2. Figure out which youngsters are the future of the franchise
Next season should be a bridge year for this franchise at the very best. I don't see this team returning to playoff prowess in 2025-26, short of some miracle where the veterans find the fountain of youth.
Truth be told, the youngsters got next for this franchise and it's not going to bear the fruits right away. It's going to take next year, and most likely a few years after, to really build this back up. This means the prospect development is going to have to be much better than it has been in recent years.
Trotz has to use this offseason to really identify who is the future of the franchise. Let's start with the player that is furthest along in their development and should be a lock for the top-6 opening night lineup in 2025-26, and that's Luke Evangelista.
Evangelista has always shown flashes of becoming a top-6 offensive weapon for the Predators. He's about to complete just his second full-time season in the NHL. He played 24 games in his debut season in 2022-23 and 80 games in his rookie campaign of 2023-24.
When Trotz went all in on offseason free agency by bringing in Steven Stamkos and Johnathan Marchessault, it hampered Evangelista a bit. He got pushed down to the bottom-6 and even had his average ice time slightly decreased from his rookie season.
Evangelista's ice time has significantly increased since the season moved into the month of March. Before then, Evangelista's ice time was consistently below 13 minutes per game, but since then he's getting over 15 minutes and even getting games of 17-plus minutes.
Everyone's offense is down this year, and Evangelista didn't escape that fate. But considering how bad of a dumpster fire this team has been, it's not doom and gloom for the 23-year-old. He's going to be a big part of the offense in 2025-26, assuming the Predators do the right thing and re-sign him as he is due to be a restricted free agent this upcoming offseason.
If Evangelista can finish these last six games on a personal high note on offense, he can finish around the same point efficiency that he had in his rookie season. So in reality, he hasn't really dropped off that much.
Zachary L'Heureux is another obvious choice to be in the mix again for the retooling Predators in 2025-26. He has one more year left on his entry level contract, so 2025-26 will be his audition year to learn more about his NHL ceiling.
Matthew Wood just signed his entry level deal with the Predators and is gearing up to make his NHL debut in the last six games of 2024-25. If he really impressed Trotz and the coaches, it could springboard him into the offseason and give him a chance to make some noise in training camp.
Adam Wilsby is the leader of the Nashville prospects on defense. He was having an ecouraging season until an injury put him on the shelf and he hasn't been able to return. Look for Wilsby to be in the mix for what is shaping up to be a crowded and competitive position battle in training camp, with the likes of Spencer Stastney, Marc Del Gaizo and Tanner Molendyk also in the mix on the left side.
There are several other prospects who will battle for NHL roster time for 2025-26, which sets the table for Trotz and whoever the head coach ends up being to have a lot of decisions to make on who is ready for the NHL bright lights to carry this team through what is almost certainly about to be a rebuild phase.
If you're going to go through this rebuild, at least they have a plethora of options to decide on and is a testament to how much improved this prospect pool has become over the last few years. How they develop once they get to Nashville is the dark cloud over this organization.
We're hoping Evangelista can break that curse that Eeli Tolvanen, Philip Tomasino, Tommy Novak and Cody Glass could not break.
There's one more very important, and maybe the most important, prospect in the Predators system that I didn't mention in this section because he's a big part of the solution in the next area of need for 2025-26.