Nashville Predators power play should absolutely cook in 2024-25

There's already enormous preseason buzz surrounding the revamped Nashville Predators, and many are setting their sights on the potential of their power play in 2024-25.

Steven Stamkos is spear-heading that enthusiasm with his 214 career power play goals, good for 14th all-time and second place among active players only to the all-time leader, Alexander Ovechkin.

Of course Stamkos alone should instantly improve the Predators' power play woes and inconsistencies. In their first round series loss to the Vancouver Canucks, the Predators power play went a dismal 2-for-22 with the man advantage.

That's why you go out and get Stamkos. For hopefully not only regular season success, but ultimately a remedy to the first round playoff misfortune plaguing this franchise for most of their existence.

But it doesn't stop with Stamkos, of course. He's just one major piece to what looks to be an unstoppable top unit, at least on paper.

Preds power play has no excuses to not be Top-10 next season

The projected top unit for the Predators looks like it's going to be the incumbents of Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi and Ryan O'Reilly, followed by the newcomers of Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault.

Does that unit ever leave the ice? We've seen other teams operate this way, like the Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche.

Last season the Predators power play finished 16th with a 21.6 percent success rate. An improvement from 27th under the final year of John Hynes as head coach, and a 17.6 percent rate.

What helped with that improvement was the free agency pickups of 2023 of O'Reilly and Gustav Nyquist. O'Reilly had 14 power play goals, Nyquist had 19 power play assists. And of course we know how Forsberg erupted for 32 power play points.

A fair and reasonable question from skeptics is that Stamkos won't be able to translate his ridiculous power play success with the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Nashville Predators. He no longer is playing with the elite linemates of Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Victor Hedman.

Need I remind them that Roman Josi is elite in his own right, and the other aforementioned players were also very good on the power play as well. It's not as if Stamkos is joining a baron wasteland of offensive talent and he's going to be the only one for penalty kills to focus in on.

Then we look at Marchessault. A much different type of player. A two-way player. A guy that's going to be probably much more effective at 5-on-5 than Stamkos, but will also bring value to the power play.

Marchessault has never been a prolific power play scorer, but he does contribute. He had eight power play goals with the Vegas Golden Knights last season, and his career high for a season is nine. He's not a big assists guy either on the power play, but he does possess a great shot that will have to be respected by opposing penalty kills nonetheless.

Now you also have to ask yourself if you want all of your top guns on the top unit, or would you rather spread the wealth to the second unit? You can make arguments for both, but at least initially the Predators shouldn't overcomplicate things and see just how dominate this top unit can be.

You cannot overstate enough how vital a top power play unit is. One that can dominate and be a for sure thing to succeed nearly everytime they get a chance. If they don't score, at the very least they steal momentum and spend a lot of time in the offensive zone tiring out the penalty killers.

Too many times last season the Predators power play was untrustworthy and looked more like a deterrent than an advantage. As I mentioned earlier, it was wildly inconsistent including in the playoffs at the worst possible time.

The second unit, even if it doesn't see the ice much, will figure to be led by more of the younger generation. Expect to see Tommy Novak with a prominent role, as well as Juuso Parssinen and Luke Evangelista. Brady Skjei could play the defenseman quarterback role on that unit, as well as Gustav Nyquist.

The expectation is that Stamkos and Marchessault joining the fold will make this power play much more consistent and not be one that goes through dramatic peaks and valley. We need it to be a reliable weapon every game, and when the postseason comes calling, it needs to be the difference-maker in advancing.

For the historical gurus out there, the Predators all-time power play goals leader is Shea Weber with 80. His franchise record will fall soon with Forsberg at 75 power play goals and Josi at 63. And again as a reminder, Stamkos is at 214 for his career.