A year after breaking the bank on three of the best offensive-minded players available in free agency, the Predators are placing an emphasis on defense as they look ahead to the 2025-26 season.

In the 2024 offseason, the Preds signed Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei to multi-year contracts worth a combined $108.5 million, seemingly setting the table for an offensive surge.

But it didn’t amount to much, as the Preds scored a measly 212 goals, the second fewest in the league last season and tied for the seventh fewest in franchise history.

Predators coach Barry Trotz, hampered by the long-term contracts of several vets and a thin 2025 free-agent crop, hasn’t done much to boost the team’s offense — and specifically the center position — so far this season.

But he does believe he’s made the team better by improving the defense, adding 6-6, 245-pound blueliner Nicolas Hague via trade from Vegas and signing 6-4, 206-pound defenseman Nick Perbix during free agency.

The two combined for 141 blocked shots and 132 hits last season.

The hope is that Hague and Perbix will bolster a Nashville defense that suffered through some ugly numbers last season:

• The Preds allowed 274 goals in 2024-25, the sixth most in the NHL and the most in franchise history.

• Nashville surrendered 190 five-on-five goals, the fifth-most in the NHL last season.

• The Preds blocked 1,047 shots last season, the fifth fewest in the NHL.

“I just think that if you can’t defend, you can’t win,” said Trotz, who coached the Predators, Washington and the New York Islanders to a combined 914 wins, third most in NHL history.

“So, we’ve just got to be better at defending. Start there. You’re always in the game when you can defend. You just are. You look at the Stanley Cup champions, Florida. They can defend, they’re hard and they just punt pucks out.”

The two new defensive additions were part of third pairings for good teams last season, as Hague saw an average of 17 minutes of ice time per game with Vegas and Perbix got an average of 14:41 with the Lightning.

But Trotz said he can see each player getting increased minutes in Nashville, mentioning the possibility of the left-handed Hague pairing with the left-handed Roman Josi — who’s comfortable on the right side — and the right-handed Perbix pairing with the left-handed Skjei.

A top two or top four pairing for Hague would be more in line with his new contract, as the Preds signed the 26-year-old to an eye-opening, four-year, $22 million deal.

“You’re trying to project where that player is [going to be in years to come],” Trotz said of the contract. “Right now, trying to find a top four defenseman that’s 6-6 [and that’s 26] years old … That’s a low number.”

One of the top priorities of the new defensemen is adding bite to the back end.

The Preds were without the hard-hitting but injured Jeremy Lauzon (who was part of the trade for Hague) for about two thirds of last season, and they were without physical presence Luke Schenn down the stretch after trading him in March.

“You see where the game’s going, especially in the playoffs, maybe not so much in the regular season,” Trotz said.

“But when you get into those real playoff-type games, people are getting to your net. You’ve got to suppress them. I remember last year we got pushed into the net a few times as a group, and it’s pretty hard to box out when they have authority. I tell our defensemen to sweep the porch, and you’ve got to be able to do that.”

Predators coach Andrew Brunette likes the way Trotz has upgraded the defensive corps, but stressed that the addition of two new blueliners won’t magically turn Nashville into a better defensive team.

It will take an attitude adjustment from a group that was too soft last season, one that felt it was destined to win high-scoring games because of the big-name additions.

“There’s got to be a commitment level,” Brunette said. “Last year we thought we were going to be a firewagon team and score five goals a night.

“No matter how much you talk about [defensive play] and no matter how much you bring it up every day, until you go through it and you get embarrassed by it … There’s hopefully going to be a bigger commitment to playing a certain way without the puck, a certain kind of structure we’ve played in the past … and we’ve got to find that again this year.”