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Welcome to the September 2024 edition of the DobberProspects 32-in-32 Series. This month, we are diving into the depth of each organization, looking at their recent graduates, risers, fallers and top-20 prospects. 

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By: Jesse Severe

As discussed in last month’s 32-in-32 series, the Predators made a splash this off-season with big free agent signings. Jonathan Marchessault, Steven Stamkos, and Brady Skjei committed to playing their hockey in the big arena between the Country Music Hall of Fame and Broadway for the next few years. Before August’s update Nashville committed to Juuse Saros as their goaltender for the long term.

Since then, Barry Trotz finalized the inevitable second half of that decision by trading top prospect Yaroslav Askarov with Nolan Burke to the San Jose Sharks for Magnus Chrona, David Edstrom, and the upgrade of a 2025 pick from the 3rd round to the 1st. Considering the last two San Jose Sharks first round picks have been #4 and #1 overall respectively, this should give Nashville a top pick next year. Trotz also made a trade earlier in August, paying future 3rd and 5th round picks to Pittsburgh to unload the $2.5M contract owed to Cody Glass.

Trotz enters his second full season as Predators GM with 13 players on pro contracts remaining from the June 2023 Predators. Five of the nine top scorers from 2022-23 are on other teams now.  The Predators have four buyout or retained cap hits (Matt Duchene, Ryan Johansen, Kyle Turris, and Mattias Ekholm) accounting for 13.4% of their salary cap. Trotz has acquired six prominent players who are now past the age of 30.

In sum, Barry Trotz has done a great overhaul of the roster without tanking. Head Coach Andrew Brunette had success with the team last year and expectations have risen for the coming season.

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Graduating Players

Nashville’s AHL team, the Milwaukee Admirals, made it to the Calder Cup semifinals in a season that featured a 19-game win streak, the second longest in league history. Many top prospects from that team will be fighting for roster spots on the Predators soon, including Joakim Kemell, Zachary L’Heureux, and Luke Evangelista. Late-year Admirals addition Ryan Ufko is not far behind. A few players played roles both for the Predators and the Admirals.

Egor Afanaseyev, Milwaukee’s leading scorer and a part-time Predator, was traded to San Jose in the off-season before returning to the KHL’s CSKA Moscow.

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Graduate to NHL

Luke Evangelista, RW: Among the 16 skaters with the most time on ice for the Predators last year, Evangelista was the only one under age 25. The young winger followed up a promising 24 game stint in 2022-23 with enough Calder Trophy votes to place 9th. 39 points in 80 games was an excellent first full NHL season for Evangelista. Last year Evangelista enjoyed the 5th-most minutes on the Nashville power play. While the introduction of several new veteran forwards might squeeze his opportunities, it is plausible he will continue to get chances.

Juuso Parssinen, C: With 44 games played last year and 89 in his NHL career, Parssinen has graduated from rookie eligibility. Nonetheless, he was sent back down to the AHL midway through last season. Coach Brunette said the demotion was to help Parssinen rebuild confidence in his game. While Parssinen does not score much, he has put up over 1.5 hits per game in his NHL career.

Spencer Stastney, D: When Stastney was on the ice, the Predators outscored their opposition by 1.89 goals per 60 minutes. That was the best on the team for anyone who played at least 50 minutes. This hopeful showing for the 24 year old who got into only 20 NHL games justifies more NHL time. While Stastney scored only two goals and two assists in the NHL, he did put up 29 blocked shots. In fact, he showed Andrew Brunette enough to draw in for the Predators first three playoff contests before sustaining an upper body injury that ended his season. While his minutes generally came during injury absences from Dante Fabbro, he seemed to have surpassed Fabbro on the depth chart at the start of the playoffs.

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Graduating from College/Europe:

Ryan Ufko, D: Ufko turned pro after his third year at the University of Massachusetts, arriving in time for the last nine games of the Admirals season. For his final year in Amherst, he served as captain. Ufko is known more for smarts than outlier physical talents, but has succeeded at every level. While it is unlikely Ufko will challenge Josi or Skjei at the top of the depth chart, he could contribute to the NHL team sooner than later.

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Risers

Zachary L’Heureux, LW: Players who score more than a point per game in the QMJHL often do not get credited as offensive outliers. L’Heureaux has had a reputation for penalties and physical play. In his third year out from Nashville’s selecting him in the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, L’Heureux got his first shot at the AHL. He racked up the second highest penalty minutes in the league at 197. However, he also affirmed his ability to score. With 48 points in 66 games, L’Heureax was the highest scoring of the 20 most penalized players in his league. When the Admirals needed him most in the Calder Cup playoffs, he led the team in points with the 5th highest total (15 in 15 games) of all players in the Calder Cup playoffs.

David Edstrom, C: In his first full year in the SHL’s Frolunda HC, Edstrom worked his way up the team’s depth chart. In a season-ending seven game playoff loss, Edstrom had two goals and three assists with 16:27 average TOI. That is a reasonable outcome for a 19 year-old in the Swedish Hockey League. Edstrom has already been moved in two trades in the 15 months since being drafted by Vegas: first as a part of the Tomas Hertl return and now in the Askarov deal. Nonetheless there is some reason for increased optimism.

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Fallers

Magnus Chrona, G: Though Chrona spent his season in the San Jose system, his stock as a Predators prospect is undoubtedly lower than at this time last year. The 6-6 Swede went from backstopping a national champion NCAA team in the University of Denver to being shelled for the AHL San Jose Barracuda and NHL San Jose Sharks. Given his rushed transition to the pros and a difficult defense to play behind, it is possible Chrona could still wind up a contributing goalie, but his reputation has taken a hit.

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Organizational Depth Chart 

Combination of NHL readiness and upside.

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Top 20 Fantasy Prospects

This section is intended to paint a picture of the Nashville Predators prospects whose current trajectory projects them making the most positive fantasy impact at the time that they reach the NHL. Arrival date and NHL certainty have been taken into consideration; however, potential upside is the most important factor in determining this list.

1. Yegor Surin
2. David Edstrom
3. Joakim Kemell
4. Ryan Ufko
5. Zachary L’Heureux
6. Teddy Stiga
7. Tanner Moldendyk
8. Matthew Wood
9. Fyodor Svechkov
10. Magnus Chrona
11. Jakob Milota
12. Andrew Gibson
13. Miguel Marques
14. Jeremy Hanzel
15. Reid Schaefer
16. Juha Jaktola
17. Kalan Lind
18. Jordan Frasca
19. Felix Nilsson
20. Jack Matier

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Rookie Face-off Tournament

The Predators host a Rookie Showcase from September 13-16, matching up with rookies from the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, and Tampa Bay Lightning.

The post-Askarov Predators system lacks a top star prospect. Because Nashville is usually on at least the fringes of the playoff race there are no top ten draft selections in Nashville’s prospect system. No Predator drafted from 2021-2023 has debuted for the team. That said, there are several potential depth options close to the pro lineup now. There are more players in development with time to take a big step up., The franchise has a history of solid prospect development and has seen success with its AHL affiliate. With some luck with rising prospects to complement the star power imported this offseason, Nashville should compete well in the coming years.

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