New Nashville Predators GM Chris MacFarland has made a slew of roster changes this summer, and his focus has been on improving the Predators' middle-six group of forwards and their depth. But that's not enough for the Preds to be a playoff team next season.
The Nashville Predators have been in a state of transition for a while now – but that process accelerated this summer with the hiring of GM and president Chris MacFarland.
The former Colorado Avalanche executive quickly put his mark on the team once he was brought aboard on June 2. But rather than make a major move for a proven superstar, MacFarland instead chose to completely reinvent Nashville’s middle-six group of forwards.
But that doesn’t mean the Predators are going to be a Stanley Cup playoff team anytime soon.
The Predators still don’t have the type of generational talent their Central Division rivals have. But MacFarland did what he could to make Nashville tougher to play against, making a slew of trades and signings to bolster the team's forward depth.
First, he acquired center Ross Colton from the Avalanche. Then, he dealt for another former Avs center, Jack Drury. After that, he acquired left winger Nils Hoglander from the Vancouver Canucks. Following those moves, MacFarland signed former Utah Mammoth forward Alex Kerfoot, and he put a bow on things by trading for former Dallas Stars center Mavrik Bourque.
In sum, the Predators have put together a much tougher middle-six, and they also are going to benefit from the growth of young forwards Matthew Wood and Brady Martin. And Bourque and Drury signed team-friendly contract extensions that will lock them up for at least the next five seasons.
Bourque's contract, signed on Saturday, turned out to be a six-year deal at $5.5 million per season. Meanwhile, Drury inked a five-year contract worth $4.5 million per year.
MacFarland has obviously decided to firm up his second and third lines, and he’s done well in that regard.
But if we’re being honest, we still don’t see the Preds being a playoff team in the highly competitive Central. This is a Nashville team that finished 20th in the league in goals-per-game average at 2.95 this past season. Defensively, the Predators finished 26th in goals-against average at 3.26 per game.
So even if the additions MacFarland has made works to their benefit, the Preds don’t have the elite talent to push them ahead of the Avalanche, Stars, Mammoth and Minnesota Wild.
The Predators currently have $8.2 million in salary cap space, so MacFarland will be able to go out during the 2026-27 season and make changes as management deems necessary to take that next competitive step as a team. But with due respect to all Preds players, there’s no Nathan MacKinnon or Kirill Kaprizov on this team. There’s no Miro Heiskanen or Logan Cooley on this team.
There’s a clear talent ceiling on this Nashville team, and that’s going to prevent the Preds from being a post-season team anytime soon.
When former Predators GM Barry Trotz decided to retire, the Preds had every opportunity to build from the ground floor in a full rebuild. But it’s clear MacFarland doesn’t want to go the long-term rebuild route.
Acquiring a bunch of veterans will keep Nashville from falling to the very bottom of the standings, but those veterans probably aren’t going to deliver playoff games next season.
The trick for MacFarland is going to be developing Preds forwards into legitimate first- and second-liners. Otherwise, they’re going to be a mushy-middle team regularly.
Although the Predators will be one of those teams without the high-end talent their rival teams possess, Nashville just doesn’t have the horses to get into the playoffs, let alone win a championship.
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