Mark Borowiecki, Matt Benning Sign With Nashville Predators

The Nashville Predators have brought in a depth defenseman, signing Mark Borowiecki to a two-year contract. The deal is worth a total of $4MM, giving him a nice raise over the $1.2MM he made last season. GM David Poile released a statement:

One of our objectives at the start of free agency was to improve our depth at defense and Mark’s signing goes a long way toward accomplishing that. He adds an element of toughness that we were missing on the back end, as well as being a natural leader and strong penalty killer.

Not only will Borowiecki be manning the blue line for the Predators next season, but Matt Benning has also signed a deal with the team. Benning will get $2MM total over two years, giving the Predators another defenseman that can come in and out of the lineup.

The Predators still have the trio of Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm to eat up most of the ice time every night (along with Dante Fabbro), but have always used experienced pieces to round out their bottom-pairing. Last season it was Dan Hamhuis, Yannick Weber and Matt Irwin, but all three of those players are gone from the organization meaning they needed some new faces.

Borowiecki, a core member of the Ottawa Senators leadership group over the last several years, landed himself quite a nice little contract with the Predators. It always seemed like a perfect fit as a player who can provide leadership and physicality in limited minutes, but at $2MM he’ll have to play regularly.

After moving out money through the buyout of Kyle Turris and trade of Nick Bonino, the Predators still have several lineup spots to fill at forward and more than $11MM to do it.