Three reasons Nashville Predators have stumbled to 0-3 start to season

The hype was understandably high surrounding this Nashville Predators team going into 2024-25, and they're stubbed their toes out of the gate.

The three losses have come in different varieties for the 0-3-0 Predators. The season-opener was against a heavyweight in the Dallas Stars and they very nearly pushed it to overtime. The second game they outshot the Detroit Red Wings by a margin of 42-22 and ran into a hot goalie.

And then there's last night's debacle. A step backward and their ugliest loss of the three. They took shifts off, were overcomplicating things, and were indecisive in their rushes on offense. They looked every bit like a team that hasn't built any winning chemsitry yet.

Here's my three primary reasons the Predators are 0-3-0 with the Edmonton Oilers up next, also currently winless on the season.

Juuse Saros hasn't put on the superman cape to save them

The loss to the Seattle Kraken by a 7-3 final score could've been the game when Saros bails out the defensive lapses with some jaw-dropping saves, but he wasn't able to deliver.

When the Predators kept getting beat up ice for odd man rushes by the Kraken, Saros gave up some goals. He also got beat earlier in the game with screened traffic in front of him. The Kraken already had three goals by the first intermission.

Saros ends up surrendering six goals on 34 shots. A lot of defensive breakdowns in front of him as well, but Saros also needed a heroic individual performance, which he's capable of doing, and he just couldn't deliver.

It's also very well-known that Saros is a notorious slow starter to the season. We've already seen Scott Wedgewood in the season-opener put out an abysmal performance as well. Maybe Saros could've been more trusted to make a couple key stops to at least get it to overtime against Dallas, but he was held out in an abundance of caution.

So let's just say goaltending hasn't come to save the day in the first three games, which can cover up a lot of defensive mistakes.

Preds defense has been mediocre at best

I haven't been impressed at all by the defensive showing from the Predators. They're getting caught up ice on odd man rushes and getting outskated against faster teams. It's been a letdown from my expectations.

Looking at the Predators defensive corps on paper, the starting six is formidable. Adding Brady Skeji was a huge upgrade, who did score his first goal as a member of the Predators last night against the Kraken.

This area is the most glaring weakness the Predators are showing me through the first three games. No discipline, no consistency and just not the pushback I expected to see in the physicality department.

I'll give the Predators some credit where it's due that at times they've been stingy on giving up shots on goal. They showed that against the Red Wings, but again, consistency and not getting outskated is a big issue that has to be addressed before the Edmonton game or they'll get roasted for another five-plus goals on Thursday.

The newcomers are still getting comfortable

All of the buzz was surrounding Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault. Stamkos has yet to register a point, while Marchessault has yet to tally a goal.

Marchessault in particular looked extremely agitated and fired up against the Kraken. He has always played with that emotional edge, so you like seeing the frustration from him.

Stamkos has had the looks on the power plays in his patented one-timer spot, but has just missed some pucks from finding the back of the net. He hit a post in the dying moments against the Stars in the season opener.

It's only a matter of when, not if, Stamkos and Marchessault start making their offensive presence known. We all figured it would take some time, and that it is. How many games and how far of a hole the Predators dig themselves in is a different concern. They need to stop the bleeding and string together a couple wins to get the positive vibes flowing again.

I'll also add onto the disagreement I have with Head Coach Andrew Brunette shuffling the lines so early in the season. You're already trying to build line chemistry fast, and I don't see the benefit in making dramatic line changes going into Game 3 of an 82-game regular season. I think it backfired against the Kraken with Cole Smith getting on a line with Stamkos and Marchessault.

This is not meant to trash Smith as a player, it's just an odd fit with two high skilled offensive players and Smith being a bottom-six physical player who's biggest benefit is killing penalties.

Tommy Novak, on the other hand, has two goals on the season along with seven shots on goal. His ice time has been buried to below 14 minutes each game. I thought were were going to show some confidence in Novak to play that second line center role? Well, that didn't last long did it?

Brunette needs to find a formula he likes and trust it for a while. It's far too early to be constantly shaking things up when you already have a lot of new variables to work out.

I do think the Predators will get it straightened out and offset this three-game losing streak with a winning streak of their own in the coming weeks. They have to get back to basic fundamentals and look at the long road ahead before they get buried too much farther in the standings.