Whose stock is rising and whose is falling for Nashville Predators in 2025

With the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline still about five weeks away, the Nashville Predators are doing their normal routine of rising from the ashes and trying to salvage their season.

The Predators have won five consecutive games before seeing that streak end against the Ducks on Saturday. In the midst of that five-game streak was the largest come-from-behind win in franchise history. A lot of players contributed to the win, while some players' future with the team still remain uncertain.

No one really knows what General Manager Barry Trotz will do to manage this roster past the trade deadline, but he recently hinted to local media that he is considering both options of buying and selling. He's a true wildcard as the leader of the front office, but something tells me he's going to do another significant roster shakeup.

Here's my outlook on some core players' stock report for the rest of year 2025 that is currently on the NHL roster after 46 games of the 2024-25 season.

The Core Star Players

Roman Josi: Remaining Stable

I don't see Josi's stock really soaring right now because age is still factor, but he's also not regressing at an alarming rate, either. He's still a top-10 offensive defenseman in the NHL at age 34, but his Norris Trophy days are probably behind him.

Josi is third among defensemen in Expected Goals at 11.9, and is seventh in actual goals scored with nine. That is still very respectable for a 34-year-old player. Now I'm just skeptical about how much longer he can keep it up.

The thing about Josi is we have come to expect greatness and elite play from him at all times. When we don't see that, we're quick to criticize him and notice something isn't right. It's a testament to how long Josi has kept up this high level of performance, dating back to his first season of fulltime NHL action in 2013-14.

Filip Forsberg: Going Up Fast

The 18-game goal drought that Forsberg went through was perplexing more than it was concerning. It just didn't make sense to me, but I knew that eventually he would turn things around back to normal. His seven-game goal streak just ended in the loss to the Ducks.

Even when Forsberg wasn't scoring goals and the team was struggling badly, he was finding ways to facilitate the offense through assists. Frankly the whole team was a mess, and Forsberg couldn't escape it. But now the team appears to be waking up and turning a corner, while Forsberg is now up to 45 points in 46 games.

Crazy as it sounds, I think Forsberg has even another higher gear he can kick into. Forsberg remains in the prime of his career and a few more years left of his best hockey. Let's see how he finishes off 2024-25 after suffering through a sluggish start that plagued the entire team.

Steven Stamkos: Modestly Rising

Stamkos has made a significant impact on the Predators pulling out of their offensive slump by moving to the top line center role, and allowing Ryan O'Reilly to move down more naturally to a second line center role.

The Predators were once down at last place in the NHL in goal scoring, but have gradually improved to 28th in scoring now.

Stamkos is averaging exactly a point-per-game over his last 20 games. He's up to 17 goals on the season, with nine of them coming on the power play.

I'm cautiously optimistic about Stamkos' future with Nashville. A lot of it was just getting adjusted to a new team after spending his entire NHL career with the Tampa Bay Lightning. It has taken way longer than any of us could've imagined, but I can't help but wonder if the transition would've been much smoother if Stamkos had started Game 1 of the season as the top line center.

Juuse Saros: Going Down, Buy the Dip?

If you're thinking in stock terms, Saros' stock is tumbling right now. He is showing how streaky of a goalie he can be. Sometimes he looks like one of the best in the world, and other times he looks like he should get fewer starts in favor of the backup goalie, which in this case is Justus Annunen.

Saros is underperforming his career averages, but it's hard to know how much of that is due to shaky defense in front of him or if he's truly just not playing as well as he's capable of.

We hold Saros on a massive pedestal and expect him to be nearly perfect almost every game. Pretty much every goalie in the NHL has their slumps, just look at Connor Hellebuyck in last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs. It happens to the best of them.

Saros is still in the prime of his career and a Vezina Trophy is still very much in his future. He's going through the struggles right now, but my money is still on him to have many more elite years to come in the NHL as the Predators look to retool the roster in front of him.

So in other words, his stock is going down now but it will go back up again.

Jonathan Marchessault: Flat

Marchessault hasn't been a total bust, but he also hasn't lived up to what we were expecting. The guy scored a career-high 42 goals before coming to Nashville, and now he only has 15 goals and is on pace to finish below 30 goals. No exactly what we signed up for, unfortunately.

With that said, I still think Marchessault has value for this franchise moving forward. Being matched with Stamkos and Forsberg has shown flashes of good signs that Head Coach Andrew Brunette should remain committed to for the rest of the season.

Marchessault was over a +30 for his career in plus/minus, but now is minus-9 for this season with the Predators. If the Predators are going to make a miracle run towards the playoffs, then Marchessault is going to have to be a key part to the offense on that top line with Stamkos and Forsberg.