Brady Martin
Martin is a training-camp story again: after making Nashville's opening-night roster as an 18-year-old last season only to be scratched and returned to junior after three games, the 2025 fifth overall pick is fighting for a roster spot for a second straight year and has looked good doing it.
Role
Per the Tennessean's Predators beat writer (reporting around Sept. 20-24, 2026) and NHL.com's preseason recaps, Martin scored the lone Nashville goal in the preseason opener against Tampa Bay on Sept. 20, 2026 (one goal on two shots in just over 17 minutes), assisted by fellow prospect Reid Schaefer, and was again involved in Nashville's rookie-heavy lineup for the Sept. 24 exhibition against Carolina. A Sept. 21 camp-lines report (NHL Game Day Lines via a secondary account) had him centering a Schaefer-Martin-Edstrom trio in a lower camp grouping rather than with the projected veteran top six, so as of that date he had not been slotted alongside players like Forsberg, Marchessault or O'Reilly for this season. No power-play unit assignment for him has been reported. These are camp and preseason observations only; none of it is a settled regular-season role, and the 84-game season has not started.
The Tennessean's beat reporting frames his chances of making the opening-night roster as 'strengthening' after his preseason showing, and floats that a move to wing, replacing winger Luke Evangelista (traded Sept. 1, 2026), could ease his defensive workload and get him into the lineup faster than staying at center.
He has already been through this exact script: last season he opened as an 18-year-old centering the Forsberg-O'Reilly line, was healthy scratched twice, and was sent back to the Soo Greyhounds after only three NHL games, so skeptics can point to a real recent precedent for him not sticking even after a promising camp.
Where analysts split
The live question in current coverage is positional and roster-related: whether Nashville uses Martin at center or shifts him to wing this season to replace the traded Evangelista, and whether that alignment is enough to actually make and hold an opening-night roster spot rather than repeat last season's quick return to junior.
Research confidence: reported. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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