Four straight losses highlight alarming similarities to last season. Is the coach's message falling flat as the Predators spiral?
Things are getting tense in Nashville once again.
What started as a promising 2-0-1 start to the regular season for the Nashville Predators has now morphed into a four-game losing streak, seven games into the year.
Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, in which the Predators struggled all night in every facet of the game, had fans reintroducing the request for the team to move on from head coach Andrew Brunette.
After nearly every loss, Brunette has said he's "liked their game" and the way the Predators have played, just haven't been able to play with a complete effort.
On Tuesday, when pressed about whether the Predators were going back to habits from last season, he assured that this year was not the same.
"This is nothing like last year," Brunette said following Tuesday's loss. "I think we've spoken at nauseam about it. This is a different team, a different type, and it was not a good game for us. Over the course of 82 games, there're going to be games like this."
While both teams have different records, with the 2024-25 squad sitting at 2-5-0 through seven games, the Predators this season are posting nearly identical statistics. In some categories, the Predators are performing worse than last season.
Through seven games, both teams had scored 17 goals, and last year's team allowed just one more goal than this year's team, 25 goals allowed to 24.
Both teams had bad power play units, but last season's group was slightly better, converting on 5-of-27 opportunities for an 18% execution rate. The Predators on the power play so far this year are 2-of-24 for an 8.3% execution rate, which is the lowest in the NHL.
The penalty kill has been keeping the Predators above water. Still, the only difference between this time last season and now is essentially two points in a pair of overtime losses, both of which were games the Predators gave away.
In the loss to the Utah Mammoth on Oct. 11, the Predators gave up a 2-0 lead and, in overtime, couldn't even generate a single rush.
The overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 16 saw Jonathan Marchessault have his empty net attempt blocked, only for Cole Caufield to tie the game with 20 seconds left in regulation.
Caufield continued to torment the Predators in overtime as he scored with three seconds left in the period.
Something needs to change for Nashville before the first month of the season is over, but is it Brunette?
On Wednesday, Nashville announced it had sent center Brady Martin back to the Soo Greyhounds after only three games played. It was a necessary move, as the fifth overall pick was scratched from the Predators' four-game road trip and struggled while he was on the ice.
The Predators need center depth now and Martin wasn't the solution to that problem. The offense as a whole is underperforming. Steven Stamkos has been non-existent with two points in seven games.
Ahead of Tuesday's game against Anaheim, Stamkos made his frustrations apparent.
"We have some pretty good offensive players that want to produce to help our team win, and when you're not helping in that regard, it's tough," Stamkos said. "No one is going to be talking about making a good defensive play, or you played well defensively. The games we're not winning, we need to find a way to score some more goals."
Through the first seven games, defenseman Roman Josi leads the team in scoring with five points. A defenseman has more points than any of the individual forwards, and it's no more than five.
Something needs to change now, and if it doesn't, it'll likely be the Brunette who faces the consequences. Dropping their first game of a five-game home stand against a team that missed the playoffs by 16 points last season should be alarming.
If the Predators can't string at least three wins together in this home stand, expect some change in leadership, lineups or whatever. Sending Martin back to juniors to replace him with someone from Milwaukee or moving Tyson Jost to center is absolutely not enough.
There's only so much the Predators can do with moving players and the issues aren't with the bottom six.
If Nashville wants to explore trading, it's in a difficult spot, having many of its players on long contracts, especially older ones that other teams would likely shy away from.
If they want to move on to Brunette, there's the risk of 'will things get better?' There are still numerous former NHL head coaches seeking employment, but they're looking for work for a reason.
Nashville is trending in the same direction it was last season, if it isn't already on that track.