{"id":815208,"date":"2026-08-16T05:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T05:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/815208\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T05:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T05:22:08","slug":"inside-look-at-nashville-predators-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/815208\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside look at Nashville Predators"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drury has advanced to at least the second round of the playoffs in each of his four NHL seasons with the Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes and is hoping for a deep run with the Predators.<\/p>\n

“It’s a really good mix of kind of some veteran guys that have been superstars in the League for a long time and then some young guys that kind of bring a lot of speed and energy and skill,” Drury said. “So, I know they’ve got the depth now, obviously an incredible goaltender (Juuse Saros<\/a>). It’s a group that I know is going to have some good expectations and I’m excited to be part of it.<\/p>\n

“I think bringing that hunger in the locker room will be big and I think (it’s) part of who I am as a competitive person and I love that aspect of the game, so hopefully I can bring that into a team that I’m sure already has a lot of it.”<\/p>\n

Nashville qualified for the playoffs in nine of 10 seasons from 2014-24. It made a splash two years ago signing Stamkos, Marchessault and defenseman Brady Skjei<\/a>\u00a0to long-term contracts, but it hasn’t gone according to plan. Stamkos had 27 goals and 53 points and was minus-36 in 2024-25. Marchessault had 56 points (21 goals, 35 assists) after scoring 42 goals the season before.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last season, Stamkos scored 42 goals, but Marchessault dipped to 31 points (12 goals, 19 assists), so additions were necessary. One of them, Bourque, could emerge as the No. 1 center by the Predators’ season opener at home against the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 1.<\/p>\n

“I played center my entire life except last year (with the Dallas Stars), so I’m looking forward to having a shot and show what I can do down the middle,” Bourque said. “I believe I’m a better player down the middle, so I know what I got to work on to be a good center in the NHL. I think I’ve always been a center, and I want to show that I can be a center again.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drury has advanced to at least the second round of the playoffs in each of his four NHL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-815208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}