Will the Nashville Predators Have a Better Season than the Tampa Bay Lightning?

Who Will Have the Better Season: Nashville or Tampa Bay?

Coming out of the off-season, one of the big winners or most improved teams was the Nashville Predators.

On Day 1 of NHL Free Agency, General Manager Barry Trotz secured Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Brady Skjei, and Scott Wedgewood. The Predators also moved out Yaroslav Askarov as the club extended Juuse Saros for another eight seasons. Defenseman Alexandre Carrier also got a new contract extension as well.

Nashville Predators Free Agent Signings Signal a Culture Change

The Predators are the team to beat in the Central Division, even with the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche still there. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Lightning chose to move on from Stamkos and signed Jake Guentzel as his replacement. It was a choice. Was it the right one? Only time will tell.

NHL Thought of the Day

Victor Hedman Signs New Extension.

Why Couldn’t Stamkos Get This in Tampa? #gobolts

More Here: pic.twitter.com/MGXay9Q1Dl

— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) July 2, 2024

TSN: TSN Hockey Analyst Frankie Corrado joined Sarah Davis on SportsCenter to discuss the latest topics heading into the 2024-25 NHL Season on the newest hot or not segment. Corrado was asked who he thought would have the better season: the Nashville Predators or Stamkos’s old team the Tampa Bay Lightning.

NHLRumors.com Transcriptions

Sarah Davis: “We’re now joined by our hockey analyst, Frankie Corrado for another edition of Hot or Not. Of course, I make a statement. You give us your take, Frankie, so let’s start with Steven Stamkos. He left Tampa Bay for Nashville and free agency during the off-season. His new team will have a better season this year than his old team. Hot or Not.”

Frankie Corrado: “Hot. The Nashville Predators had a better season than the Tampa Bay Lightning did last year, and they’ve added more pieces around this group. And one thing we learned about the Predators during the playoffs was that they were comfortable playing in a defensive style game.

Which Central Division Team Improved the Most This Offseason?

We saw that against the Vancouver Canucks, and that’s not something that a team coached by Andrew Brunette typically had done when he coached the Florida Panthers. They were run and gun offense. Now, if that team can continue to play stingy defensively adding offensive weapons around them, I like the chances of the Nashville Predators to be a better team than the Tampa Bay Lightning this year.”

The Lightning took a step back this year’s roster, losing Stamkos and Mikhail Sergachev on the backend. Even with a healthy Andre Vasilevskiy and the re-acquisition of Ryan McDonght, the Predators have a deeper team and are on the rise, while the Lightning Dynasty could be ending.