Breaking down the Nashville Predators preseason playoff odds from MoneyPuck

The first batch of 2024-25 odds from MoneyPuck.com are out, and the Nashville Predators have predictably moved up the ladder thanks to their offseason moves.

The Predators returned to the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season after seeing their streak of eight consecutive postseason appearances come to an end. They still failed to get past the first round, but progress was definitely made under Year 1 of Head Coach Andrew Brunette.

Now General Manager Barry Trotz has done his job as leader of the front office and supplied Brunette with a roster that can make a deep push in the playoffs, and dare I say even bring home a Stanley Cup to Nashville?

Ok, ok. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves here. But let's break down the preseason odds for the Predators according to MoneyPuck.com.

Nashville Predators are heavily favored to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Let's start with the more obvious prediction, and that's that the Predators will make the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2025. It goes without saying that if the Predators were to miss the playoffs with this roster, it would be a travesty of epic proportions.

MoneyPuck gives the Predators a hardy 66.6 percent chance to make the playoffs. It would be the franchise's 17th playoff appearance in 26 seasons.

Honestly, I would've predicted the Predators have a bit higher odds than 66 percent, or a two out of three chance, but still that's pretty solid and to be expected with this roster on paper.

The Edmonton Oilers have the highest probability to make the playoffs at a robust 93.9 percent, while the Dallas Stars are right behind at 89.9 percent. Of course that's the Predators' first opponent of 2024-25 on Thursday at Bridgestone Arena.

How about on the other end of the spectrum? The San Jose Sharks have a 0.2 percent to make the playoffs. That is just downright harsh. At least give them a whole 1 percent, MoneyPuck?

One team I'm a little surprised to see so low on playoff odds is the St. Louis Blues at 27 percent. I think they have a decent shot at a wildcard spot, while I'd put the Minnesota Wild much lower than 54.8 percent.

What are the odds for the Central Division crown for the Preds?

The status quo stay intact according to MoneyPuck, with the Stars having the best odds to win the Central Division at 39.1 percent, and the Avalanche at 28.2 percent. The Predators have the third-best odds in the division at 12.8 percent.

Look I'm not saying the Avalanche are going to be bad, but I do foresee them taking a step backward. So it will be interesting to see how far ahead the Predators have improved this offseason, and if the Avalanche have fallen back at all. If so, I can see these two teams flip-flopping between second and third place all season.

As for the Stars, they're the rightful division favorite. They're just so stacked, and what a first game to see what you're made of for the Predators to open 2024-25 on Thursday.

Out in the Eastern Conference, the Carolina Hurricanes have the highest odds to win their division with a 32.8 percent chance. The Rangers are close behind at 31.9 percent, and while I must say I'm a little surprised to see the Tampa Bay Lightning so high up at 21.4 percent chance to win the Atlantic Division over the Florida Panther, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins.

Breaking the 1st Rd. Curse and pushing for the Stanley Cup

The Predators haven't made it past the first round of the playoffs since 2018, a first round series win over the Avalanche when they were just starting to build into a contender. It was a hard-fought series that the Predators overcame with talent, but the following series against the Winnipeg Jets went seven and the Presidents Trophy season came to an abrupt end.

As for breaking the first round curse in 2025, MoneyPuck gives the Predators at 16.2 percent chance. That probably seems low, but it's important to understand that it's impossible even for these advanced models to accurately predict this.

I will say this; the Predators are built to go deep in the playoffs. Trotz has constructed a roster, if fully healthy, that deep lines one through four, has a balanced defensive corps, and of course has a Vezina Trophy caliber goalie in Juuse Saros.

It's all about drawing a favorable matchup in the first round. Last season the Canucks were a favorable first round opponent for the Predators, but the offense just completely fizzled out and that was that. Also an utter collapse late in Game 4 transformed that series.

Not to bring up bad memories, but the Predators were up 3-1 going into the final three minutes of regulation and allowed the Canucks to score twice, with the equalizer coming with just eight seconds left in regulation.

To get back to the future ahead, my benchmark for this team (if fully healthy) is to make the Western Conference Final. If they achieve that, I'll call this season a success. However, anything short of at least breaking the first round curse will be a complete failure. I'm done with the pats on the back of making the playoffs. It's not good enough, end of story.

The Stanley Cup odds have the Oilers as the top favorite, which is no surprise. They sit at a pretty confident 12 percent. That's really high for a preseason calculation and shows the expectation that the Oilers are going to be a wagon that can't be stopped. They've at least appeared to solve their goalie uncertainty with Stuart Skinner looking the part in the playoffs in 2024.

The Predators have a 3.5 percent chance going into the season to hoist their first Stanley Cup. Just behind the Vegas Golden Knights at 3.6 percent, and just ahead of the Boston Bruins at 3.4 percent.

Finally, MoneyPuck has the Predators projected to finish with 97.4 points in the standings. That would be lower than last season, so naturally I think they're way underestimating that total. I expect the Predators to break the century mark in points and finish around 104 points. I'll lock in my prediction of 104 points and see how it all shakes out.

Thanks to the incredibly smart people at MoneyPuck for crunching all of this data to come up with these insanely popular playoffs odds throughout the season.