Teams across the NHL are gauging their worth in the early weeks of the 2026-27 season, with one team potentially looking to bolster its back end.
The Nashville Predators entered the 2026-27 season after fighting for a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference last season, ultimately coming up short. Yet, with new general manager Chris MacFarland coming into the fold, there are expectations that the team in Smashville would be back in Stanley Cup Playoff contention once again.
However, through eight games, the Preds have struggled, winning just three times thus far. Even with experience on the back end, headlined by captain Roman Josi, Nashville needs to be a little stronger in their own zone if it wants to hang with the best in the conference.
On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, David Pagnotta joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton to discuss how the Predators are going to revamp their defense corps.
David Pagnotta: The blue line is definitely something that they want to kind of augment a little bit. There is a veteran defenseman that they’ve had talks with about other teams, or with other teams about, excuse me, and that they’re listening on….not Roman Josi. Calm down.
So, there’s another veteran piece on that blue line that’s got some term on his contract that teams are talking about. I don’t think anything is close by any stretch right now. Nashville’s an interesting team, because as much as they’re trying to reshape their blue line, and they brought in Jayden Struble last weekend, they’re also kind of in almost waiting mode. How is this season going to play out? How the season plays out will dictate what they do with Ryan O’Reilly, with Ross Colton, and with a couple of their blue liners that are on expiring deals as well.
The lack of success this season is really going to dictate how busy MacFarland is going to be between now and the March 1 trade deadline.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…