The patience of Nashville Predators fans for the 2024-25 team has run out a while ago with the team among the worst in the NHL, and with the calendar flipped to 2025, what can we hope for moving forward?
The blueprint for this team has drastically changed just since September. It has gone from being a playoff lock and potential deep contender for the Stanley Cup, to now a lottery team and a strong chance to pick top-5 in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.
The Predators haven't picked top-5 in the draft since 2013 when they took Seth Jones, and haven't even picked in the top-10 during that same time span. This helps us get our list of New Years resolutions for 2025 off to a start
Resolution #1: Get a Top-5 Pick
I'm never the type that wants to see a team tank on purpose, and I'm definitely not proposing that for the Predators players. However, with how poorly this team plays together and how big of a mess they are going into 2025, I don't think they have to tank. They can just let things naturally occur.
The Predators can't keep throwing temporary band-aids on the deeply-rooted problem of not being able to develop talent. Instead they're stuck in this cycle of signing aging veterans whose best days are behind them. It clearly has blown up in their face, even though it does appear that finally Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault are finding their mojo. Too little, too late I'm afraid.
This teams needs to draft a true center with their potential top-10 pick, and hopefully top-5 pick. TSN's Bob McKenzie's top overall draft prospect is Team USA center James Hagens. There will be plenty of franchise-changing center prospects available if you pick in the top-5.
We couldn't have ever envisioned even having this conversation back in the summer, but here we are. For the fanbase to get a jolt of energy, we need a top-5 pick and somewhere in the top-10 at worst.
Resolution #2: Watch the remaining young talent grow
This is tied into the previous resolution. We have to give the keys partially to the younger tier of the team and let the chips fall where they may. Evaluate the talent and see how they handle it.
We have to hope that Luke Evangelista, Zachary L'Heureux, Tommy Novak, Adam Wilsby and others that get chances to show us progress in their games. Show us they can be invested in on the NHL level.
As much as I like Evangelista and I don't want the organization to give up on him, he needs to find another gear of offensive production in the remainder of the season. He will be hitting RFA status this upcoming offseason, and although I believe the probability is high that he'll be re-signed, he needs to show more.
Novak has been mostly invisible for a good portion of the season. He has to absolutely elevate his game and prove to the organization that he's worth keeping around for another two years after this one on his current deal. Otherwise, I can see Novak being the next player of the young core that's traded for basically very little in return.
I'm encouraged by L'Heureux's level of play, but he took a setback in his progression with the controversial slew foot against the Minnesota Wild. He is scheduled to have a hearing with the league regarding possible suspension.
L'Heureux is a fiery player that plays with attitude, but he has to walk that fine line of not becoming labeled as a dirty player.
Wilsby is perhaps the most exciting prospect in the entire organization that has already made their NHL debut. We'll see what other call-ups are on the horizon as the Predators continue to look like heavy sellers for the trade deadline.
The resolution is to let the kids play, grow and evaluate. Live with the consequences so that Resoltuion #1 happens.
Resolution #3: Commit to trading the veterans you can at the 2025 trade deadline
You obviously you can't trade everyone, as much as some fans would like that. Stamkos, Marchessault, Filip Forsberg, Brady Skjei and Roman Josi all have some type of No Movement Clause. Meaning they would have to waive that to get traded, which isnt impossible but also not likely.
You can trade Gustav Nyquist rather easily. You're not going to like the return and would've gotten so much more from him by trading him last season, but the Predators were in a playoff push at the time.
Nyquist is the only UFA coming up for the 2025 offseason on the Predators. You have to get whatever you can out of him.
Again, you're not going to like the return, but Colton Sissons also needs to be traded. He has been with the Predators for a long time and his deal is still modest enough to entice a team that needs playoff depth.
Trade every bottom-six player you can, even if the return isn't great. Michael McCarron is on the top of my list among that group, along with Sissons. I wouldn't mind keeping Cole Smith just because he's such a vital penalty killer and plays so hard for a bottom-six player.
And yes, I'm still very open to trading Ryan O'Reilly. Love the guy, he's a great leader. But you have to trade players you like sometimes and he has the most trade value out of the players you can likely trade.
So this resolution embraces the first two resolutions. Trade the veterans you can, embrace the likelihood that this team is going to be picking at the worst in the top-10, and hopefully in the top-5. You refrain from breaking the band of veterans up, then you're risking a useless winning streak down the stretch that ends in the Predators wrecking their hopes for picking in the top-5.
Resolution #4: Move on from Andrew Brunette in the offseason
I'm going to make this one short and sweet. Andrew Brunette appears to have lost the locker room. Sure, I could be misreading it, but that's certainly what it looks like.
I also don't want this organization to rush into another head coaching hire midseason and make another bad hire. They need to at the very least wait until we see what this roster looks like post-trade deadline before committing to a new head coach.
If they do fire Brunette in the coming weeks, which I don't see happening, then they should go the interim route and select a new head coach in the offseason.
However, the more I watch this trainwreck unfold, the more strongly I feel that we can't run this back with Brunette at the helm in 2025-26. I was as patient about Brunette as a possibly could be to open the first couple of months.
So this resolution is to move on from Brunette. Very simple. But probably not until the offseason or after the trade deadline.