Archives for May 2023

The offseason has arrived for all but the four teams that still have a shot at winning the Stanley Cup.  It’s time to examine what those eliminated squads will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Nashville.

The Predators came into the season hoping to continue their streak of eight straight playoff appearances (including the Qualifying Round in the bubble) but changed direction at the deadline, becoming one of the major sellers.  However, the unexpected happened and Nashville went on a run down the stretch, nearly pulling off the improbable comeback.  While David Poile did some heavy lifting at the deadline to set his successor up, incoming GM Barry Trotz (who officially takes over July 1st) will still have some work to do this summer.

Decide Hynes’ Future

After the season, Trotz indicated that he’d take some time to evaluate John Hynes and then decide on the future of his head coach.  That was more than a month ago and there hasn’t been any sort of confirmation one way or the other.  Hynes does have one year left on his contract but teams are often hesitant to have their coach behind the bench in a ‘lame duck’ situation.  It’s possible that they work out another short-term extension (not unlike the two-year deal he’s currently on) to avoid that situation.

Technically, Trotz can take his time here deciding but the first dominoes are expected to fall soon on the NHL coaching market.  If there are candidates out there that he wants, they need to be prepared to strike before that target goes elsewhere.

At this point, the long wait without a decision might actually work in Hynes’ favor but his staying on would be a tepid vote of confidence at best.  His name will undoubtedly be on the hot seat if he remains with the team, especially if there’s no extension in place.  But for now, simply deciding on if Hynes will be back behind the bench is all the team needs to decide now.

Pick A Direction

The term rebuild doesn’t come up very often when it comes to Nashville as they’ve been one of the models of consistency over the better part of the past decade.  But their playoff appearances in recent years yielded quick exits and had they snuck in this season, there’s a good chance that they would have suffered the same fate.

With all due respect to Nashville’s current roster, if they were to try to load back up this summer, they’re probably still in that middle territory and not necessarily a true contender.  However, as we’ve seen, some lower seeds have done some damage in the playoffs this season and with Juuse Saros, they have the level of goaltending that can win some games on their own.  Accordingly, there’s a case to be made for a quick retool to try to get back into the playoffs in 2024.

On the other hand, there’s also a case to be made that they should be continuing in the direction that Poile took them leading up to the deadline.  Move out some more veterans, build up the prospect pool, and try to get into a better position to be more of a real contender in a couple of years.  Is that a better approach than hoping to make the playoffs and seeing what happens from there?  Trotz will need to decide which is the better way to go and structure his offseason activity based on that choice.

Re-Sign Glass

Cody Glass had a tough first season with Nashville in 2021-22, suiting up in just eight games for the Predators and spending the rest of the year in the minors.  Accordingly, the decision for him to take his qualifying offer made sense and the Preds certainly weren’t going to want to work out a long-term deal with someone they weren’t sure would even make their team.

One year later, the narrative is much different.  The 24-year-old played the full season in the NHL, picking up 35 points in 72 games along the way.  His playing time jumped up to a new career-high while he held his own at the faceoff dot as well, checking in at just under 50%.  On the power play, he proved to be quite effective, scoring six times, good for the second-most on the team behind Roman Josi.  A year ago, it was hardly a guarantee that Glass was going to be in Nashville much longer.  Now, on a team that doesn’t have a lot of younger options down the middle, he looks like a long-term piece of the puzzle.

Glass has three years of club control remaining, all of which will have him arbitration-eligible.  Trotz has two ways he can go here, do another short-term ‘prove-it’ type of contract that gives both sides more time to see if his level of production was repeatable, if there’s more in the tank, or if this might have been as good as it gets.  Such an approach would certainly be defensible from Nashville’s perspective.

On the other hand, if they believe that Glass is going to become a core player, then perhaps the time is right to try to strike a longer-term agreement.  That would push the AAV likely past the $4MM range, a price tag that might be high now but if he pans out, it would become a team-friendly one before too long.  From Glass’ perspective, locking in guaranteed long-term money might be desirable a year after being a regular with AHL Milwaukee.  There aren’t many key free agent decisions coming for the Preds but this is an intriguing one.

Look Into Barrie Trade

When Nashville traded Mattias Ekholm to Edmonton at the trade deadline, they had to take back Tyson Barrie’s contract as salary ballast as part of the return.  Now, the veteran, who turns 32 this summer, will head into the final year of his agreement next season.  With a short-term agreement and a right-shot defense market that isn’t all that deep, the Predators are well-positioned to net a quality return should they decide to make him available this summer.

Barrie is the type of player who could be shopped around even if Nashville decides to flip the switch again and try to add.  While he’s certainly a capable point producer, he’s not someone that they should be looking to lock up long-term while if they opt to rebuild, he’s a logical piece to shop as a rental.

This isn’t a situation where they have to move him in the coming weeks.  As a known commodity, Barrie would have some value closer to the trade deadline where there’s less left on his contract and the Preds might be more willing to retain salary to help facilitate a trade.  But once players like Damon Severson and Mathew Dumba come off the board, teams looking for help now on the right side of the back end will have to turn somewhere.  Barrie should be a fallback option for those teams, potentially creating a strong enough market to move him sooner than later.  Accordingly, expect Trotz to do his homework on that front to be ready to strike if the opportunity presents itself in late June or early July.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.