Stamkos says coping with Predators' struggles has been 'difficult'

BOSTON -- When Steven Stamkos thought about the change he'd be making this season, he anticipated some bumps. He and his family were moving on from the only home they'd ever known, in Tampa, Florida, and setting out for a new life in Nashville, and there were bound to be growing pains.

But Stamkos assumed those bumps would be on the family side, with new schools and new sports and new friends. The hockey, he thought, would be the easy part.

It has been exactly the opposite.

"You know the saying, 'Hope for the best, plan for the worst'?" Stamkos said Tuesday. "We weren't planning for this being the worst. You're hoping that you're a team that can compete for the Stanley Cup. Worst-case scenario, you're a team that's in the mix. And when it's gone this far down, it's difficult."

As the NHL Trade Deadline on Friday at 3 p.m. ET approaches, the Nashville Predators are not adding pieces, not gearing up, not preparing for what they had all anticipated would be a long run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, maybe even with a chance at the Final and the Stanley Cup.

Instead, this week, the Predators and Stamkos enter the final quarter of the season playing out the string. With a record of 22-32-7, they have 51 points, the third-fewest in the NHL, ahead only of the San Jose Sharks (43) and Chicago Blackhawks (45). They are 16 points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

"As a player you want two things: You want team success and you want to feel like you're contributing towards that success," Stamkos said. "This year hasn't worked out in both degrees. So, it's certainly been difficult, especially with some of the excitement that we had coming into this season for the guys that were here last year to build on the success that they had. Here we are today and [it's] certainly not, I don't think, what anyone thought.

"If we were not in a playoff spot but in the mix, it's different. But when you're in the position we're at, it's a tough pill to swallow and certainly not what any of us expected."

And even after 60 games, they're still not quite sure what got them here.

"I think that's the question we ask ourselves every day, when we're at the rink, when we're together for dinner, it's 'what went wrong' and 'can we try to build on something here?'" Stamkos said. "That's the difficult thing. I think you look back, there were certain areas that haven't clicked or haven't worked as much as we were hoping.

"You put some new guys into a group, so much excitement, a lot of hope, right? You hope that things can work out. And it hasn't."

The Predators bet big on themselves in the offseason, signing free agents Stamkos (four years, $8 million average annual value), Jonathan Marchessault (five years, $5.5 million AAV) and defenseman Brady Skjei (seven years, $7 million AAV).

They were hoping it would result in a team that could improve on last season, which ended with a six-game loss to the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference First Round. Instead, the Predators started poorly and simply never recovered, losing their first five games of the season. On Dec. 10, they were 7-16-6 after an eight-game skid (0-5-3).

They have been left with few wins and perhaps fewer answers.

"It's tough," Stamkos said. "Obviously if we had a concrete answer, I think we'd try to figure some things out. Certainly the start of the season wasn't ideal, and then we just never recovered and then it snowballs and you get in a position where before you know it, you're on the outside looking in. It's difficult."

As the season has gone on and the playoffs have gotten further away, Stamkos and his teammates have had to figure out how not to wallow, how not to beat themselves up day after day, how to separate.

"That's the challenge, right?" Stamkos said. "You're human. You feel those emotions. It's tough to just leave them at the rink. They affect your everyday life. It's like anyone: If your job's going well, you're coming home in a good mood and you're feeling good and you just try not to let your feelings affect the ones around you. Because it's tough.

"We're so competitive as athletes in this room that when things aren't going the way you want, it's tough to leave those thoughts and feelings. It's been a difficult year in that regard. And I think it's more difficult when you have the hope that we did in the offseason, to wrap your head around what this season has become and that's the challenge every day, whether you're a young guy or you're an older guy that's been around for a long time."

Stamkos didn't want to make this move. Up until the final moments, until July 1 of last year, he still believed that he would find a way to return to the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he played the first 16 seasons of his NHL career. It didn't happen.

So, he moved on to a team that he thought would be a winner, where he could fit in the dressing room, provide leadership and build on a season when he scored 40 goals in 79 games, finishing 2023-24 with 81 points. Instead, he has 36 points (18 goals, 18 assists) in 61 games this season, a rate of 0.59 points per game, which would be the lowest since his rookie season in 2008-09 (0.58).

"I think for 'Stammer,' you never question his effort, you never question his care," Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. "I'm sure it's extremely hard going through this, especially with the pride that he has a player and as a leader, but I think he's handled himself as a true professional. He shows up every day, works really hard, even when things aren't going the best for him individually, he's stayed the course. he's been a leader to our young guys. He's done a lot of good things. We'll get him going here again."

Part of what has been so devastating for Stamkos, for the Predators, was the hope with which they entered the season. It was the expectations, internally and externally.

None of them have been met.

The Predators have already made a number of trades, starting with sending forward Philip Tomasino to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 25, and goalie Scott Wedgewood to the Colorado Avalanche five days later. On Saturday, they traded forward Gustav Nyquist to the Minnesota Wild.

There may be more before Friday.

It means the Predators lineup will be rife with youngsters over the final stretch of the season, ones trying to find their way and build their status for next season. They're not alone. Stamkos, 17 years into his career, is doing the same.

It's hard to look much further than that, hard to think about next season and starting fresh and what could happen. They still have 20-plus games to play. They still have to lace up their skates and find, somehow, some positives.

"We can't be -- and I've been guilty of it -- you can't be defeated," Stamkos said. "We all realize the position that we're in. And I have to do a better job of it and we all have to do a better job collectively of playing for something. That's what we'll look to do these last 20 games."