What to expect from rookie Brady Martin as he returns to Nashville Predators starting lineup

Brady Martin is expected to return to the starting lineup for the 2-2-2 Nashville Predators on Tuesday night back at home against the Anaheim Ducks, as reported by the team's radio announcer Max Herz.

Brady Martin returns to Nashville Predators starting lineup after four-game break during road trip

Martin sat out as a healthy scratch for the entire four-game road trip up in Canada, with the Predators having a record of 1-2-1. They choked away the game late against Montreal and had to settle for an overtime point, while getting overmatched by Toronto and Winnipeg. They did get a stellar performance from Juuse Saros to win over Ottawa.

As for Martin, he appeared in the first two home games and even got top-six placement in the lineup. Even with that, his ice time amounted to just 11:42 on average. He got his first NHL assist but also wasn't able to log a shot on net or even an attempted shot.

According to the projected forward lines against the Anaheim Ducks based on practice lines, Martin is going to see bottom-six action on a line with fellow youngster Fedor Svechkov at one wing, and Tyson Jost on the other wing.

This is interesting because Svechkov as always been pretty much viewed as a primary center and not a player that is going to bounce between the two positions. However, to make room for Martin during this expected nine-game stretch in the NH, the team would like to see Martin take those reps at center over Svechkov it appears.

I was somewhat surprsied to not see Martin get at least one start on the road trip. I understand that there's not harm, no foul for Martin to be getting the valuable experience in practice on the NHL level and that there's no rush to max him out on his nine games. I also think it would've been kind of valuable to see how he responded in a road environment.

It's also worth nothing that paving the way for Martin's return to the starting lineup for his third NHL start is the absence of Jonathan Marchessault who is dealing with a lower body injury.

Another noteworthy aspect of Martin's return is the team is apparently trying out Martin in a lesser role in the bottom-six, while opting to leave veteran Michael Bunting in a second line role with fellow veterans Erik Haula and Steven Stamkos.

Martin's previous top line status which shocked everyone has been overtakes, at least for now against Anaheim, by Luke Evangelista. Evangelista, after his highly-publicized and dramatic holdout as a restricted free agent, has three assists in five games but zero goals on nine shots on net.

A stepping stone in a positive direction for Martin in this very early going of his NHL career is getting more involved on offense. We know he has outstanding offensive traits as a 5th-overall pick, but transitioning that to the NHL level is extremely difficult for virtually every NHL prospect regardless of how talented they are on the junior level. Martin is no different, but he brings the work ethic, leadership qualities and raw talent to work through the early growing pains.

I'm looking for Martin to be more aggressive on the offensive end when he gets his chances and for that confidence to keep growing against NHL opposition.

The underperforming veterans on offense and on the power play is the main issue the Predators are facing right now, and they're actually pretty darn lucky to have a 2-2-2 record to this point. Filip Forsberg has just one goal, as does Steven Stamkos. Marchessault, who again is out tonight against Anaheim, has two goals but one of those is an empty netter.

Martin is getting his first early taste of the NHL and the jury is still out on whether it was the right move or not to start him immediately out of the gate on opening night. All eyes will be on how he steadily progresses during these nine games, and if he somehow does enough for the Predators to keep up him for good and not send him back to junior hockey for the rest of the season.

It's the start of a five-game homestand for the Predators tonight against Anaheim, and I'm expecting Martin to get at least a few starts in a row before giving him more rest until he hits the nine-game limit. Then the team will have to make a decision on whether to send him back to junior hockey for the rest of the season or fully commit to him this season and burn a year of his ELC.

Unless Martin just really explodes with offensive production, it's almost a gurarantee he goes back to junior hockey after nine game appearances.