Looking at win probabilities for the Nashville Predators in their first 10 Games

Getting off to a strong start is going to be critical to the psyche for a team like the Nashville Predators who are coming off a nightmare season that blindsided the fanbase.

The NHL 2025-26 schedule has officially been released, and the Predators will open the season at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, October 9. The Predators will then welcome in the newly-named Utah Mammoth to Nashville for a Saturday night showdown in Smashville before embarking on a four-game Canada roat trip.

Early Canada Road Trip will be a major test for the revamped Nashville Predators

That road trip to Canada during the first full week of the regular season really sticks out. Last season the Predators went 10-26-5 on the road. Only the Sharks had fewer wins on the road than the Predators did, with the Blackhawks also having just 10 road wins.

Looking at the season opener, it looks kind of like a toss-up on paper. Season-openers are always unpredictable, and I do expect the Predators to instantly come into the season playing with a chip on their shoulders. If they don't then we already have serious problems.

According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Blue Jackets have the second-worst odds to win the Metropolitan Division, only ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Predators have even longer odds to win the Central Division, with only the Blackhawks having worse odds.

I can see the Predators coming out with an intensity to win right out of the gate and treating the fans to a quick taste of victory at home to open 2025-26.

On the other hand, the second game of the season features the Utah Mammoth, and they're a team I have as one of the biggest risers in the NHL from last season to this upcoming season. I love their young core of players including Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley and newly-acquired JJ Perterka. Not to mention Nick Schmatlz, who is vastly underrated arond the NHL and just hit 63 points this past season.

Utah will be a tough matchup to keep up with on the scoreboard for the Predators, so just on the surface I got that as a loss. If the Predators pull off two quick home victories to open 2025-26, including an impressive win over Utah and a division foe, fans will already be starting to sip the kool-aid. Trust me on that.

That's when that road trip will really test how much this team is ready to atone for last season's utter debacle of epic proportions.

You essentially have four legitimate playoff contenders on this road trip to Canada. Ottawa is going to turn some heads this year, then you have to take on Toronto on a back-to-back. Really difficult and early test for the Predators. I got both of those games as losses, but maybe they can at least salvage a point somewhere in overtime.

If you're keeping score, that means I got the Predators at 1-2-1 through four games. Better than 0-5-0 from last year, but still not great. None of these are "must wins" this early in the season, but again this team really needs to avoid another ugly start to keep the outside noise down surrounding Head Coach Andrew Brunette's job security.

Even though Montreal also has a great young squad that's going to make some moves this season, I call this game a toss-up for the Predators and one they really need to win if they're opening the season with losses in three of four.

With me being optimistic that the Predators won't be nearly as bad as they were last season, I'll go ahead and say after dropping both games on the back-to-back, they stop the bleeding and beat Montreal.

Then there's Winnipeg, and even though I have Winnipeg as a better team than Nashville going into the season, for some reason Nashville always plays Winnipeg tough. If they beat Winnipeg and split the four-game road trip, then we might have something special brewing. That would make them 3-2-1 though six games and coming back home for a five-game home stretch.

For the Predators to survive the early season Canada road trip and beat some quality teams, the defense in front of Juuse Saros will probably have to be the main factor as to why that happens. They went out and got Nicolas Hague through a trade with Vegas and acquired Nick Perbix in free agency. Two solid defenders of their own zone that will beef up the protection for Saros.

I'm really banking on Saros having a bounce-back season thanks to a revamped blueline to protect him. That's why I'm optimistic that the Predators can come out of the first six games of their schedule with a winning record. A stark contrast from last season when they never once had a winning record.

Predators get a Five-Game Homestand that features some winnable matchups

The homestand features Anaheim and Vancouver first. I actually call both of those games toss-ups. Anaheim is getting better but still kind of in the same tier as Nashville, and Vancouver I suspect is about to take a step backwards. Let's say to be realistic the Predators split those two games. That puts them at 4-3-1. Again, I'll take that all day compared to last season.

By this time you hope that the offense is starting to click and build line chemistry. You're hoping Brunette has figured out his preferred top-six and it's showing some real progress, especially on the power play. Where will Luke Evangelista be in all of this, and also will Fedor Svechkov be holding down a top-six center role?

Finally to wrap up this first 10 games of the 2025-26 schedule, the Predators host the Los Angeles Kings and the Dallas Stars. Two teams that are better than the Predators right now, especially Dallas, but these early season games are much more of a crap shoot to predict.

I'm not really sure what to make of Los Angeles' offseason. They haven't done much of anything to improve on being a first round punching bag for Edmonton every year. I can see Nashville beating them at home while riding some momentum.

I'll take Dallas pretty confidently to beat Nashville to close out the 10-game slate to open the season with a 5-4-1 record for the Predators. Honestly if this comes to fruition, it will let us know that this team might have a chance to at least push for a return to the playoffs again.

No matchup is easy in the NHL, but this opening 10 games for Nashville doesn't look all that bad once you get past the four-game road trip to Canada. That could be their undoing and send things off the rails early on and be a nightmarish repeat of last season. Let's hope not.

I've got the Predators finishing somewhere in the upper 80's for points but narrowly missing the playoffs for a second-straight year. They will show progress and their younger core should have a major year of growth to start building a foundation for the long-term future of this franchise. It will take more time and patience from this fanbase.