The next player on Predlines' player previews for the 2025-26 season is former Tampa Bay Lightning' defenseman Nick Perbix. The right-handed defender is coming off a near 20-point season which begs the question: will his consistency remain as he enters Bridgestone Arena fulltime?
Nick Perbix's Stats Last Season
Tampa Bay Lightning: 74 games, 6 goals, 13 assists
Playoffs: 5 games, 0 goals, 1 assist
Nick Perbix Adds Depth to A Weak Right Defensive Side
The Nashville Predators haven't had the best of luck in securing a solid right-handed defenseman. This past season, the team's best righty was Nick Blankenburg. I like Blanks but I don't see him as a true top 4 defenseman. With the addition of Perbix into the lineup, there is more skill and potential to work with.
In his past 3 seasons with Tampa Bay, Perbix was a reliable, two-way defenseman who put up around 20 points per year. He played an important role in maintaining one of the best bluelines in the league. Unfortunately, playing on a very stacked defensive team often forced him to settle with third pairing minutes.
Per Moneypuck, Perbix only had 24.2% of possible share of icetime. When compared to a player in a similar situation, former Preds LHD Jeremy Lauzon, he was able to see nearly 30% of possible icetime. Perbix was pushed down into the lineup by big names like Erik Cernak and Ryan McDonagh at times.
Signing with the Predators opens a lot of doors for both himself but also the team. In the case of Perbix, he is able to take advantage of the free parking in Nashville's top 4 defensive group. For Smashville, the defense has drastically improved.
Taking a look at his stats, we can see that Perbix is pretty mobile. 66.8% of his shifts started on the fly and when he wasn't sent in the middle of a play, he has a pretty balanced track record in all three zones. He's shown a lot of discipline in his young career, racking up less penalty minutes in his last 3 seasons combined than the average player in a single season.
Perbix knows his limits and knows when enough is enough. He recorded 50 hits last year and 80 the year prior. He's tallied above average stats when it comes to takeaways (21) every year. He's also blocked 66 shots which is a huge drop-off compared to the 2023-24 season where we saw him tally 114. However, with a more elevated role these numbers may return normalcy.
Where Does Perbix Fit in the Lineup?
As I mentioned in my previous preview, which was on Steven Stamkos, I watched a lot of Lightning games growing up. In turn, I have seen a lot of what Perbix can do. One thing a notice a lot about him is his flexability. One moment he'll be lining up on the blueline and the next, he'll somehow be at the faceoff dot where no one sees him pass the puck to Nikita Kucherov.
Perbix reminds me a lot of Brett Pesce. While he isn't as starred as Pesce, I can see the two being alike in the way they carry themselves on the ice. Both righties aren't afraid to step out of place to kickstart a play. If they don't have the puck, they'll lay the boom. Remember that one-time Perbix rocked the wind out of Matthew Tkachuk? Good times.
If he can continue playing like he normally does, we can expect him to play top 4 minutes. There's even the chance that we'll see him play on Nashville's top line with Roman Josi. Perbix has offense in him, as shown by his xG (4.6) vs goals (6) scored metric this year,. He makes the most out of every opportunity he is given and capitalizes on it.
He's resilient and seems to have an endless motor. Nashville should be excited for what's to come. With the contract he is currently on ($2.75M, 2 years), the signings could potentially be a steal if he lives up to the hype.