Is it October yet?
Unfortunately, no, but we're here to help pass the time. From Aug. 8 to Sept. 1, The Hockey News Nashville Predators will be counting down 24 players in 24 days, profiling every current or potentially rostered player.
Today's player profile is forward Jonathan Marchessault.
24 Nashville Predators in 24 days series
As an NHL prospect
From Cap-Rouge, Quebec, Marchessault spent his four seasons with the Quebec Remparts in the QMJHL.
playing in 254 regular-season games from 2007 to 2011, scoring 98 goals and 239 points. In his final junior season, 2010-11, he scored 40 goals and 55 assists for 95 points in 68 games. He was a First-Team All-Star that season.
In the postseason, he played 52 games, recording 54 points. The Remparts' best finish in Marchessault's time with the team was the 2011 playoffs, where they got as far as league semifinals, losing to Gatineau in seven games.
Professional career
Marchessault went undrafted, signing with the Connecticut Whale, the New York Rangers' AHL affiliate at the time, in 2011. During the 2011-12 season, Marchessault scored 64 points in 76 games and was named to the AHL All-Star Game.
The following season, Marchessault signed an entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, playing in two games during the season. He spent nearly the entirety of the season with the Springfield Falcons, scoring 67 points in 74 games and earning a second straight AHL All-Star Game bid.
Marchessault returned to Springfield for the 2013-14 season, playing in 56 games and scoring 41 points before he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning at the deadline. He'd finish the season with the Syracuse Crunch, scoring 15 points in 21 games.
The following season, he played two games in Tampa, scoring his first NHL goal and earning a point in each contest. Marchessault played 68 games with the Crunch, scoring 67 points and earning the third AHL All-Star Game bid of his career.
The 2015-16 season was when Marchessault began to see more NHL minutes. He played 47 games with the Lightning, scoring 18 points. That offseason, he signed as a free agent with the Florida Panthers and followed with a 51-point season in 2016-17.
Marchessault moved again in the 2017 offseason, as he was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights eighth overall in the Expansion Draft. The move to Vegas would end up skyrocketing Marchessault's stock as a player in the league.
In seven seasons with the Golden Knights, Marchessault played in 514 games, recording 193 goals and 225 assists for 418 points. In his first season with the Golden Knights, he recorded a career high of 75 points in 77 games.
During the 2023-24 season, Marchessault scored a career-best 42 goals. And that's only his regular-season stats.
In the playoffs, Marchessault recorded 36 goals and 39 assists for 75 points in 95 playoff games in six postseason appearances, which included the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, 2021 Western Conference Finals, 2021 Stanley Cup Semifinals and the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.
In 2023, Marchessault won the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smyth Trophy, scoring 25 points in 22 games as the Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers in five games.
During the 2024 offseason, Marchessault became a free agent after the Golden Knights couldn't settle on a new contract. He'd sign a five-year, $27.5 million deal with the Nashville Predators.
Marchessault saw a 13-point dip from the previous year during the 2024-25 season, scoring 56 points in 78 games.
What role will he play this season?
The Predators are likely expecting Marchessault to stay consistent.
56 points in 78 games isn't bad considering the Predators were the worst scoring team in the NHL, but it's the whole "what if" of it all and how good Marchessault would've been last season if the Predators had a decent team.
This is still a player in the prime of his career and last season put some fog over that. The Predators have him on a long contract, which will expire when he is 38 years old, but he's a late bloomer who's still playing very well.
It's worth noting that since 2021, he has had fewer than 55 points in a season, peaking at 66 points in 76 games during the 2021-22 season. Funnily enough, the Golden Knights had missed the playoffs that season.
Marchessault was a player who didn't take a huge dive last year and should be thrown into that first line mix. Alongside Ryan O'Reilly and Filip Forsberg, two other players who were also positives coming out of last season, this is the line that should lead the Predators' offensive charge.
The Predators wanted a scorer when they signed Marchessault and considering last year's situation, they got one. Establishing consistency across the entire roster will enable Marchessault's game to truly flourish.