The Nashville Predators' Prospects Prove They Don't Need a Rebuild

Mark Jankowski will never forget the speech Juuse Saros gave after the Nashville Predators defeated the Chicago Blackhawks on March 4.

It was the Predators’ first game after a trade deadline where management traded away Tanner Jeannot, Nino Niederreiter, Mattias Ekholm and Mikael Granlund. In came young talent from the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals, who looked to make an impression at the top level. They did, and the 3-1 win against Chicago that night put Nashville five points behind a playoff spot.

“After he got the player of the game helmet, he gave his speech and said, ‘The F-you tour starts now,’ ” Jankowski recounted.

And that it did.

Despite subtracting three middle-six forwards and a top-four defenseman from its roster, Nashville went on a 12-9-2 record after the deadline and finished three points short of a wild-card spot, thanks in part to call-ups from the Admirals.

“Everyone in the dressing room was kind of pissed off with the way things unfolded – the coaching staff, the players,” said 21-year-old forward Luke Evangelista. “Everyone kind of felt like we were waving the white towel a little bit.

“The message from the older guys in the room, though, was just to prove everyone wrong. Credit to the leaders in Nashville – they did a great job of rallying everyone together.”

The ‘F-you tour’ proved how Nashville is well positioned to retool instead of rebuild.

For starters, Nashville now boasts $15.5 million in cap space this summer after trading the pieces they did, according to CapFriendly. They also have an abundance of high draft picks — possessing a combined 16 selections in Rounds 1 to 3 through the next three drafts, which trails only Arizona (22) and Chicago (19) for the most in the NHL. That’s a lot of ammo to build around what is still a solid core in Saros, Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg.

Trade chips aside, Nashville is also well positioned to conduct a swift retool because of the strong player development on the Admirals. They’re currently on an AHL playoff run with Evangelista and Philip Tomasino, the Predators’ second- and third-leading scorers during their post-trade deadline run. They also carry recent first-round picks Yaroslav Askarov and Joakim Kemell, two players with sky-high potential. 

Evangelista, who The Hockey News ranked 61st in this year’s Future Watch issue, exceeded all expectations in his rookie season.

After scoring 55 goals with the London Knights last season, the six-foot right winger was given ample opportunity with the Admirals. He took the ball, ran with it and never looked back – finishing the year with 41 points in 49 AHL games.

“He plays with some swagger,” said Admirals forward Kiefer Sherwood. “He makes great plays with the puck, and he’s obviously opened some eyes (in Nashville).”

Evangelista hardly looked out of place during his first 24 NHL games, recording 15 points – 13 of which were scored during 5-on-5 play – while averaging 16:34 of ice time per game. Since returning to Milwaukee, Evangelista’s recorded five points in five playoff games.

“His hockey IQ is off the charts,” said Predators assistant GM Scott Nichol. “He’ll slow things down and then make plays with the second and third wave of players coming into the offensive zone. And then he’s got that confidence and swagger.”

Tomasino, 34th in this year’s Future Watch issue, also appears ready for full-time duty.

After recording 32 points in 76 NHL games as a rookie, Tomasino didn’t make the Predators out of training camp this past fall and was re-assigned to Milwaukee to start the season.

“It was really eye-opening, given the rookie year that Phil had,” Evangelista said. “Guys notice that kind of stuff.”

Ultimately, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“Looking back on it, I think it was a good thing,” Tomasino said. “Once I got back to Milwaukee, I felt like I started playing more of my game.”

Sending Tomasino – Nashville’s 2019 first-round pick – to the AHL proved to be a difficult but necessary decision for Nashville. After a lackluster training camp, it became clear the 21-year-old right winger wasn’t going to be part of Nashville’s top six to start the year. It wouldn’t have done much good to give a smooth skater with silky hands like Tomasino a second straight year of bottom-six minutes in the NHL.

There were also still some warts in his game centered around his defensive play and overall consistency, which are two prerequisites to being an effective NHL player.

“Sometimes, the NHL isn’t the league to cut your teeth in, and the American League is a perfect league for that,” Nichol said. “You can grow from your mistakes in the AHL, and your mistakes aren’t put under a microscope like they are in the NHL.”

After recording 32 points in 38 AHL games, the Predators recalled Tomasino in mid-February. He was a much more effective player this time around, recording 18 points in 31 games while averaging 15:36 of ice time per game. Hockeyprospecting.com's model even gives Tomasino a 30-percent chance of becoming a star, meaning a forward who averages more than 0.7 points per game over their career.

Speaking of star probability, let's shift our attention to Askarov and Kemell.

Askarov ranks seventh in this year’s Future Watch Issue and is arguably the best goaltending prospect in the world.

“He’s unbelievable,” said Tomasino. “He has the chance to be a Juuse Saros-type goalie in the near future.”

Askarov’s .911 save percentage in 48 games this year may not be that sexy of a stat line, but when you dig a bit deeper – his season as a whole is quite impressive.

Before his first season in North America, the 20-year-old Russian netminder had never shouldered as big of a workload as he did this season. Askarov suited up for just 15 games last year between the KHL and VHL. The year before that saw him split 17 games between the KHL, VHL and MHL, plus six games at the world juniors. As a result, he needed an adjustment period.

“Coming into the league, he was a little bit scrambly,” Nichol said. “That was just his natural ability, and he was swimming a little bit.”

After posting a .903 save percentage in the first half of the season, Askarov improved to .917 to close out the regular season. He carried that momentum into the playoffs, posting a .915 save percentage through five games.

“He’s one of our top prospects, and you want him to play in these kind of games,” Nichol said. “You want him to play in the playoffs, where there’s a ton of traffic, and he has to learn to fight through it.”

Kemell, 27th in Future Watch, has impressed Nashville’s brass since joining the Admirals in mid-March after his Liiga campaign ended, recording 13 points in 14 AHL regular-season games. And it goes beyond his blistering shot.

“When he first arrived, he wasn’t just playing in the American Hockey League. He was competing, rising to the occasion and putting up numbers and using his skill set in the American Hockey League,” said Admirals coach Karl Taylor. “That’s rare from an 18-year-old.”

Despite playing in just three playoff games, Kemell has solidified himself as an effective player on a very deep Milwaukee team.

“He’s been very competitive,” said Taylor. “He’s not shy at all when it comes to confrontations or going back at people physically.

“He’s been able to make plays and shoot the puck in the net. He’s playing great. He’s got a lot of potential, but he’s young, right? So he’s going to have things that don’t go his way, eventually. But he’s on a very good roll right now.”

With all the progress each prospect has made this year, Nashville hopes their AHL affiliate earns more runway with an extended Calder Cup run. They eliminated the Manitoba Moose 3-2 in the Central Division semifinal and now face the Texas Stars, with a spot in the Western Conference final on the line.

“We want them to win down here so they can grow together, kind of like players in Tampa did together in Norfolk,” Nichol said. “Hopefully, one day they can be the core of our team in Nashville.”

Considering their progression this season, that day might not be far from now – and the Preds can soon return to playoff contention as well.