2026 Offseason Gameplan

OVERVIEW

Coming into the 2025-26 season, many felt and new the Nashville Predators were going to be finishing the season at the bottom, and they delivered finishing last in the DCHL. The team fought pretty and was hanging around the bottom third of the league until the Olympics happened and the team just bottomed out completely. Finishing out the year 28-49-5, which is a franchise record of being at the bottom.

It was known coming into the season though, it was going to be about building weaponizing the cap, and hoping the young core continues to build, along with having a war chest of picks and cap space to be aggressive. While the team was the worst in the league, they have top odds at the Draft Lottery in hopes to land their franchise altering talent to go with the young core that’s starting to take shape.

Along with the top odds in the lottery, they have the 12^th, 13^th, and 14^th selections in the lottery, along with the San Jose Sharks pick which right now is the 20^th pick (baring on their playoff success). They also have six second round picks, and seven third round picks, along with one fourth round pick.

This offseason is probably going to be more of the same, but the team is going to be well involved in the draft. And being selective in free agency with a war chest of cash, and cap space to weaponize as they continue to build on their core. While the immediate future may look bleak, the future is looking brighter in Nashville.

GENERAL MANAGER / HEAD COACH

Neil Burkholder / Lane Lambert

Burkholder is starting his second full season as GM in Nashville, and while it was the franchise worse season, they just entered the rebuild, and his job is safe. As for Lane Lambert he’s going to be back again for another season, but they need to show they’re competitive, if not this could be Lane’s last year.

FORWARDS

Reilly Smith / 82GP / 20G / 34A / 54P / -16 / 10PIM

Oskar Sundqvist / 82GP / 17G / 26A / 43P / -7 / 37PIM

Robby Fabbri / 82GP / 21G / 21A / 42P / -7 / 52PIM

Jeff Skinner / 31GP / 8G / 12A / 20P / -23 / 2PIM

Ty Dellandrea / 82GP / 7G / 13A / 20P / -13 / 29PIM

Ross Colton / 29GP / 5G / 5A / 10P / -23 / 12PIM

Joshua Roy / 41GP / 2G / 7A / 9P / -6 / 0PIM

Samuel Helenius / 82GP / 6G / 3A / 9P / -17 / 31PIM

Jan Mysak / 82GP / 4G / 4A / 8P / -29 / 11PIM

Eduard Sale / 78GP / 3G / 5A / 8P / -29 / 14PIM

Samu Tuomaala / 82GP / 5G / 2A / 7P / -29 / 12PIM

Lukas Reichel / 4GP / 0G / 0A / 0P / 1 / 2PIM

The veterans lead the way for the Predators with Reilly Smith being the offensive stalwart for the team this past season scoring 54 points. Oskar Sundqvist was one of the first pieces to come under the Burkholder regime, which he is a solid bottom six forward. Jeff Skinner was brought in for a cap move earlier this season, along with Ross Colton. The last of the main pieces is Ty Dellandrea the former first round pick hasn’t developed into a piece everyone thought he could be, but he is a solid bottom six forward for the future.

The exciting part is the younger group while they’re not the main pieces coming coming, they’re talent and will fit the role players. There is three main young roster players that has to bring excitement, the first one has to be Eduard Sale coming in from Seattle, the young talented forward has a lethal shot. Along with Eduard is former second round pick Samu Tuomaala has a wicked slap shot and the Predators hope he can be that middle six scoring winger. The last one is going to be a fourth line center but will be a fan favorite and that is hulking center Samuel Helenius. A big body center that will throw his body around, and plays that old school style that fans love.

The last three players are reclamation projects that the Preds brought up the main one out of the three has to be Joshua Roy. The versatile winger will most likely slot into a middle six role, they picked up former first round pick Lukas Reichel he’s a relentless player on the check, he just needs to find his grove, and lastly who most likely wont be a long term option for the Predators is Jan Mysak who they picked up in free agency.

FREE AGENT FORWARDS

Maxim Tsyplakov / 82GP / 8G / 13A / 21P / -19 / 13PIM

The former second round Russian pick looks to probably played his last game in Nashville, the team might be open to picking him up in free agency, but in all likelihood he’s going to be off to Russia.

