Fedor Svechkov was supposed to be the bridge.
Not the final answer at center for the Nashville Predators — that role is still reserved for a future star like Brady Martin — but the connector between eras. The internally developed, cost-controlled, two-way pivot who could slide into a top-six role and give the Predators something they’ve been chasing for years: stability down the middle beyond Ryan O’Reilly.
Halfway through the 2025-26 season, that vision hasn’t materialized.
Svechkov sits with just two goals, seven assists, and a minus-4 rating through 41 games. Those numbers don’t merely fall short of expectations — they highlight how far away he currently is from being the player Nashville hoped he’d become this year.
Head coach Andrew Brunette acknowledged as much this week, admitting there “have been conversations” about sending Svechkov to AHL Milwaukee to get his game back. The only thing keeping that from happening, it seems, is that every so often Svechkov flashes. A strong shift. A clever read. A game like Thursday against the New York Islanders.
“Hopefully, he can stack a couple games here,” Brunette said.
That line captures both the optimism and the problem. At this point, Svechkov’s season is defined by moments instead of momentum. The flashes are real — the IQ, the anticipation, the ability to process the game at speed — but they’re isolated. They don’t carry over shift to shift, period to period, night to night. For a player penciled in as a future top-six center, that inconsistency is a red flag.
Nashville didn’t just need Svechkov to survive in the NHL this season. They needed him to claim space. They needed him to look like a long-term answer — a young center who could take pressure off O’Reilly, who could allow the Predators to build lines with intention instead of improvisation. Instead, the staff is openly weighing whether he’d benefit more from AHL minutes than NHL ones.
And that brings the organization’s center problem into sharp focus. Right now, the Predators’ NHL center depth consists of O’Reilly, Svechkov and a pair of veterans on expiring contracts in Erik Haula and Michael McCarron. That’s it.
O’Reilly remains a stabilizing force, but he turns 35 next month and cannot be the structural pillar forever. Haula and McCarron may not be back at all. Svechkov was supposed to be the next piece in that chain — the young, ascending center who made the future make sense.
Instead, Nashville is staring at the same void it’s been trying to fill for years.
The top center prospect in the system, Brady Martin, is exciting — but he’s also likely at least two seasons away from being an NHL impact player. That leaves a massive gap between what the Predators need now and what help is realistically coming. Svechkov was meant to narrow that gap, but his struggles have widened it.
This isn’t an indictment of Svechkov’s long-term future. He’s still young. Development is not linear. Plenty of NHL centers stumble before they settle. But the 2025-26 season has made one thing painfully clear: Nashville built its center outlook on hope, not certainty.
And hope is fragile.
Every time Svechkov disappears for a week, every time the coaching staff wonders whether Milwaukee is the better place for him, every time O’Reilly is forced to shoulder more than a 34-year-old should — the Predators are reminded that their most important position remains unsettled.
Svechkov was supposed to be the bridge. Right now, he looks more like a question mark. And until that changes, the Predators’ biggest organizational flaw isn’t on the wings, or the blue line, or even in net. It’s down the middle — where the future still hasn’t arrived.
