The 2026-2027 NHL season could give Predators fans one more shot at a handful of the game’s biggest names before the curtain starts to fall.
That’s the reality of a schedule that guarantees every team gets a home-and-home with the rest of the league. Usually, that’s just a nice bonus. This time, it could be the difference between seeing some all-time greats in person again or missing them for good.
The headliners are obvious. Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin all could be skating through what may be their final NHL season.
Ovechkin, the league’s all-time goals leader, will be 41. Crosby, who is 7th all-time in points, will be 39.
Malkin, 23rd all-time in points, will be 40.
Ovechkin and the Capitals are set to visit Nashville on October 29th, 2026. He enters with 929 career NHL goals, and if he decides to push toward 1000, that would require at least two more seasons. This year will help shape that decision, and Predators fans may catch him either flying out of the gate or still searching for his rhythm.
He’s also had plenty of success against Nashville already. Ovechkin has scored 20 goals against the Predators, and he has found the net against them every season since 2018-2019. In other words, there’s a pretty good chance he adds to that total.
The other must-see date comes when Pittsburgh arrives on November 21st for a Saturday 5 pm game. Crosby and Malkin have spent nearly two decades as one of the NHL’s most dangerous duos, piling up 3 Art Ross Trophies, 3 Hart Trophies, 3 Conn Smythe Trophies and 4 Ted Lindsey Awards between them. Both are also on the NHL’s top 100 players of all time list.
Their run helped save hockey in Pittsburgh, and it also stands as the group that kept Nashville from its only Stanley Cup chance so far. For Predators fans, this is one more opportunity to see them in person - and, if they’re feeling it, let the boos fly.
And it’s not just those three. Corey Perry, Kris Letang, Brad Marchand and Brent Burns are among the other veteran names coming through town. With the league’s changing of the guard in full swing, this season offers a chance to watch a strong Predators team line up against a collection of players who could end up in the Hall of Fame one day.
In Other News...
Would Predators Fans Really Make This Franchise Shifting Swap
A fan-made trade concept has been making the rounds online, and it has at least enough hockey logic behind it to get people talking. The idea would send Morgan Rielly to Nashville in exchange for Steven Stamkos, a swap that would force both clubs to think hard about fit, timing and what each player still means to his current roster.
For the Predators, the appeal is obvious on paper: Rielly would give them a chance to reshape the blue line with a top defenseman, while Stamkos could become the kind of move that makes sense only if the timelines and contract situation line up. The wrinkle is that both players carry no-move clauses, and the cap math is close enough to work, which is why the thought experiment has lingered even without any real indication the teams are actually discussing it. [Read more 🡒]