Ice hockey may not be top of mind with the temperatures in Nashville forecast to flirt with 100 degrees this week, but has there ever been more anticipation surrounding a Predators Development Camp?
Well, with five first-round picks in the last two years all expected to be in attendance - plus a slew of other participants who make up one of the top prospect pools in the NHL - perhaps not.
The annual summertime event is back this week with the Preds inviting 31 skaters and six goaltenders to the Music City for a stretch of on-ice practices, off-ice workouts and teachings, plus the annual Future Stars Game, presented by Ticketmaster, on July 3 to culminate what should be one inspiring look at the future of the franchise.
A full roster for Preds Development Camp is now available, and there will be plenty of prospects to keep an eye on.
So, with practices and scrimmages set to take place Monday through Friday this week, what better way to beat the heat than to become acclimated with the kids who are hoping to become household names in due time?
Here’s who to watch for at Preds Development Camp:
The New First-Rounders:
The Predators entered the 2026 NHL Draft scheduled to make just one pick in the first round. Instead, they came home with two.
Forward Wyatt Cullen - who spent time growing up in Nashville with his father, Matt, having played for the Preds from 2013-15 - heard his name called at No. 10 overall, an emotional moment for the entire Cullen family.
“In his case, we feel there’s an extremely high ceiling with him, and that’s always what we’re trying to target,” Preds Assistant General Manager/Director of Scouting Jeff Kealty said of Cullen. “[He is] certainly an exciting player to add to the organization. He’s a guy who we talked a lot about and anticipated that he could be there [at No. 10 overall]. Going into [Friday], we knew we’d be pleased if he was the guy we ended up with.”
Then, as Round One was coming to a close, the Predators traded up to snag pick No. 31 and select defenseman Tommy Bleyl, a player they simply didn’t want to pass on.
“The foundation that he has with his skating – it’s the agility and the escapeability, probably even more so than the flat speed,” Kealty said of Bleyl. “He’s got great edges. In the highlights you see, it’s him carrying the puck up the ice and dodging checkers. He’s never going to be the biggest guy, but that being said, defensively he’s very sound as well with his positioning and his stick. He’s a talented but efficient player.”
Both Cullen and Bleyl flew to Nashville on Saturday and will be ready to go for Monday’s first on-ice practice at Centennial Ice Rink beginning at 3:15 p.m. CT.
The 2025 First-Rounders:
Cullen and Bleyl won’t be the only highly-touted prospects in Tennessee this week. Far from it, actually.
Brady Martin, the fifth-overall pick of the 2025 NHL Draft, made the Nashville roster out of training camp last October and made his debut on Opening Night. Although he went back to captain his junior club, the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL, Martin’s taste of the NHL - combined with a stint in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals at the end of the season - was instrumental in his development.
Now, the 19-year-old centerman is ready for his second Dev Camp and to show how his game has grown in the last calendar year.
Not to be outdone, defenseman Cameron Reid and forward Ryker Lee - selected at Nos. 21 and 26 overall, respectively, in 2025 - both had themselves impressive campaigns.
Reid captained the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers to both an OHL Championship and Memorial Cup Championship in recent months, and Lee seemingly scored a highlight-reel goal every week while skating for Michigan State.
Needless to say, the Preds remain high on all three of last year’s first-rounders, and there will be plenty to see from the trio in the days ahead.
The Class of 2026:
Cullen and Bleyl will carry the name recognition into the week, but the Predators will also get their first look at the remaining six draftees who were selected by Nashville on Saturday in Buffalo.
Goaltender Dmitri Borichev (Rd. 3, 70th overall), defenseman Jakub Floris (Rd. 4, 106th overall), forward Justin Graf (Rd. 4, 118th overall), forward Philip Hemmyr (Rd. 5, 138th overall), defenseman Benjamin Cossette Ayoette (Rd. 6, 179th overall) and forward Charlie Puglisi (Rd. 7, 202nd overall) are all on the Development Camp roster and are expected to be in attendance for this week’s festivities.
Borichev was the top-ranked international goaltender by NHL Central Central Scouting, and Justin Graf’s brother, Collin, was a previous Preds Development Camp attendee who now plays for San Jose.
Just because they weren’t selected in the first round doesn’t mean any of these players won’t get a shot at a roster spot someday, and they’ll be eager to make a great first impression with their first NHL organization.
Knocking on the Door:
Nashville’s first-rounder in 2024, forward Egor Surin, is only getting better. He won another Gagarin Cup as a KHL champion last season, and Kealty said back in the spring he believes Surin could already be NHL ready. Surin is under contract for one more season in the KHL, but he’ll attend camp once again this week, and the Preds are looking forward to seeing him take the next step in his development.
Forward Aiden Fink, who was David Poile’s final draft pick as a general manager back in 2023, impressed with Milwaukee last season and received a call-up to Nashville in April. Although he has yet to make his NHL debut, Fink is now one of the veteran players of the Development Camp roster and could find himself skating for the Preds sooner than later.
Forward Felix Nilsson signed his three-year entry-level contract with the Preds in May after leading his SHL team in points last season. Selected by Nashville in the second round of the 2023 NHL Draft, Nilsson is one to watch who could also enter the NHL conversation sometime next season.
The Week Ahead:
In addition to the names mentioned above, defensemen Viggo Gustafsson, Jacob Rombach and Alex Huang, forward Teddy Stiga and goaltender Jack Ivankovic are just a few more who help to make Nashville’s prospect pool an impressive group.
They’ll all be on the ice this week with a full schedule available here.
So, enjoy the look at Nashville’s future. You’ll soon see why the Preds are so optimistic for what’s to come.
“I think we're in a really good spot,” Kealty said of the prospects. “It’s a process, but if you go back the last two years, we've had multiple picks in the early rounds, multiple first-round picks…and we feel like we've really been able to build it up here. There’s still work to be done, but with adding the high-end guys that we did [in this year’s Draft]…we feel like we’re in a good spot.”
