Remember when the Nashville Predators went 2-for-22 on the man advantage against the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs?
Barry Trotz does.
It’s no coincidence that the first player the Predators general manager signed to a contract on the opening day of free agency was Steven Stamkos, the former Tampa Bay Lightning captain who happens to be one of the best power-play forwards in the NHL. His 214 career power-play goals are good for 14th all-time and second place among active players behind all-time leader Alexander Ovechkin.
Last season alone, Stamkos scored 19 times on the man advantage for the Lightning, which was tied for third in the league. Meanwhile, the Predators’ leading power play scorer in 2023-24 was Ryan O’Reilly, who scored 14 goals on the man advantage.
Stamkos captained the Lightning’s NHL-leading power play last season (28.6%); the Predators, meanwhile, finished 16th in the NHL with a 21.6% success rate. It was an improvement over their 27th-place finish in 2022-23 (17.6%), but the abysmal showing by Nashville’s power play during the playoffs made it clear that there was more yet to be done.
The addition of Stamkos alone should dramatically improve the Predators’ power play, but it doesn’t stop with him. Between Stamkos, forward Jonathan Marchessault and defenseman Brady Skjei, Trotz added 28 power-play goals to the Predators’ roster in one fell swoop on the opening day of free agency; that’s double the total of O’Reilly’s team-leading 14 power-play goals from last season.
The @PredsNHL projected top power play unit has gotten some juice this offseason. 😤 pic.twitter.com/QJ9L2So1bn
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) July 18, 2024
It’s fair to question whether Stamkos will be able to replicate the power-play success he had in Tampa Bay with the Predators. He played on one of the league’s most dangerous power-play units in Tampa Bay with the likes of Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, and Brayden Point, and he credited the consistency of personnel for his success on the man advantage. By building chemistry with his teammates, he said, he was able to capitalize on puck retrievals by being able to anticipate when and where they would be at all times.
Meanwhile, the The Predators’ power play last season was anything but consistent. It felt like a revolving door at times as head coach Andrew Brunette regularly tinkered with different personnel combinations – only to yield a league-average result.
This year, though, the Predators’ top power-play unit is projected to consist of Stamkos, Marchessault, O’Reilly, Filip Forsberg – who racked up 32 power-play points last season – and defenseman quarterback Roman Josi. With that kind of star power, Nashville may not even need a second unit.
Not only would Nashville’s new-look power play support Trotz’s stated desire for players to have “specialized roles” on special teams, but it would also certainly give the aforementioned players plenty of time to create the chemistry that Stamkos believes is imperative in building a successful power play.
