Predators Confident They'll Add a "Really Good Player" with Tenth Overall Pick
Jeff Kealty and Tom Nolan talked Nashville prospects, the upcoming draft class, and the franchise's draft philosophy.
As the Nashville Predators continue their General Manger search, the scouting department remains business as usual ahead of the 2026 NHL Draft.
“We’ve tried to operate as we always have,” Assistant GM and Director of Scouting Jeff Kealty said.
“This week and the coming weeks leading up to the draft, we’re trying to just look straight ahead and do the best we can with it. No matter who the GM is here, [the draft] is going to make a large impact on the organization going forward.”
Kealty and Chief Amateur Scout Tom Nolan spoke to the media Wednesday about the Predators prospect pool, this year’s draft class, and what Nashville is weighing as they work on their final draft rankings.
Prospect Pool
The Predators have cashed in on a boon of picks in recent years, and the players they’ve selected are trending in the right direction. Nashville was ranked the fifth best prospect pool by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic last month.
The fan base is starting to glimpse those picks paying off. Luke Evangelista (2020) became a regular in the top six this season. Matthew Wood, drafted fifteenth overall by the Predators in 2023, played 71 NHL games and recorded 17 goals and 30 points in his first full NHL season.
After a busy trade deadline, players like Zachary L’Heureux, Ryan Ufko, and Fedor Svechkov (all 2021 picks) stepped into bigger roles vacated by trades.
“When you see what happened at the end this past season, I think it was exciting for the future,” Kealty said.
“All these young players that came up and helped keep us in the playoff race, and they were playing competitive games right down to the very end.”
Other recent draft picks have progressed in their respective leagues. Yegor Surin (2024 first round pick) had a strong season in the KHL. Although Surin still has one year remaining on his contract with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, Kealty envisions the 19-year-old forward being ready to jump in at the NHL level when the time comes.
“I think he could play in the NHL right now with the way he…contributes over there in a really good league, in a men’s league,” Kealty said.
“The attributes that he has will translate right away over here.”
Last year’s three first round picks have also impressed in their respective seasons. After playing three games with the Preds to start the season, fifth overall pick Brady Martin returned to the Soo Greyhounds. An injury at the World Juniors kept him out for most of the second half of the season, but when healthy, Martin looks like he could be a key piece for the Predators down the line.
Fresh off of a series sweep in the OHL Championship, defenseman Cameron Reid affirmed Nashville’s assessment with the 2025 twenty-first pick. In 57 regular season games, Reid score 15 goals and 56 points. The Kitchener Rangers captain scored 2 goals and 14 points in his 18 postseason games. He and the Rangers are preparing for the Memorial Cup tournament later this month.
In his freshman season with Michigan State, Ryker Lee scored 15 goals and 30 points in 35 NCAA games. Nashville’s final first round pick in last year’s draft has been a lot of fun to follow this season.
“He’s our highlight reel guy,” Jeff Kealty said of Lee who had several goals make the rounds on social media this season.
Lee is the youngest player to make Team USA’s preliminary roster for the upcoming IIHF Men’s World Championship kicking off on Friday.
This Year’s Draft Class
While last year’s three first round picks are trending in the right direction, the Predators only have one chance to get it right in the first round come June. Nashville will be selecting tenth overall.
The scouting department is confident they can get a good player there.
“We feel [the draft] is really deep. We’re going to get a really good player,” Tom Nolan said.
“There may not be that McDavid or Crosby or that type of player - Celebrini - but there’s going to be some high end players that are going to help your organization for a long time.”
Four of last year’s seven draft picks for Nashville were defensemen, but this year’s talent could have the Predators looking at the blue line once again.
“It’s a very deep draft in the top fifteen for defensemen,” Nolan said.
“All of them bring a different type of skill set, but they all have size, really good skaters, so we’re hoping one of them can fall.”
“It is pretty deep this year with some D both right and lefty, so it’s a good situation to have, and we’ll see what things kind of fall.”
While confident they’ll get a good player with the tenth pick, the scouting department knows they are still searching for that elite franchise changing player.
“The biggest thing we need is the high, high end guys, and those guys are hard to come by,” Kealty said.
“We haven’t picked high in the draft. We did last year, but in general, we haven’t,” Kealty said. “We talk about upside a lot trying to find those types of guys.”
“It can come in the first round, but it can also come in a second round or the fifth round. It’s well documented that it can come in all areas of the draft.”
Weighing the Talent
Nashville’s draft philosophy remains the same regardless of round- select the best player available.
The scouts spend hundreds of hours watching these young players in leagues around the world. There are specific skills sets the scouting staff prioritizes.
Hockey sense, competitiveness, and hockey IQ are non-negotiables.
“Those are the things we talk about a lot,” Kealty shared.
“A lot of times those intangibles, non-negotiables, whatever you want to call it, they’re kind of ingrained. And you know, hockey IQ and competitiveness are tough things to put into people, so we try to identify whether they have that or not. That’s a big part of the evaluation process for us.”
Nashville needs to add speed as well.
“We got to get faster,” Nolan said. “I thnk that’s from…our coaches down, we got to get faster and we know that.”
Nashville uses the NHL Combine to give an overview of a player’s athleticism but also relies heavily on Predators strength and conditioning coach David Good for his insight as well.
“We really rely on out strength guy with Goody. He comes in and he gives us where he thinks this one player can go,” Nolan said.
“We want to see what type of athlete they are, and if they have that ability to put on muscle, put on explosiveness, stuff like that.”
Drafting isn’t an exact science. Projecting potential for 17 and 18-year olds is part wisdom, part wizardry. Seeing into the future is perhaps the toughest part of the scouting job.
“It’s just a hard aspect to tie into because they’re just so young, we don’t know where they’re going to go,” Nolan explained.
“The NFL Combine, they’re men already, you know? We definitely put a lot of work into it. We do a lot of homework in it.”
Plenty of time is spent learning about the player off ice as well.
Area scouts do a lot of background work on each potential pick, and character weighs heavily with the Predators organization. Teams spend time talking to the people who may know the players best.
“At the combine we find out a lot of it, but they talk to trainers, coaches, anyone they can talk to, even billet families.”
All of this research and work happen for potential first round picks and for players likely to go in later rounds. The Predators have a total of twelves picks in the seven rounds.
“It’s a good scenario to have,” Nolan said.
The NHL Draft will be held June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.
