The 2024-25 Predators were one of the league’s biggest contradictions. On paper, they had the pieces of a championship contender. There was a workhorse netminder in Juuse Saros, mobile defensemen led by Roman Josi and Brady Skjei, and deep enough of a forward group to grind out wins with names like Steven Stamkos and Johnathan Marchesseault joining the fray.
But when they needed timely goals, they fell flat and finished 31st in scoring with just 212 goals. To be frank, they just couldn’t finish, and despite generating chances, they lacked the firepower and killer instinct to cash in.
And that’s why they spent the last month and a half watching, rather than playing in, the postseason. Let’s dive deeper into what went wrong, and what the Predators can do if they want to salvage what’s left of this group’s heyday and contend in 2025-26.
The offense just didn’t deliver and then some
You can’t call the Predators a bad team; they were too talented for that. They were frustrating, and they basically wasted another season of Juuse Saros’ talent. He gave them elite goaltending (again), but the Preds asked him to bail them out far too often.
And I don’t care how good of a goaltender you are. With a team playing that poorly in front of you, a 100 percent of the time bailout ain’t happening. Defense was solid at times, but it couldn’t jumpstart enough transition offense. This problem was even worse when the ultra-talented forward group all looked like they waited for someone else to make the big play.
The 5-on-5 metrics paint a bleak picture: Solid puck possession, with a 51.1 Corsi For, 611 high-danger chances for, and 1,812 scoring chances for. Heck, they even landed over 2,400 shots on goal. But an 8.8 shooting percentage overall just isn’t cutting it, and it didn’t.
How can the Predators fix this mess?
Some fans may think the Preds need to throw this group into the discard pile and start over. And you can’t blame them. Still, there’s way too much talent on this team that it could be a strong landing spot for players who may want to step in and help the Preds run this thing back, so why not keep things normal for now?
For one, they need a true top-six scorer not named Filip Forsberg. And for another, the Preds could use support for Juuse Saros. He’s masked this team’s flaws for how long now? Flaws that ended up showing their hand this past season, and they were uglier than anticipated.
Find players who are comfortable providing net-front traffic, and will help prevent some of those mishaps the team made all season. If they can do that, then maybe the Preds will have something more than what they showed their fans. If not, well, expect another high lottery pick.
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