Nashville thought they were building a squad that would contend for the Cup, signing Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Brady Skjei and others before last season. The line of the "best laid plans of mice and men go awry," applied to Predators' 2024-25 campaign. Stamkos went from 40 goals and 41 assists with a minus-21 rating in his last season with the Lightning to 27 goals and 53 points over 82 outings, with his minus-36 rating by far the worst of his career.
Stamkos has gotten off to a slow start to the 2025-26 season, failing to score in his first two contests. One big driver for his decline offensively was a drop in shots on goals from 262 in 2023-24 to just 174 last season. In two games, he has just four shots on net, which does not bode well for a substantive change in fortunes for Stamkos.