Nashville Predators Bottom-Six has promise, but a lot to prove this season

All of the focus is on the Nashville Predators' star-studded top part of the lineup which has made them suddenly a trendy Stanley Cup pick, but we shouldn't be overlooking the importatance of the bottom-six.

There's little doubt that to open the 2024-25 season, the Predators will roll with some sort of combination of these six forwards at the top; Filip Forsberg, Ryan O'Reilly, Gus Nyquist, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and another yet to be determined.

Last season in the first year of the Andrew Brunette era, the Predators found a bottom-six that became trusted and knew their role. They've lost a big piece of that puzzle in Kiefer Sherwood, who was ninth on the team in points with 27 and third on the team in hits with 234. He won' be easy to replace.

Replacing Sherwood on the McCarron/Smith Line

Michael McCarron and Cole Smith will once again be the mainstays of the bottom-six, and the tone-setters. They will be looked towards to provide energy and push the tempo to open games. With Sherwood gone, who will line up with those two guys, assuming they stay together?

McCarron has proven to be a reliable bottom-six center who can provide some sneaks offense at time while being a formidable defensive forward and can also do damage in the faceoff circle.

Smith and McCarron played over 250 minutes on a line together last season, with the departed Sherwood being the third forward on that line. They were arguably the most consistent line combination the Predators had all season with the exception of the top line of Forsberg, O'Reilly and Nyquist.

It will be very surprising if McCarron and Smith aren't on a line together on opening night of the 2024-25 season. They've built that chemistry and they complement each other's games so well. Finding that third piece to line up with them will be key in training camp.

Is the youth ready to prove themselves in bottom-six roles?

General Manager Barry Trot has mentioned after the wave of free agency signings that the younger players of the organization will have to work their way up the lineup, but will have opportunities to prove themselves on these lines.

This looks like where Juuso Parssinen will begin the season, and honestly it's a good spot for him after ending last season in the AHL. You don't want to just throw him back into the lion's den right out of the gate. Give him a chance to work his way back up, and fill the role that Sherwood had.

Now of course Parssinen is a much different style player than Sherwood, and that can end up being a good thing. Sherwood wasn't afraid to be aggressive and find ways to get pucks at the net, while Parssinen has more raw offensive talent and will need to show that off the best he can in limited ice time on the fourth line.

If it's not Parssinen on the fourth line with Smith and McCarron, then the Predators will have to dip further into their prospect pool. That's not ideal for the organization to have Parssinen outside of the NHL lineup, so let's hope he's ready to take on whatever role he gets in the bottom-six.

Mark Jankowski, who I have the utmost respect for as a trusted veteran who brings it every night. The organization saw that as well by signing him to a 2-year deal back in March. Jankowski on a line with another fellow respected veteran Colton Sissons should provide stability and a two-way presence.

This is where Luke Evangelista figures to slot in, which is kind of a weird spot for him but with the signings of Stamkos and Marchessault, Evangelista has to get bumped down the lineup. It doesn't mean he can't flourish in that spot with veterans Sissons and Jankowski.

What could shake all of this up and throw it into a blender is if Tommy Novak isn't ready for a 2nd line center role with the big boys Stamkos and Marchessault. If Brunette decides it's not working and needs to go back to the drawing board, then who know how this lineup is reassembled.

My first guess would be that Stamkos is moved to the center role, which he's already said he's open to, and then you have to rearrange the deck chairs on the wings. That's not an ideal situation at all. You really need Novak to work out on the 2nd line at center.

This is the projected line combinations that DailyFaceoff has put forth, but as we know, training camp will tell us a lot of how this might change. On paper, this lineup makes a ton of sense. But it will also take some trail and error and fine-tuning.

We have to address Philip Tomasino being left out of the starting lineup in this projections. He looks to be a healthy scratch player that has to prove himself even more to overtake any of the 12 forwards just mentioned. His primary competition to get starting time will be his fellow youth teammates Evangelista and Parssinen at right wing.

Unless something really unforeseen happens in Evangelista's trajectory, I don't see him every coming out of the lineup unless it's for nursing an injury. However, Parssinen is a wildcard. If for some reason his game isn't up to par, then you have Tomasino to slot into his place.

Tomasino's role and the prospects who will be first to be called up

Tomasino appeared in 41 games this past season and notching 20 points. He saw his ice time drop dramatically from 15:36 per game to just 12:34 per game. With that that said, he kept on pace with his career point efficiency, averaging 2.3 points per 60 minutes.

Finally, when looking at possible prospects who could get their calling card to move into the starting forwards for the Predators in 2024-25, it's probably going to take some injuries for that to occur. And injuries are inevitable, so let's look at the short list of candidates.

With Egor Afanasyev now gone, traded to the San Jose Sharks, the Predators have to look at rising prospects like Zachary L'Heureux, Joakim Kemell, Kieffer Bellows and even Reid Schaefer. Out of all of them, L'Heureux is no doubt in my mind the most NHL-ready, but preferably they all probably need another year in the AHL before being thrust into everyday NHL action.

I'd feel a lot better right now if the Predators could've found a way to retain Sherwood, but the reality is you can't keep everyone and that guy deserved to get paid (2 years, $3M by Vancouver).

This means that the Predators have a pretty thin and untested group of depth players if a rash of injuries occur. That's the case for most teams, so it's not something to lose sleep over but does show that the Predators will have to turn to some raw talent to go into NHL action if the injury bug shows its ugly face.