Nashville Predators 2024-25 Player Spotlight: Steven Stamkos looks to ignite offense

The Nashville Predators have drastically raised expectations for themselves for the 2024-25 season, after a major splurge in free agency. Perhaps no signing was more important in their efforts than the one that brought Steven Stamkos to town.

While improving team scoring was one of the primary objectives during the offseason, another vital part of Barry Trotz's plan was acquiring guys with pedigree, as we have known from day one of his tenure.

It is safe to say that not only is Stamkos a lethal shooter and incredible talent, but he exudes pedigree and was one of the key parts to a Tampa Bay Lightning team that dominated in the early 2020's.

I hardly have to mention why Stamkos is such a big deal to the Predators, everyone knows his resume and he is one of those guys that just his name alone will get people's attention. Sure, he may not be quite the player he once was now at age 34, but you can still expect him to make serious contributions to his team with his strengths.

Stamkos is still a threat and will make a difference for Nashville Predators

One of the ways in which the truly great players separate themselves when they reach their 30's, as those guys are too good to be slowed down so soon and so abruptly. Of course, Stamkos has proven to be too good of a player to let age derail his play at this point.

Everyone knows he is still a great player with an amazing shot, and can still score at a prolific rate, netting 40 last season. He also got 41 assists, all of which were in 79 games, so it pretty impressive that he can still produce at a point per game pace.

Now, Stamkos is not the offensive driver he once was, and that has been shown as he has shifted over to the wing more recently as opposed to staying at center. But arguably his biggest strength, one that has not declined and likely will not anytime soon, is his absolute cannon of a shot.

Another aspect of his game that lots of people can gloss over is his IQ, as he always knows what to do and where in order to set himself up for his patented one-timers. We saw that on several of his powerplay goals last year, so that will always give him a leg up on many of his opponents.

It is also worth noting, and not to take anything away from a superbly talented player like Nikita Kucherov, that Stamkos' goals were oftentimes not reliant on crazy assists. The aforementioned linked video showed that he would find himself open and ready to fire away from the faceoff dot, showing that talent and feel for the game prevail almost always.

Preds Power Play should get a major boost from Stammer

Let's get one thing right, Trotz did not sign Stamkos to a lavish contract to be a one-trick pony, and he certainly will not be with that talent level. But a big part of what plagued the Predators last year was their powerplay, especially in the playoffs, and Trotz is not signing Stamkos for $8M per year if he is not banking on him improving that.

That is where he is going to play a key role, and once again, that aforementioned video showed several instances in which the Predators could have used Stamkos' services. I do not know how you can think that he will not improve that aspect of the game by at least a noticeable margin.

As far as even strength play goes, it looks like Stamkos will indeed play on the wing, and on the second line, which is what most expected. And that is probably where he belongs, of course center is not as suitable for him anymore with his game showing some decline, and he has to be on the left wing with his right-handed shot, where Filip Forsberg is on the first line.

He will not be the playmaker he used to be, but that is ok, the Predators had several playmakers last year but need more shooters, and lord knows Stamkos can do that, especially on the powerplay. It will still be a productive year for the 34-year old veteran, a stat line of 41 goals and 37 assists in 82 games is about what you can expect.