Much of the attention for the Predators’ disastrous 2024-25 season has focused on the subpar campaigns of Nashville’s big three free-agent signings last summer.

In one year’s time, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei saw their combined points totals drop by 55 from 2023-24, and their combined plus-minus ratings fall by 81.

In retrospect, it seems clear the transition from their previous teams — where they had been entrenched for years with familiar coaches and schemes — was much more challenging than anticipated.

But the fact that all three have now experienced a full season with the Predators may offer some optimism for 2025-26, with each of the players potentially being more invested and committed to helping Nashville turn around its fortunes.

“Yeah, it was hard,” Predators forward Steven Stamkos said of the transition.

“When you have the season we had, I think it makes it harder. When things are going well and the team is winning — you’re having success and helping the team win — I think it’s easier to move on or just put those emotions and thoughts to the side. [But] when it went the way it did this year, obviously some of those thoughts creep into your head and it was tough.”

The 35-year-old Stamkos spent his first 16 NHL seasons with Tampa Bay, playing for coach Jon Cooper over the final 11 seasons.

The 34-year-old Marchessault had played his previous seven seasons in Vegas, winning the 2023 Stanley Cup under coach Bruce Cassidy.

The 31-year-old Skjei spent his previous four seasons (plus part of a fifth) for Carolina, playing for coach Rod Brind’Amour during his entire tenure.

So, changing everything that had helped each player become so good represented what was very likely an uncomfortable-at-times leap of faith.

“I look at Brady Skjei, and he was [used to] kind of a man-on-man defense, and all of a sudden we were zone,” Predators General Manager Barry Trotz said. “It took him a while. There was a little delay mechanism. But I thought the last half season … he was really good and played outstanding for us.”

The transition wasn’t limited to just Xs and Os either.

Trotz noted the emotional side of leaving an organization after many years when he saw Marchessault get a hero’s welcome during Nashville’s game at Vegas on April 12. Marchessault had won the Conn Smythe Trophy for the playoff MVP when the Golden Knights captured the Cup in 2023.

“In [Marchessault’s] case, sometimes you don’t realize how much going from organization to organization impacts a person, because it has great value into their makeup of who they are, what they’ve done and what they’ve accomplished,” Trotz said.

“Marchy didn’t have his [closure] as a Vegas Golden Knight [until Game 80]. I watched how emotional he was and how he valued his time in Vegas. You didn’t realize how much it affected him until you saw it in real time, and it did.”

The hope, of course, is that any residual emotions and ties to the players’ former teams will be long gone by the time the Predators begin training camp for 2025-26.

“[Marchessault] has had closure hopefully, and with that closure, hopefully he’s a little bit [more here],” Trotz said. “Not that he wasn’t. But closure allows you to say, ‘I’m here, my feet are here now, and let’s make the best of it.’”

Stamkos said that as he looks ahead, he, too, feels more like a Predator, less like a player who left Tampa after a lifetime of games.

“You come here and everything’s new and you have to find a new routine,” Stamkos said. “All those little, tiny things as an athlete that sometimes you forget when you’re in the moment. That was part of that process for me this year.

“So yes, I think having that year under my belt … you’re definitely in a better spot than you were.”