Milwaukee's offensive defenseman is scorching the AHL. Is it time for Nashville's blue line to call up Ryan Ufko?
The Nashville Predators defense has been somewhat top heavy in the early part of the season.
Before suffering an upper-body injury, Roman Josi was one of the Predators' leading scorers, recording five points in eight games.
Spencer Stastney and Justin Barron have had sound performances to start the year, specifically on Nashville's bottom pairing.
Nick Perbix has also proven to be a critical defensive piece, averaging 20:55 minutes of ice time a night, which is the second-highest total on the team.
However, the rest of the unit has either underperformed or have missed games due to injury.
Nicolas Hague, who was expected to play in the Predators' top pairing to start the season, has played in just five games after missing the first eight games of the year due to an injury sustained in the preseason. He has just one point.
Adam Wilsby is currently day-to-day with a lower-body injury, but has just two points in 11 games. In the top pairing, Brady Skjei has consistently struggled, with a plus/minus of -5 and three points in 13 games.
The primary goal of the defensemen isn't to score, but considering how bad the Predators' offense has been so far, Nashville needs as much help as it can get.
Down, geographically up, in Milwaukee, defenseman Ryan Ufko is having a red-hot start to the 2025-26 season. In just seven games, he has 11 points off four goals and seven assists. His efforts have been critical in Milwaukee's 4-1-2 start to the year.
His point total ranks second among defensemen in the AHL, trailing Rochester Americans' Zac Jones by a point. There have been only two games this season in which Ufko has not scored at least a point, and in four games, he's had two or more points.
From Oct. 18 to Oct. 31, a five game stretch, he scored all of his 11 total points on the year.
Drafted by the Nashville, 115th overall in the fourth round of the 2021 NHL Draft from the Chicago Steel in the USHL, this is just Ufko's second full professional season.
After getting drafted by the Predators, he spent three seasons at UMass-Amherst, earning All-Hockey East honors in the Rookie Team, Second Team and First Team in that time.
He played nine games with the Admirals at the end of the 2023-24 regular season, scoring six points and had 10 points in 15 playoff games. Last season, he played in 72 regular-season games, netting 30 points (eight goals, 22 assists) and three points in 10 playoff games.
Ufko was called up for one game in Nashville against the Utah Hockey Club on April 14.
Milwaukee defenseman Ryan Ufko (12) skates out with the puck during the third period of Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif., Friday, May 31, 2024. Andy Abeyta/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORKNot even a quarter of the way through the regular season, Ufko is nearly halfway to his point total from last season. If he continues at this pace, he'd not only earn AHL All-Star status but could have a more permanent role in Nashville.
The Predators need a scoring push from the blue line and with Josi out, adding Ufko to that mix could be worth looking at. In the early season, the younger players and Milwaukee call-ups have been playing well.
Matthew Wood has four points in six games, Ozzy Weisblatt has had a substantial impact off the stat sheet and as mentioned before, Stastney has been a nice addition to the Predators' bottom four.
The hesitancy likely comes from Ufko's build at just 5 feet 10 inches and the Predators have traditionally preferred bigger defenseman. However, Nashville needs scoring, and adding Ufko to that mix could give the Predators the boost they've needed on defense.