It's down to the nitty gritty at training camp for the Nashville Predators with the roster trimmed down to 28 players on Tuesday with the regular season opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets just eight days away.
Going into training camp it was clear that there was going to be plenty of competition on the fringe of the starting lineup. When you go for just 68 points in the standings the year before, you're bound to get a lot of competition from the younger talent pushing the veterans.
The Predators actually didn't have a crazy offseason like they did in 2024. They were modest in their approach by only adding Nicolas Hague, Nick Perbix and a trade for Erik Haula. Everything else was mostly kept open for younger talent to seize their opportunities in training camp.
In the latest wave of roster cuts ahead of the 2025-26 season opener, the Predators waived defenseman Jordan Oesterle, defenseman Kevin Gravel, forward Jake Lucchini, forward Navrin Mutter and goalie Matt Murray. All cleared waivers on Tuesday and are reporting to the Milwaukee Admirals.
So who is left now to battle it out for the remaining spots on the opening night roster? There are five additional cuts that will occurs before they open the season at Bridgestone Arena on October 9 against the Blue Jackets.
There haven't been really any surprises yet with the roster cuts. Everyone who is still left is ones you would've expected to make it to the very end and the final cuts. And to be clear, I'm leaving Luke Evangelista out of this power ranking because his situation is so strange with the new contract standoff that honestly it has me kind of speechless. Obviously he's a roster lock once he signs the dotted line, but who knows now when that will happen.
Minus Evangelista, here is my top-5 power ranking of roster bubble player based on who I would place in the starting lineup. I'm leaving out roster locks and the obvious starters.
By my count, including the two goaltenders who are locks in Justus Annunen and Juuse Saros, I have 13 players who are locks. The other 15, yes 15, are not mortal locks. Some have much higher chances than others, but in my estimation I can't call any of them 100 percent locks. So here's my top-5.
First to clear the air, here are my mortal locks for the opening night roster: