After a 4-3 overtime loss on Saturday against the Minnesota Wild, the Nashville Predators recouped during an optional practice on Tuesday. A familiar face was missing from the rink, but one resurfaced for the first time since early December.
The Predators announced as the players were taking the ice that defenseman Dante Fabbro would miss the next 2-3 weeks with an upper-body injury after playing 3:28 against the Wild on Sunday.
As a result, defenseman Spencer Stastney is back with the Predators after playing his last 35 games with the Milwaukee Admirals picking up 16 points. With the chance to play in the NHL again, Stastney hopes he continues to leave a lasting impression.
“It’s the same old thing for me, being quick, being smart, and being simple,” Stastney said. “Keep on being reliable on the back end. Happy to be back but also I’ve had a great season, we’re doing really well in Milwaukee.”
Stastney said he’s had some ups and downs in his game and got to live out the longest winning streaks in his life with the Admirals to begin the 2024 calendar year. Milwaukee won 19 in a row and thinking back to his youth hockey days, said he’d never won that many consecutive games.
Now, with one more year left on his current contract, Stastney is hoping to leave a lasting impression. This summer he’ll be a restricted free agent with the opportunity to sign another contract with Nashville.
“Yeah, I think so. I know this team wants to win and they got some key pieces at the deadline,” Stastney said of staking his claim in Nashville. “Whatever the need from me and however I can help I’m going to be happy to do that. I’m excited to be here and hopefully be part of something special.”
Stastney said he looked a little at what Nashville was doing around the trade deadline last Friday but his mind was more trying to win more games with the Admirals.
Head coach Andrew Brunette is looking for more of what Stastney brought to the table last time he was with the Predators and he holds the same expectation with his team.
Head coach Andrew Brunette behind the bench for Nashville on March 9, 2024, taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“He’s an elite skater and a really good defender, I’m looking forward to seeing him,” Brunette said after practice on Tuesday.
As the Predators go back on the road they’ll continue to see what life is like with new forwards Anthony Beauvillier and Jason Zucker on the team.
Brunette is confident they’ll catch on to the system whereas he said his team has taken most of the season to dial in the new system.
“It’s taken a lot of our guys a lot of the year to kind of figure out the pace I expect, the relentlessness I expect, I think they’ll get it cause they’re both good skaters,” Brunette said.
Zucker has played under Brunette before in Minnesota while Beauvillier worked with general manager Barry Trotz on the New York Islanders. The time to adjust will be there but it shouldn’t take too long for the duo to catch on.”
With the new additions playing forward Cody Glass has been the odd man out for the last two games. A decision that came with a tough conversation but one Brunette feels is best for the group at this time.
“He got going again for a little bit, but a little bit of the inconsistencies that have been there,” Brunette said of Glass. “He’s still not out of the picture, he’s going to get an opportunity just like we’ve talked about with our young guys all year. Novak and Evangelista got it going and now we need Cody to bring the same thing every night. We can’t just have a really good game or a couple of bad games, but we have to keep building his game. He has a great attitude and we’ll get him better.”
Stay tuned for puck drop in Winnipeg at 6:30 p.m. and then Nashville visits the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night at 9 p.m.
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Top photo courtesy of Nashville Predators
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