Off-Season Review: Nashville Predators make big splashes after falling in playoffs (2024)

The Nashville Predators had a terrific second half to their 2023-24, and were incredibly busy in free agency.

Welcome to Oilersnation’s summer series called Off-Season Review, in which we’ll take a dive into what’s going on with the other 15 teams in the Western Conference. So Far, we’ve looked at every single Pacific Division team, as well as the other three Central Division teams that made the 2024 postseason. In this article, we’ll look at the Nashville Predators.

On Feb. 15, 2024, the Predators were blown out by the Dallas Stars, losing 9-2 on home ice, giving them a 27-25-2 record for 56 points, four points out of a Wild Card. A planned trip to see the band U2 at the Sphere in Las Vegas had been cancelled during their upcoming five-game road trip. After the cancelled plan, they defeated the St. Louis Blues 5-2 and won every single game on that road trip.

In fact, after the team cancelled the team’s trip to the concert, they rattled off eight straight wins, as well as a 16-0-2 record over their next 18 games. On Mar. 27, the Predators had a 43-25-4 record, moving to 90 points, which was 10 points clear of missing out on the playoffs. In the end, the team finished with a 47-30-5 record for 99 points. This set up a first-round matchup with the Vancouver Canucks.

To bolster their playoff chances, the Predators made a handful of moves at the trade deadline. Their first move saw them trade Yakov Trenin and prospect Graham Sward to the Colorado Avalanche for Jermery Hanzel and a 2025 third-round pick. The same day saw the Predators acquire Anthony Beauvillier from the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2024 fifth-round pick

Nashville stayed busy on Mar. 8, acquiring Jason Zucker from the then-Arizona Coyotes for a 2024 sixth-round pick. They also acquired Wade Allison from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Denis Gurianov, a cap-clearing move.

In the end, they fell in six games to the Pacific Division-winning Canucks. Heading into Game 4 of the series, the Predators had a chance to tie it at two as they had a 3-1 lead with under three minutes left. Vancouver’s Brock Boeser scored to make it 3-2 with 2:49 left, and Colton Sissons’ backhand hit the post on an empty net.

Boeser scored his hat trick goal with eight seconds remaining to tie the game, before the Canucks’ Elias Lindholm scored the overtime winner to send the Canucks back home with a 3-1 series lead.

Some Notable Statistics

All in all, it was still a successful season for the Predators. Filip Forsberg continued to be one of the most underrated players in the league, scoring 48 goals and 94 points in 82 games, both totals being a career-high. Roman Josi earned Norris Trophy votes, scoring 23 goals and 85 points, leading all defencemen in scoring.

Elsewhere, free agent signing Ryan O’Reilly scored 26 goals and 69 points in 82 games, while Gustav Nyquist scored 23 goals and 75 points in 81 games. Right-shot centre Thomas Novak scored 18 goals and 45 points in 71 games, while rookie Luke Evangelista scored 16 goals and 39 points in 80 games.

Colton Sissons, Kiefer Sherwood, Michael McCarron, and Yakov Trenin each hit the double-digit marker in goals, while defenceman Ryan McDonagh scored three goals and 32 points in 74 games.

The Predators also have one of the best netminders in the league, as they usually do. Statistically, Juuse Saros’ .906 save percentage and 2.86 goals-against average weren’t great, but this is a netminder with a career .917 save percentage and a 2.62 goals-against average. What a nice replacement for Pekka Rinne.

Off-Season Transactions

One thing is clear for the Predators, while they’ve always had a great defence core and a stud Finnish netminder, the offence has always been lacking. Filip Forsberg is a true superstar, but expecting Gustav Nyquist, Ryan O’Reilly, and even Thomas Novak to have similar seasons to the 2023-24 season is hopeful at best.

They knew this though, and made three big signings on the first day of free agency. Long-time Tampa Bay Lightning captain, Steven Stamkos, signed a four-year deal worth $32 million, or $8 million annually. This was followed by Jonathan Marchessault signing a five-year deal worth $27 million, or $5.5 million annually. The Predators also signed a new second-pairing left-shot defenceman in Brady Skjei to a seven-year, $49 million deal with an annual cap hit of $7 million.

The Predators were also able to re-sign their best right-shot defenceman, Alexandre Carrier, as he signed a three-year deal worth $11.25 million, or $3.75 million annually. However, they did lose a defenceman on the backend, as they traded Ryan McDonagh and a 2024 fourth-round pick to the Lightning in exchange for a 2025 second-round pick and a 2024 seventh-round pick, clearing out $6.75 million in cap space. They also lost Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Anthony Beauvillier, Troy Grosenick, Kiefer Sherwood, and Jason Zucker in free agency. Sherwood signed with the Canucks, Beauvillier signed with the Penguins, and Zucker signed with the Sabres.

On the other hand, the Predators signed Vinnie Hinostroza, Scott Wedgewood, Matthew Murray, Nick Blakenburg, Kieffer Bellows, and Adam Wilsby in the month of July. Wedgewood was a successful backup netminder with the Dallas Stars, while Murray is also a netminder who left the Stars. Hinostroza scored 16 goals and 39 points in 72 games back in 2018-19, while Kieffer Bellows was selected in the first-round of the 2016 draft.

Overall, the Predators had a solid 2023-24 season that was undone thanks to hitting the post on an empty net. If that series was tied up at two, who knows what would’ve happened. While the Stamkos and Marchessault deals may hurt in the future, adding two 40+ goal scorers in 2023-24 will certainly help their outlook for the 2024-25 season.