With plenty of time to change this current assessment, the Nashville Predators have been mostly reserved in their offseason actions to change the roster despite finishing 30th in the overall NHL standings this past season.
It wasn't as if the Predators didn't have plenty of cap space to make some more bold additions in free agency, but as of now over a week past the opening free agency, Nicklas Perbix is the lone free agency addition so far.
That's not a bad thing at all in my estimation. The last thing this organization needed was another reckless spending frenzy in free agency. And the Perbix addition is super low risk and also fills a major need on the right side. A big bang for your buck pickup in my mind.
Preds have made a couple low-risk tweaks, but have mostly stayed quiet this offseason and focused more on leaving room for open competition with their up-and-coming prospects
The Predators also traded for Nicolas Hague, which sent Colton Sissons and Jeremy Lauzon to the Vegas Golden Knights. Not a bad trade on the surface considering Sissons was heading into the last year of his contract and Lauzon is at worst a one-for-one swap. Hague might really end up taking off with Nashville, and he has already said one thing he wants to improve on in his game with Nashville is his offensive production.
Highlights from Nic Hague's introductory press conference:
— Robby Stanley (@RStanleyNHL) July 10, 2025
- Comfortable playing on left or right side on D
- Believes the next step in his game is an increase in offensive production
- Loves Marchessault and is excited to reconnect
- Said Nashville was a place he felt
One more trade that happened back in June that still has me a little perplexed is adding veteran depth forward Erik Haula in exchange for a fourth-round pick from this past draft and prospect Jeremy Hanzel. Basically a cap dump by the New Jersey Devils.
With Sissons later traded to get Hague, this acquisition makes more sense now.
That's it for the offseason changes for the Predators so far. Obviously there's more time for that to change as the trade market is expected to be active around the NHL throughout the rest of the offseason. However, I think the Predators would be wise to forge ahead with what they have unless some ridiculous trade offer falls into their lap.
More offseason trades expected around the NHL, but Nashville Predators should resist the urge and allow training camp competition to commence
It's worth noting that the Predators still hold a projected cap space of approximately $10.1 million, meaning they could pursue another trade or sign another leftover free agent. However, some of that is going to be reserved for RFA Luke Evangelista's new contract which still hasn't been announced.
Again, I just don't expect General Manager Barry Trotz to do that and he likes this current roster to battle it out in training camp to be in the opening night starting lineup.
With training camp going to be super competitive for many starting spots among the forwards and defensemen, there isn't a need to add more contracts to the books other than Evangelista's.
Training camp battles, which I'll cover when the time gets closer, looks to be focused on the alignment of centers and where the defensemen line up. The Predators have a few defensemen who can play either the left or right side, so that will be something to figure out in training camp along with the best pairings.
Trotz has also said that this is the year that younger prospects will get their fair shake to make an impact on the NHL level. This could mean that we see a Tanner Molendyk NHL debut, more of Matthew Wood and Joakim Kemell, and maybe even 2025 seventh-overall pick Brady Martin make his NHL debut in his first year. All intriguing stuff to watch for this team going into 2025-26.
Daily Faceoff's predicted line combinations was last updated on the opening day of free agency, and currently projects a Predators top-six of Steven Stamkos as the top line center with Jonathan Marchessault and Filip Forsberg. The second line center role is projected to be Ryan O'Reilly, with the wingers being Luke Evangelista and Michael Bunting.
I'm actually pretty darn pleased with how this offseason has gone so far for the Nashville Predators, with the realistic expectation that this team is a long ways from getting their Stanley Cup window open again.