Nick Perbix is perfectly fine if no one notices he was even on the ice over the course of a game.
In a role like his, the 6-foot-4 defenseman is more concerned with keeping the puck out of his own net instead of depositing said puck into the net of the opposition. Simply put, skating under the radar night in and night out is the goal.
That was the idea when the Predators signed Perbix to a two-year contract as free agency opened last summer, and thus far, the 27-year-old native of Elk River, Minn., has come exactly as advertised.
“He’s been really solid,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said of Perbix following Monday’s practice. “Especially in his first five games, I thought he's been really good. I think him and [his defense partner] Brady [Skjei] have been great. They seem to feed off each other. Nick's got a kind of a stabilizing personality on the ice and off the ice, I think, and it fits in good with Brady. So, they've been really good. We've asked some tough assignments with [defenseman Nic Hague] out [due to injury] and taking on some big minutes against the best players every night. They've done a great job.”
As much as Perbix prefers to go unnoticed, his name appeared on the scoresheet in consecutive games last week when he potted his first two goals of the season, one in Toronto, the other in Montreal. The tally against the Canadiens came off a 2-on-1 that saw him elect to hold onto the puck and neatly place a shot into the twine to give Nashville a lead at the time.
An offensive push like that isn’t one Perbix is necessarily seeking out, but if the opportunity presents itself, he’s more than willing to take his chance.
“It’s not like I'm going out every shift with my singular goal to score, because, to be fully transparent, that’s not my job,” Perbix said. “My job is to keep the puck out of the net. But I'm never afraid to shy away from it. Obviously, I play with a lot of guys on the ice that have a lot of skills, so it will put you in great opportunities. I guess I was able to capitalize a couple times.”
Not one to seek the spotlight off the ice either, Perbix was quick to complement Skjei, the teammate he’s been paired with since the very first practice of training camp in September. The partnership seemed to be a natural fit on paper, and so far, there’s been no reason to separate the two.
“I feel good,” Perbix said of his game. “I mean, it helps playing with a guy like Brady. We’re building our chemistry, and we’ve been together in camp since day one, so that definitely helps just coming to a new team, to have consistency with your D partner. That's helped a lot. Then with him, just as a player, I've said it multiple times, but he's just super easy to play with, super easy to read off of, great communicator; we seem to have pretty good chemistry, and just looking to build that.”
“I think just how steady he is,” Skjei said of what has impressed him most about Perbix’s game. “I think that's a huge thing for defensemen. Obviously, he's scored some goals, but seems like he's making the right play at the right time, and it's nice. He's been in the League for a little bit, so he knows how to manage the game as a defenseman. That's very important. He’s just stepped in and has taken the system and all that in, and it's been really good for us.”
A right-handed shot, Perbix completed his third full NHL season in 2024-25 with Tampa Bay and potted a career-high six goals and to go along with 19 points and a plus-8 rating in 74 appearances. A 2017 sixth-round draft pick of the Lightning, Perbix averaged 14:41 of ice time last season, blocked 67 shots and dished out 50 hits.
All 220 of his NHL games before this season came in Tampa Bay while recording 63 points (13g-50a) over that span. An alumnus of St. Cloud State, the Minnesota native has also represented the United States at the 2022 Winter Olympics and the 2023 World Championship.
The sample size in the current campaign is small - the Preds have played just six games thus far in 2025-26 - but Perbix is already averaging almost 20 minutes of ice time per night, at least three to four minutes greater than his previous high. He also possesses the top plus-minus rating on the team, and as others have said, that calm, steady presence has helped Nashville’s defense corps to a number of early season successes.
The Perbix and Skjei pairing has plenty to do with that defensive prowess, and even though they’ve barely played together in the grand scheme of things, initial reviews are favorable.
“I think the familiarity is still getting there, getting better, and that familiarity will keep growing,” Skjei said of the pair. “I think if you have a good read, like I said, you kind of can manage the game where we both know when we're out there against the team's top line, and kind of know when to take chances and when not to take chances. So, I think that's important as a D-pair, and I think we’re both on the same page when it comes to that.”
Perbix would agree, and while he doesn’t mind playing the role of goal scorer on occasion, he’d much prefer to go about his business without anything too exciting taking place.
So, the next time you watch the Predators play, you may have to go out of your way to notice No. 48 - but that’s exactly how he prefers things.
“I [scored] a couple goals, and that’s not very typical, especially in that short of a span of games,” Perbix smiled. “But honestly, a lot of times, if I leave a game and someone were to tell me that they didn't notice me one time out there, I'd say, ‘That's a pretty darn good game.’ My number one job is to help keep the puck out of our net, and if you didn't notice me, then I did a pretty good job of that.”
