Central Notes: Predators, Methot, Kostin

If the Predators are going to make any moves between now and the trade deadline, it will likely come in the form of adding help up front, notes Adam Vingan of The Tennessean.  The team is certainly set on the back end and they’re in good shape between the pipes as well.  With winger Filip Forsberg out for the next month or so with a fractured hand though, Nashville could certainly benefit from bringing in a top-six forward in the weeks to come.  The Preds find themselves with the ability to take on nearly $6MM today in salary (per CapFriendly), an amount that increases to more than $13MM by the trade deadline so they should be able to be involved in talks for the top wingers on the market without any concerns of having to offset contracts.

Elsewhere in the Central:

• The fact that Stars defenseman Marc Methot was a late scratch on Saturday shouldn’t be cause for concern. Head coach Ken Hitchcock told Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News that although the blueliner experienced some soreness in his knee following the warmup yesterday, he is expected to be ready to go following the conclusion of their bye week.  Methot had recently returned to the lineup after missing the previous 26 games with that knee issue.
• Blues prospect Klim Kostin indicated to Sport-Express’ Alexey Shevchenko (link in Russian) that the team told him that they would bring him up to the NHL at some point this season if he had a strong showing at the World Juniors. Kostin certainly lived up to his end of the bargain, recording five goals and three assists in just five games for Russia in the tournament.  His first season in North America hasn’t gone as well though with just 11 points (2-9-11) in 28 contests with AHL San Antonio.  The 18-year-old also stated that he had promises to be drafted by Tampa Bay (14th overall), Calgary (16th), and Boston (18th) but instead, he wound up falling to 31st overall where St. Louis picked him up.