New and improved Nashville Predators should have power play flexibility

The Nashville Predators made moves this offseason that were not just flashy and exciting, but tactical as well. They wanted to add more guys with winning pedigree and culture values and really improve team offense, which was especially shown by adding Brady Skjei to a blue line that severely lacked offensive punch in 2023-24.

But another area that Barry Trotz had in mind was improving the powerplay, which did get better from 2022-23, but was never truly consistent and looked downright terrible in the most recent playoffs. The Predators need to get to a point where it is a legit strength, and that is why they got their guys, most importantly Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault.

They already have Roman Josi, Filip Forsberg, and Ryan O'Reilly, so adding the aforementioned two forwards could turn their powerplay into one of the most explosive units in the league. But they might not even have to have all of their big guns together to be dangerous on the man advantage.

Nashville Predators can afford to spread the talent on their powerplay

If the Predators go all out and load their top powerplay unit with their top talent, they will have some combination of Josi, Forsberg, Stamkos, O'Reilly, and Marchessault. That is obviously lethal on paper and tough to turn down, but consider what this would do to their second unit.

That would leave them with Skjei, Gustav Nyquist, Tommy Novak, Luke Evangelista, and the last guy likely being one of Juuso Parssinen and Colton Sissons. That group is not terrible, but does have a few flaws that true contending teams would very much prefer to avoid.

Number one, the overall lack of player experience sticks out, and especially if Parssinen is in there over Sissons, that aspect will be magnified. Secondly, and maybe even more worrisome, is the fact that there is no true and established shooter on that unit.

Even Nyquist, during his career 2023-24 campaign in which he blew his previous point totals out of the water, was not a bonafide shooter. He was and still is best as a playmaking forward, which you certainly need on a powerplay, but when you have all playmakers and no shooters, the imbalance catches up to you.

Now, let's take a look at what would happen if we switched Marchessault and Evangelista, which is what I personally would like to see. That leaves the top unit with Josi, Forsberg, Stamkos, O'Reilly, and Stamkos, and the second unit with Skjei, Nyquist, Novak, Marchessault, and one of Sissons or Parssinen.

From an on-paper standpoint, that first group still has plenty of firepower, and skillsets that compliment one another. You still have Josi and Forsberg who can create and shoot effectively, O'Reilly is still there as the net-front presence, Evangelista would be a pure puck mover, and Stamkos is of course the shooter from the left faceoff dot.

Forsberg has usually been the guy creating from the top right side on this unit. but there is so much rotating on powerplays nowadays, and I would envision him frequently switching with Evangelista in this case and oftentimes playing the bumper role. At least from a theoretical standpoint, there is no reason this would not work out.

On the second unit, Skjei would be the quarterback, Nyquist would create as usual, Novak would be a tweener with passing and shooting, and the net-front guy would be Sissons or Parssinen.

Of course though, Marchessault would be the shooter, and while he has done a lot of damage as the bumper, his experience also allows him to be effective from the left faceoff dot as well, and he would be the glue of this unit.

From an all around standpoint, that seems more palatable than having a potentially topheavy powerplay, which was a problem in 2021-22. That team of course was not as talented as this version of the Predators, but still shows what was a problem with what was considered a very good powerplay.

It is also worth looking at the team's powerplay from last year and projections for this year after the new team additions. While the projections assume the Predators will run the top unit with the big guns, it does show how much better things could have been if they just had one of Stamkos or Marchessault in the fold.

They do not need absolute sweeping changes to their man advantage, but someone added who fits and fills their weaknesses, and they have that now. Spreading the talent may not give the Predators the most dangerous grouping they could have, and there will surely be some switching during the season, but that approach is most likely to give them two solid, consistent units, and that is what they want.