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The Nashville Predators are coming off a disappointing season last year. This led to the expectation that the Predators would be aggressive in free agency and potentially use their multiple early draft picks in the 2025 NHL Draft to make moves. Still, Barry Trotz and the Predators made limited moves this offseason and did not address many of their needs in this 2025 NHL Free Agency period.
The Preds missed the playoffs for the second time in the last three years. After losing in the first round of the 2024 playoffs, the team was aggressive last offseason. They signed Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault in an attempt to improve the roster. Nashville would finish this year as one of the worst teams in the Western Conference. The Predators had plenty of cap space to make some solid moves this summer as well. The team started the summer with a trade, bringing Erik Haula back to the franchise. They also still need to re-sign Luke Evangelista as well this offseason.
Still, the Predators only made two other moves, one with an unrestricted free agent and one with a restricted free agent. This is how they grade out.
Nashville adds to their blue line
The Predators signed Nick Perbix in free agency to a two-year deal worth an AAV of $2.75 million. The American-born defender was the 169th pick for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2017 NHL Draft. He would finish his career at St. Cloud State before joining the Syracuse Crunch, the Lightning's AHL affiliate. He would then make his NHL debut with the Lightning in the 2022-23 campaign. Since then, he has been a solid and reliable defender. The blue liner has played in 220 games, including 13 in the playoffs.
He has shown solid offensive production in his NHL career and is continuing the grow in that regard. He scored six goals last season, which was a career high. Further, he has 13 goals with 50 assists so far in his NHL career. Still, he has not been playing top-four defender minutes in his NHL career. He has averaged just 15:44 of ice time in his career, while having just 14:41 with the Lightning last year. He also declined defensively this past year. Perbix had his lowest amount of takeaways and hits of his NHL career. Additionally, his blocked shot numbers declined by 47 this past season. He is coming off a rough season and will not do a lot to improve a defense that struggled last year.
Nick Perbix contract grade: C-
The Predators add a restricted free agent
The other addition for the Predators in free agency was that of Nicolas Hague from the Vegas Golden Knights. Instead of signing him to an offer sheet and using the abundance of draft capital they have over the next two years, they traded players for him. The Preds sent Jeremy Lauzon and Colton Sissons to Vegas in return.
Lauzon is not a major loss. He played just 28 games on defense for the team and had just one assist. Sissons played in 72 games with the squad, scoring seven goals and adding 14 assists. The issue with moving Sissons is that the Predators' replacement would be Haula. He is a player with almost identical production, who is older and more expensive.
After trading for Hauge, they signed him to a four-year deal with an AAV of $5.5 million. His ice time in recent years has been that of a second rotation defenseman, hovering just over 18 minutes on the ice per game. Still, that dropped to under 17 minutes per game this past season. Further, he has missed 23 games over the past two campaigns with injuries. In that time, his offensive production, which was already lower, declined.
The Canadian blue liner has scored just 12 points in each of his last two campaigns. With only two defenseman on the roster last year scoring over 20 points, the Predators needed another offensive threat, but are not getting that with this trade. Meanwhile, his hits, takeaways, and shots blocked have all declined from his peak. While it could be an aberration of a season last year, it could also be a sign of things to come.
Adding in the fact that Nashville over doubled his salary from his last contract, when he was more productive, this is not a signing that makes sense for the squad at the cost. Hague is a solid bottom-four defenseman in the NHL, but he is being paid like he is one of the top three on this roster. If he produces at his pay level, then the Predators could argue they made a solid deal, but as things stand, this was a bad signing that also cost players in the process.
Nicolas Hague contract grade: F
Final grade on the Nashville Predators' 2025 signings
This offseason, the Predators' major moves were both on the blue line. They were 27th in the NHL in goals against per game, so this was an area of need for the team. Still, they were solid on the penalty kill, sitting seventh in the NHL. Meanwhile, they were 18th on the power play and were 31st in the NHL in goals scored last year. They needed to upgrade their offense this offseason, and the only move there was to bring in Haula, who will ultimately replace Sissons.
He had just 21 overall points last year, and has not scored over 20 goals in a season since his 2017-18 campaign. The forwards needed to be improved, and the franchise decided to ignore that in free agency. This season was a disappointment for the team, and this summer has been more of the same.
