With the Nashville Predators missing the NHL playoffs for the second straight season, the organization will also be making some changes at the helm, with former General Manager Barry Trotz deciding to step down after three seasons and Chris MacFarland taking over. With the Predators attempting to figure out their overall identity, the Predators have a consistent issue at the center position that must be addressed. While Ryan O’Reilly has been a superb top-six center for Nashville, the grizzled veteran is unfortunately not getting any younger, and Nashville should seek to prepare for its future.
Overview
The Nashville Predators are in an intriguing spot in their quest towards competitiveness. After signing star, yet aging, wingers Jonathan Marchessault and Steven Stamkos in the 2024 offseason, the Predators neglected to address a crucial part of their lineup in a top-six center. While O’Reilly has had an exceptional tenure as a Predator, his age and productivity forecast a massive concern for the Predators’ future at the center position.
The Numbers and What They Mean
Signed to a 4-year deal in 2023, O’Reilly is best known for his two-way playmaking abilities in which he is a dominant force in the defensive and offensive zones. He is a special teams weapon in which he asserts his dominance on the power play and his leadership on the penalty kill. In addition, O’Reilly rounds out his game with a physical and veteran presence to display his capabilities as a well-rounded player.
During the 2025-2026 season, O’Reilly produced 25 goals and 49 assists for 74 points in 81 games. Statistically speaking, O’Reilly had his best season since the 2018-2019 season, where he had scored his career high in points with 77, composed of 28 goals and 49 assists in a full 82-game season on the St. Louis Blues. However, after evaluating his statistics, it should be noted that O’Reilly has never scored 30 or more goals during his NHL tenure.
While it may seem that this analysis is demanding too much from a two-way center, it should be noted that this is more of a pointer towards Nashville’s roster management, as it clearly displays that the team is over-relying on an aging veteran to carry their offensive production up the middle. O’Reilly tends to play alongside Stamkos and Marchessault, two experienced goal scorers and Stanley Cup champions.
But besides that top line, the Predators only had two other impactful players in Filip Forsberg (who scored 40 goals) and Matthew Wood, who produced 17 goals and 13 assists for 30 points in 71 games. While Luke Evangelista should be accounted for and accredited for his 56 points, composed of 12 goals and 44 assists in 81 games, this analysis is focused on Nashville’s overdependency on aging goalscorers such as O'Reilly to carry their offensive production.
The Future
With O’Reilly serving as their only clear-cut top-six center and, at this point, their only first-line center, the Predators should look to the draft to find a potential solution due to the free agent market being a little dry this year. Some intriguing prospects in this year’s top-10 are Boston University’s Tynan Lawrence and Djurgårdens IF’s Viggo Bjorck. The main obstacle holding Nashville back from acquiring one of these two centermen is that they’re both expected to be taken above the 10th overall pick, which Nashville currently has.
Tynan Lawrence, during his first year with the Muskegon Lumberjacks in 2024-2025, produced 25 goals and 29 assists for 54 points in 56 games played. During the 2025-2026 season, Lawrence put up 10 goals and 7 assists for 17 points in 13 games played. Lawrence sustained a lower body injury at the start of the season and then suffered a broken foot and high ankle sprain after transferring to Boston University.
The 6’0” center is considered a relentless playmaker and fore-checker as well as a prototypical two-way center. As a result, his profile makes him an ideal candidate for Nashville’s plans for the future of their center corps.
Viggo Bjorck is another fascinating prospect for Nashville, as the young forward has performed adequately in Sweden’s top league, the SHL, at his young age. The 18-year-old center posted 6 goals and 9 assists for 15 points in 42 games played. While this data seems to lean against him, it should also serve as a reminder that the SHL is a professional league, similar in comparison to the NHL, filled with experienced and much older players, in which Bjorck managed to perform valiantly. Bjorck, however, dominated at the World Juniors, where he posted 7 goals and 12 assists for 19 points in 17 games.
Bjorck is a 5’8” puck handling playmaker, considered a cerebral tactician by various scouts. There is no doubt that should Nashville be so lucky to have him fall to 10th overall, he would be an instrumental piece in their path towards competitiveness.
What these two players share with O’Reilly is their ability to contribute at the center position with their two-way game. The Predators will need one of them if they are looking to fix at least one gaping hole in their lineup. An interesting idea to consider is that if one of them is drafted by Nashville, they will have the opportunity to learn behind one of the two best two-way centers in the game, such as an experienced veteran in O’Reilly. While his tenure as a Predator was impactful, it would be wise for the Predators to look towards the future rather than waiting for Father Time to catch up to them.
