The Nashville Predators announced today their roster for the 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase, held from Sept. 15-18 at Hertz Arena in Estero, Fla., home of the Florida Panthers ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades.
There will be plenty of familiar faces on Nashville’s roster, including eight players who suited up for the Predators and/or the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals in 2022-23. However, the roster will also feature 15 prospects, draft picks and invitees who are not as well known – at least not yet.
Four players on Nashville’s rookie roster – forwards Luke Evangelista and Egor Afanasyev, defenseman Spencer Stastney and goaltender Yaroslav Askarov – suited up for the Preds last season and have at least one game of NHL experience. Meanwhile, five players – forwards Kalan Lind, Joey Willis and Austin Roest, and defensemen Tanner Molendyk and Dylan MacKinnon – were selected by the Preds in the 2023 NHL Draft in June and will be first-time participants in the Southeast Rookie Showcase.
Showcase “veterans” Evangelista and Afanasyev will lead the forward group on this year’s roster, along with returning participants Navrin Mutter, Zachary L’Heureux and Jachym Kondelik. They will be joined by Joakim Kemell, Nashville’s first-round pick (17th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft, who will be making his first appearance at the Southeast Rookie Showcase after leading both the Admirals and all AHL rookies with eight goals in his first Calder Cup Playoffs in 2022-23.
Another forward prospect making his highly anticipated Rookie Showcase debut is Fedor Svechkov, who signed a three-year, entry-level contract with Nashville on May 5. Originally drafted by Nashville in the first round (19th overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft, Svechkov split the 2022-23 season between three leagues in Russia and had been training with the Predators AHL affiliate in Milwaukee for several weeks before arriving in Nashville this summer.
Another newcomer to Preds rookie camp is left winger Reid Schaefer, whom the Predators acquired from the Edmonton Oilers at the 2023 NHL deadline along with defenseman Tyson Barrie, a first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft – which Nashville used to select Molendyk – and a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Rounding out the forward group is Kevin Wall, a Penn State product who signed a two-year AHL contract with Milwaukee on August 18, and Jack O’Brien, a non-roster invitee who put up 59 points (12g-47a) last season for the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks.
This year’s roster includes a number of familiar faces on the blue line, with Stastney, Jack Matier, Adam Wilsby, Graham Sward and Luke Prokop returning this year. Wilsby skated in his first full season with Milwaukee in 2022-23, while Matier, Sward and Prokop were assigned to their respective junior teams following last year’s rookie camp.
Between the pipes, Askarov is joined by Gustavs Grigals, a former collegiate goaltender who played for both UMass Lowell and Alaska-Fairbanks and recently signed his first professional contract with Milwaukee through the 2023-24 season. Rounding out the goaltending group is Austin Elliott, a non-roster invitee from the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades.
The first puck drops in Florida on Friday, Sept. 15. Click here for the full rookie camp roster, and see below for the 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase schedule:
Friday, Sept. 15 @ 3 p.m. CT - Predators vs. Lightning, Hertz Arena (Estero, Fla.)
Saturday, Sept. 16 @ 5 p.m. CT - Predators vs. Panthers, Hertz Arena (Estero, Fla.)
Sunday, Sept. 17 - Day Off
Monday, Sept. 18 @ 9 a.m. CT - Predators vs. Hurricanes, Hertz Arena (Estero, Fla.)
