The Nashville Predators development camp opened today with the official roster drop, and fans are eager to see the youngest and most anticipated prospects take to the ice.
The festivities began with some team medicals and a team dinner yesterday, and today saw the first on ice sessions for Team Gold and Team Blue.
The camp features 35 players, all at various stages in their journey to the bright lights of Broadway and making their debut in the Show.
Here's the list of players who will be playing to raise eyebrows of managment, and an invite to the main camp, or for their first taste of NHL level training.
The three first round draft picks for the Predators are all going to be in attendance, so fans will be able to get their first look at Brady Martin, Cameron Reid, and Ryker Lee. Martin has the best chance of making the team of the three, and has talked openly about his desire to do so, so he'll want to be making a strong showing early.
A few of the other 2025 draft picks will be making their first official Predators appearances. Jacob Rombach and Jack Ivankovic, both second-round picks, and fourth-round pick Alex Huang will all be on the ice.
Matthew Wood, by default, becomes one of the leaders in this group, as his 6 NHL games from last season stand tall among the group of young players. He's a the top of the Predators' prospect pool, and along with Tanner Molendyk should look the best out of all these players and be using this as a warm up for main camp.
Among former and current NCAA prospects, fans will likely want to see Teddy Stiga, Aiden Fink, and Cole O'Hara in action. Stiga and Fink are both players likely sticking around college one more year, so seeing them against a variety of competition and out of the NCAA bubble will be interesting.
Yegor Surin will be someone that fans should be very eager to watch. He was dominant in the top Russian junior league and spent the majority of his season playing in the KHL. His 41 games there at just 18 years old are an indicator that he might be one of the more advanced prospects in the system. He also had a 19-game playoff run in the KHL, so it isn't a stretch to consider the 6'2 200 200-pound Russian prospect the most pro-ready, because he essentially already has a pro season under his belt.
Former Las Vegas Golden Knight 1st round draft pick David Edstrom will be a player to keep a keen eye on. He's played two pro seasons in Sweden and was one of the pieces from the Yaroslav Askarov trade. Another player the Predators grabbed from the Sharks is Ozzy Wiesblatt. He won't be at camp, but his older brother Oasiz Wiesblatt will be. Fresh off of a 103 point season in the WHL, he'll see if he can battle his way into camp.
If you've got a prospect to keep an eye on, let us know!