Adam Vingan

avingan@tennessean.com

Having missed the opening week of training camp because of injury, Predators defenseman P.K. Subban practiced with his new teammates for the first time Friday. He'll make his debut Saturday in Nashville's preseason game against Tampa Bay at Bridgestone Arena.

"Not to mess any of the drills up," Subban jokingly said when asked what he aimed to do in his first practice. "Just trying to get into it and get a feel for it. It's unfortunate I had to take a couple days off, but (practice) is pretty standard now ... Looking forward to getting into a game."

During Friday's session, Predators coach Peter Laviolette partnered Subban with defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who also participated in his first practice after returning from the World Cup of Hockey. The two should be paired together Saturday.

"It's great having a partner like that," Subban said of Ekholm. "I've had some great partners in the past, but he's definitely right up there with the best that I've played with. I'm not sure exactly what the partners are going to be come the regular season. Those things can switch, but I'm happy to be playing with him. Training camp is going to be used for us to get a feeling for each other and build on that."

The only missing member of the Predators’ defense remains Roman Josi, whose World Cup run ended Thursday when Team Europe lost to Canada in the tournament final. Upon Josi's return next week, he could be paired with Ryan Ellis, who had several partners serving as placeholders during Friday's practice. Yannick Weber and Matt Carle continued working together.

Asked what he liked about Subban and Ekholm as a potential pair, Laviolette said it was too early to truly know.

“Honestly, I don’t know yet," Laviolette said. "It’s just one day of practice. They’ll play some exhibition games together and we’ll look at it. We’ll take a look at it when Roman comes back, too, and I’m sure we’ll be able to sort it out.”

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