#4: Steven Stamkos
With so much hype surrounding his acquisition in the 2024 offseason, it was easy to make Stamkos the target for the anger felt by Predators fans. He got the Matt Duchene treatment, and a really slow start for Stamkos along with the entire team made it hard to reclaim the fanbase.
Going into Year 2, there is some optimism that Stamkos can find his swag with this team. Stamkos still rallied for 27 goals and 26 assists and made his presence known on the power play with 14 goals. Unfortunately, Stamkos just couldn't mesh well with the right line combination and it took Andrew Brunette entirely too long to match the right pieces.
Stamkos suffered a jaw-dropping -36 in his plus/minus, which is a continuing trend from his last year with Tampa when he had a -21. Even though there are a lot of factors that play a part in plus/minus, when you see a number like that you just can't overlook it.
So how can the Trotz and the Predators make this work in 2025-26? Well one problem seems simple but for whatever reason just didn't happen, and that's just finding more shots on goal for Stamkos. He had just 174 shots on net, and many times in games he was completely invisible. I had to check the lineup to make sure he was actually not a healthy scratch.
What's more perplexing about this is Stamkos' shooting percentage was solid at 15.5 percent. So it's not as if Stamkos was just plagued by poor puck luck. He just wasn't involved enough, especially at 5-on-5, which was already the concern before the season started.
If Stamkos can just find the right linemates, whether that's at center or wing, then the hope is that chemistry can be built and this future lock of a Hall of Famer can begin making the players around him better. Again, my early expectation is for Svechkov to play center with Stamkos and Evangelista on the second line.
If Stamkos gets back closer to his Tampa form, then there is no doubt that the Predators can return to the playoffs in 2026. You didn't sign the guy to barely reach the 50-point mark.