DEFENSE

Nick Jensen / 82GP / 5G / 30A / 35P / -36 / 48PIM

Will Borgen / 82GP / 6G / 16A / 22P / -19 / 83PIM

Marcus Pettersson / 69GP / 4G / 13A / 17P / -16 / 40PIM

Domenick Fensore / 55GP / 3G / 6A / 9P / -15 / 20PIM

Maksymilian Szuber / 24GP / 1G / 6A / 7P / -2 / 33PIM

The Predators spent a lot of money in free agency this past year and Marcus Pettersson was the big one. They plan on keeping him part of the squad. The next two are solid veterans in Nick Jensen and Will Borgen who are starting to get long in the tooth, and turning more into defensive defenseman.

Domenick Fensore is an offensive defenseman that the Predators have high hopes for to be a power play specialist, and Szuber is a towering defenseman who can skate well, but he is quite limited in what he can do, right now he’s body, but he’ll probably be one of the guys who will end up moving on.

FREE AGENT DEFENSE

Brian Dumoulin / 82GP / 13G / 32A / 45P / -41 / 58PIM

Daniil Miromanov / 46GP / 10G / 19A / 29P / -7 / 27PIM

The captain Brian Dumoulin’s time as a Nashville Predator as came to an end after taking over the “C” middle of the season once Jacob Trouba was traded out. Dumoulin savy veteran but just doesn’t fit the Predators going forward.

Daniil Miromanov was picked up as an extra defensive body this season. He played quite well, the RFA didn’t resign early, so it’s possible the Predators will circle back around in free agency.

GOALIES

Tristan Jarry / 50GP / 13W / 34L / 3OTL / 0 SO / .900 / 3.11

Jake Allen / 32GP / 15W / 15L / 2OTL / 2 SO / .894 / 3.21

Tristan Jarry was brought in and took over the starting duties from long time net minder Jake Allen. Both were a decent duo, but long term they’re not going to be the main guys once the Predators start coming out of their rebuild.

TOP TEN PROSPECTS

F / Denver Barkey / 43GP / 5G / 12A / 17P / -6 / 16PIM / Philadelphia (NHL)

F / Victor Eklund / 43GP / 6G / 18A / 24P / 8 / 22PIM / Djurgadens (SHL)

F / Matvei Gridin / 37GP / 6G / 14A / 20P / -14 / 2PIM / Calgary (NHL)

F / Konsta Helenius / 61GP / 20G / 41A / 61P / -14 / 22PIM / Rochester (AHL)

D / Logan Hensler / 23GP / 4G / 8A / 12P / 6 / 20PIM / Wisconsin (NCAA)

D / Adam Jircek / 55GP / 19G / 40A / 59P / 31 / 33PIM / Brantford (OHL)

F / Ryker Lee / 35GP / 15G / 15A / 30P / 5 / 26PIM / Michigan State (NCAA)

D / Theo Lindstein / 59GP / 6G / 8A / 14P / -20 / 18PIM / Springfield (AHL)

F / Cole Reschny / 36GP / 6G / 29A / 35P / 13 / 22PIM / North Dakota (NCAA)

F / Felix Unger-Sorum / 70GP / 17G / 48A / 65P / 11 / 20PIM / Chicago (AHL)

MOCK DRAFT (Tankathon)

#01 – Gavin McKenna (Forward)

#12 – Daxon Rudolph (Defense)

#13 – Oscar Hemming (Forward)

#14 – Adam Novotny (Forward)

#20 – Juho Piiparinen (Defense)

ROSTER SIZE

58 (29 Roster Spots / 29 Prospects)

RETENTION SPOTS

1/3 – Roman Josi (Defense)

CAP SPACE

30,250,534

TEAM NEEDS

Scoring Forwards, Legit #1 Goalie

TRADE BLOCK

Players over 26, Picks, Retention Spots

CURRENT DEPTH CHART

NASHVILLE PREDATORS (20)

Jeff Skinner – Robby Fabbri – Reilly Smith

Joshua Roy - Ross Colton – Ty Dellandrea

Lukas Reichel - Oskar Sundqvist – Sam Tuomaala

Jan Mysak - Samuel Helenius – Eduard Sale

Marcus Pettersson – Nick Jensen

Ilya Lyubushkin – Will Borgen

Domenick Fensore – Maksymilian Szuber

Jake Allen

Tristan Jarry

MILWAULKEE ADMIRALS (9)

Forwards: Dylan Duke, Felix Unger-Sorum, Jakub Stancl

Defense: Aleksi Heimosalmi, Artem Grushnikov

Goalies: Dylan Garand, Talyn Boyko, Vyacheslav Peksa