thursday to open the 2025-26 regular season.
Not sure exactly who will be the healthy scratches on Thursday, but Kemell certainly made his convincing case that it shouldn't be him. His talent can't be riding the bench. But you also have to find room for Stamkos and Evangelista to replace two forwards that played in this game.
It would be nuts if they benched Evangelista after this contract standoff fiasco, but he did miss all of training cap and the preseason and jumping right into regular season hockey.
Head Coach Andrew Brunette has some tricky lineup decisions to make regarding his starting lineup on Thursday. Who sits, and who starts? One thing I'm sure of, and it was even before this stellar performance against Carolina, is that Kemell should be in there and also getting power play time.
I'm willing to healthy scratch Cole Smith, Ozzy Wiesblatt and/or Tyson Jost to make sure Kemell gets into the starting lineup at least for the first few games to see if he can carry this momentum out of the preseason.