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918 save percentage in 2021-22 and finished third in Vezina Trophy voting behind Igor Shesterkin and Jacob Markstrom.

Juuse Saros is one of the best goaltenders in the league. At a glance, it doesn’t seem like goaltending is an issue for Nashville, but depth is a minor concern. 906 team save percentage last season, good for 12th in the league. The Preds might split Josi, Ekholm, and McDonagh on three different defensive pairings so one of their three top-pairing defensemen can be on the ice at all times. Now 33 years old, McDonagh is still a very good defenseman. The Lightning didn’t deal McDonagh because his play declined, he was ultimately the odd-man-out in a difficult salary cap bind. The biggest addition the Preds made over the offseason was acquiring Ryan McDonagh from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Grant Mismash and Philippe Myers.

The team’s third pair, which mostly featured some combo of Matt Benning, Mark Borowiecki, and Ben Harpur, got outscored 50-26. Roman Josi’s pairing had an even-strength goal differential of 74-56 and Mattias Ekholm’s pairing had a 57-44 differential, but the team got completely caved in when those two pairings weren’t on the ice. The Preds had two good defensive pairs last season but were a disaster when the third pairing was on the ice. One of David Poile’s biggest priorities this offseason was strengthening the depth on Nashville’s blueline. First-round picks Cody Glass (drafted by Vegas), Philip Tomasino, and Eeli Tolvanen have more talent than the production in their careers thus far would indicate. Niederreiter is a nice addition, but what’ll ultimately make Nashville’s offense jump from good to very good would be some breakout performances from young forwards. Niederreiter scored 24 goals in 75 games for the Carolina Hurricanes last season and scored 20 goals in 56 games the year before. The Preds also added some more quality depth to their forward group over the offseason by signing winger Nino Niederreiter to a two-year deal worth $4 million annually. He carried the best season of his career into unrestricted free agency but wound up re-signing with the Preds at $8.5 million annually over eight years. The big question surrounding Nashville’s offense last year was whether Forsberg was going to stick around. The team was led by Josi, who scored an absurd 96 points, along with their top trio of Matt Duchene, Filip Forsberg, and Ryan Johansen, who scored 86, 84, and 63 points respectively. Nashville had a solid scoring punch last season as it finished 12th in the league with 266 goals. Undrafted free agent signing Tanner Jeannot broke out with 24 goals and also endeared himself to his fans and teammates by getting into 10 fights over the course of the season.

Matt Duchene set a career-high with 43 goals and 86 points, a massive jump from the 55 points he scored in his first 100 games after signing with Nashvlle. Roman Josi scored a whopping 96 points, the closest that any defender has come to reaching 100 points in a single season since the early 1990s. Though the playoffs weren’t at all memorable for Nashville, 2021-22 will be remembered for some spectacular individual performances. With star goaltender Juuse Saros on the shelf with an injury, the Preds were swept aside in four games. They finished as the second wild-card team in the West and ran into the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche in the first round. Unfortunately for the Preds, they didn’t have much of a chance of going on a run in the playoffs. But with the Predators firmly in the Western Conference playoff picture all year, the trade deadline came and went and general manager David Poile opted to keep Forsberg. There was some thought around this time last year that the Preds might opt to move Forsberg as opposed to risking losing him for nothing. The team came into the season with the cloud of Filip Forsberg’s impending unrestricted free agency looming over their heads. The Nashville Predators delivered a strong season in 2021-22, going 45-30-7 and putting up their best points percentage (0.591) in three years.