The looming question surrounding the Nashville Predators will be if they draft for their biggest position need or will they just take simply the best player left on the board when their number is called at the 5th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft on June 27.
Of course there's always a chance that the Predators could trade up from No.5, but there isn't currently any indication for that to be in the works from General Manager Barry Trotz.
This is going to be a suspenseful draft because there's no consensus even with the first overall pick. Many think it will be defenseman Matthew Schaeffer, but both centers Michael Misa and James Hagens are making cases to be the top overall pick as well. It's going to make for a very entertaining first 10 picks of the draft, with the Predators right in the middle of it all.
Potential scenario with Schaeffer, Misa and Hagens in the Top-3 and how that could affect the Nashville Predators at No.5
Before I get to my current mock draft for who the Predators will take at No.5 overall, let me first throw out some scenarios. If chalk prevails and Schaeffer and Misa go in the top-2, then we start wondering how far Hagens falls. But Hagens is really the x-factor here that can shake up all of the mock drafts.
Hagens could slip to the Predators at No.5, or he could be taken first overall by the Islanders. His projected draft position is that polarizing, but scouts are gleaming over him as 1st overall pick talent after a successful freshman campaign at Boston College.
What if the Islanders reach a bit and take Hagens? That has a ripple effect on the rest of the draft because it means one of Schaeffer or Misa fall out of the top-2. Either way, Schaeffer or Misa aren't getting past the Blackhawks at No.3. So for me, all it really means for my mock draft is the arrangement of the top-3 changes, but after that the Predators are still in the same scenario.
Corey Pronman of The Athletic says the Predators just need pure offensive talent regardless of whether they're a center or a winger, which brings winger Porter Martone into the equation. I believe Martone will almost certainly be on the board at No.5, as will center Anton Frondell.
If the Islanders go based on chalk and select Schaeffer, then it seems almost a certain lock that the Sharks take Misa. Up next would be the Blackhawks, and that's where Hagens makes a ton of sense. I would love for Hagen to slide down to the Predators, but I just don't see the Blackhawks passing up on the star center from the Team USA world junior squad.
The Utah Mammoth currently hold the No.4 pick, and this is where it really becomes more of an educated guessing game, but still a guessing game nonetheless. I got the Mammoth selecting Caleb Desnoyers here. Another physical and well-balanced center who plays the game the right way. Not the high ceiling that Misa and Hagens possess, but still a very solid all-around player with strong intangibles.
This brings me to the Predators and a choice between several players who all have their pluses and minuses. Taking Martone doesn't address your enormous need to draft a future top-six center, and when the Predators knew they would be picking in the top-5 regardless of the lottery results, the expectations had to be to go grab a center.
This is why my mock draft has the Predators taking Frondell. There is some agreement that after Misa, Frondell is the next-best center in this draft, including from TSN's Craig Button via NBC Sports Philadelphia:
""I think Michael Misa and Anton Frondell have kind of, in my view, separated themselves""Craig Button, TSN
Roger McQueen is another center prospect to keep an eye on. A back injury has dropped his stock outside of the top-5, but if a team doctor comes along and sways a front office that it's not a future issue, then McQueen has the talent to be in this conversation of potential picks beginning with the Predators at No.5.
However, the safer pick is Frondell here if you're the Predators. Frondell plays a physical style, but can also flash elite offensive skills. He's not just a one trick pony of playing physical. He's a really solid two-way player, as Button puts it.
I like that fit for the Predators at No.5. It's not going to get people jumping through the ceiling in excitement like Misa or Hagens would, but I just don't think either of those players, especially Misa, are going to be available for the Predators. Frondell is by third-best option and should be there for the taking.
Let me also say that if my mock selection of Desnoyers to the Mammoth is wrong, then a choice between Desnoyers and Frondell is tricky. I still think the Predators go with the Swede as the safer pick with the higher floor.
My last, and most important factor, into why Frondell is the best pick for the Predators at No.5 if this mock draft ends up being accurate is that Frondell already has experience playing against adult men at a very young age over in Sweden. He has been tested and has rose to the occasion as a commendable two-way player. He has the rare combination of not slacking on the defensive end while still having a great offensive skill set.
So here's my current mock draft with the draft just three weeks away: