There are some decisions to be made as to where the three big free agent additions fit into the Nashville Predators' lineup.
The Nashville Predators made a lot of noise during free agency by bringing in Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei. These are the big additions that will fit in the lineup next season, but where will they all actually play?
Predators' Forward Group
Stamkos and Marchessault both played the wing last season and may very well do so again for the Predators. Marchessault should be locked into the wing, but the Predators needed another top-6 center. Stamkos is able to play both left wing and center, so that is very much an option going into the season.
The top line of the Predators should remain the same because they drove the team in 2023-24 and have great chemistry. This sees Filip Forsberg, Ryan O'Reilly, and Gustav Nyquist remain on the same line, but the trio behind them will challenge for playing time and take some heavy matchups away from them.
Stamkos and Marchessault will both be in the top-6, most likely on the second line for the majority of the season. If Nashville decides to slot Stamkos in on the wing opposite to Marchessault, that means Tommy Novak or Colton Sissons will center the two stars. If Stamkos slides to the middle of the ice and centers the line as he can, that opens up more options for the wing, whether Novak plays on the wing to relieve some responsibility and get back to his offensive ways or someone more unexpected like Luke Evangelista, Juuso Parssinen, or Philip Tomasino moves up and gets a good shot.
With the pedigree and offensive dominance both Stamkos and Marchessault have shown in their careers, whoever the third member of the second line is, they will benefit greatly and the three players should be a force to be reckoned with.
Predators' D-Core
Skjei comes in and essentially replaces Ryan McDonagh in the lineup. At this stage in his career, Skjei has more potential and a better offensive toolkit than McDonagh did for Nashville.
Roman Josi has a spot on the top pairing firmly held, so there are two options for Skjei to slot in on the back-end. He either steps up and plays top line minutes alongside Josi or breaks up the strong second pairing of Jeremy Lauzon and Alexandre Carrier to play on the second pair.
Skjei has been a top-4 d-man for the past seven seasons and regularly logs over 21 minutes per night. He played behind Jaccob Slavin on the second pairing in Carolina, but is very capable of eating a little more minutes to play beside one of the best defensemen in the world in Josi.
Skjei and Josi are the two best defensemen on the team, so there is the logical thought of playing them apart so that there is more of a threat on two pairings instead of just one. I think Skjei starts on the top pairing with Josi and the Predators judge how they play together as well as how the other two pairing stack up.
Nashville's Special Teams
Not only did the Predators get a huge boost to their 5-on-5 lines by adding Stamkos, Marchessault, and Skjei, both special teams units get a bump.
Stamkos and Marchessault immediately boost the top power-play unit of Nashville as there are multiple threats to score. Both new forward additions and Forsberg all scored at least 40 goals last season, so three on the same unit is dangerous for the opposition.
Skjei has scored 31 goals over the past two seasons combined. This is stellar for a defenseman considering just five of them have come on the power play. There is no question that he will slot in on the second power-play unit as he did on the Hurricanes to add more offense for when that group does get time.
I don't expect to see Stamkos or Marchessault play on the penalty kill, but Skjei is once again a no-brainer to play on one of the units. He did so in Carolina and was the most effective of the four strong d-men who played regularly. In over 175 minutes on the penalty kill, Skjei was on the ice for six goals for and 15 against. He had the best expected goals for % of the top-4 d-men to kill penalties as well. Carrier and Lauzon should be out there together, but Skjei could play beside Luke Schenn.
The Predators addressed so much with three major additions. It can only mean good things moving forward and it is exciting to see just how each fits in the lineup.
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