At the start of 2026, the Nashville Predators find themselves with about half their season in the rearview, sitting at a lowly 28th in the overall NHL standings after a lopsided loss to the Seattle Kraken on New Years Day.
These results leave considerable room for improvement, so let's look at some New Year's resolutions that could help the team succeed the rest of the season.
Find a Direction
Despite being 28th in the league, the Predators also sit just one point out of the second wildcard spot in the West. However, they're one of six teams all within four points of each other in an unprecented logjam in the standings this deep into the regular season.
In what looks to be an incredibly tight race to qualify for the playoffs, it will be important for this team and its General Manager, Barry Trotz, to decide if this roster can get in or if they might fall out of contention.
With wins in six of their last nine games, this recent surge in the Preds' play got them back into things after a rough start to the season. Just a month ago, insiders and sources around the league were all expecting names like Ryan O'Reilly and Steven Stamkos to be moved for meaningful returns.
Trotz must weigh his options and decide what's more valuable for this team, moving veterans for a sizeable return, or trying to squeeze into the playoffs for what would be an uphill battle against any matchup.
Improve Goaltending
If this team wanted to go for any kind of run, it would likely be on the back of their goaltender Juuse Saros. The team has had issues in net this year, with a team save percentage of .883% or 23rd in the NHL.
In the 2025-26 season so far, Saros has seen the second-most shots against among goalies with 831 heading into 2026. We know what Saros can do when he's on his game, but reducing that number and lightening his workload could help him get back to career averages.
In his last 11 games before the Seattle 4-1 loss, Saros had gained momentum and recorded a save percentage of .909% in that span. With the team on a bit of a hot streak, winning seven of the last ten, the team will look to keep the improved play going around their goalie.
Another way to help things in net would be at the backup position. Justus Annunen has had a rocky year with a -2.4 goals saved above expected and a save percentage of .875%. These numbers are going to need to improve to help ensure a bulk of starts don't go to Saros and wear him down.
Goal Differential
Tied for fourth-worst goal differential in the league with -16, the Preds can help fix this stat by addressing play on both sides of the puck.
Nashville scored 111 goals this season so far, while giving up 129. That's ranked 22nd in the league in goals for, and 25th in goals against. Any team would find it difficult to get wins while struggling to score and also keep it out of their own net.
This team isn't void of goal scorers, led by Steven Stamkos and Filip Forsberg; the team has four double-digit scorers this year so far. Stamkos just eclipsed a historical 600 career goals after potting one in a game against the Vegas Golden Knights, and has been on a goal-scoring tear with 10 goals in the last 10 games.
Two-way forward Ryan O'Reilly has a solid 11 goals while also being the only double-digit goal scorer with a positive plus minus (+3) this year. Not a perfect metric, but a decent way to highlight that no defense is sacrificed for O'Reilly's offense.
The two-way play will need to be a focus for everyone on the team in 2026 if they want to improve the goal differential and give themselves a better chance each night to walk away with a win.