Nashville - is this a lottery team?

[North Cole]

Preds seem to be at a crossroads. They haven’t committed to a rebuild but the roster doesn’t look like a playoff team. Their top 6 forwards are Forsberg, Granlund, Duchene, RyJo, Tolvanen & Kunin. Defense is super thin behind Josi & Ekholm.

what’s the plan here? Are they just holding on until Askarov arrives? Short of a bounceback season from several of their forwards that have been trending down the last years (Duchene, RyJo, Granlund, Tolvanen), it’s hard to see Nashville being a threat this year. Seems like a lottery team to me, but I’m curious what others think.

Well there's 16 teams in the lottery, so by definition if you miss the playoffs your a lottery team. If that's all your implying, then yes I think they could be a lottery team this year. If you mean will they be in the lottery for 1st OA, then I'd say no, they likely aren't a bottom 10 team.

Similar to CGY, they will be a bubble team IMO, which could land them in the lottery, but I don't think it qualifies them as a true lottery team where you expect them to be bottom 10 and have a shot at 1OA. The definition is a bit muddy since it seems to be used interchangeably.

Maybe this isn't a helpful answer.