There is a willingness from both the Predators and winger Jonathan Marchessault to see if something could happen on the trade front, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his latest 32 Thoughts column. The 35-year-old is in the second season of a five-year contract that carries a $5.5MM AAV. Marchessault has battled injuries this season and has been a little quiet when he has played, notching 10 goals and seven assists in 38 games. However, he was one of the few players who lived up to expectations last season when he collected 21 goals and 35 helpers to finish second on the team in scoring.
While a $5.5MM cap charge for a top-six forward in an increasing cap environment is reasonable, there will be teams questioning just how long he’ll be able to stay in that role which will largely dictate the viability or lack thereof of a swap. Marchessault has a full no-move clause which gives him control over where he could be moved to with Friedman noting that one particular priority for the winger is going somewhere with strong minor hockey infrastructure for his children.
More from Nashville:
- On Friday, the league announced that winger Michael McCarron was fined just over $2.3K for a slash on Washington blueliner Trevor van Riemsdyk on Thursday night. The amount is the maximum allowable under the CBA, amounting to the lower of $5K or one-half of one day’s salary, in this case the latter. The fine money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
- When GM Barry Trotz announced he’d be retiring, the Predators appointed CAA Executive Search to assist in the search for his replacement. However, following concerns from the NHLPA about potential conflicts of interest (CAA Hockey also represents 153 active NHL players), CAA has withdrawn from the agreement with the team, reports Alex Silverman of the Sports Business Journal. The NHLPA’s rules governing agencies prohibit those agencies from representing NHL players and also assisting in executive searches, even if they’re run by two completely distinct elements of that firm. Trotz remains in place as the GM for the time being and is expected to take the team through the trade deadline and beyond that until a replacement is found. Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean adds (Twitter link) that the search will now be done in-house.
Sigh, the Preds can’t even put together a search committee correctly. 😒
Marchy is clearly frustrated, taking alot of aggressive penalties. To be fair, playing for coach Bruno will do that to a man.
You have to stop the Bruno BS. Makes you look really ignorant plus you probably already have carpal tunnel from all the repetitive typing.
Careful with that critique. Gbear and a bunch of other locals are looking for an echo chamber. They would rather reach for the mute button than attempt to carry on a conversation.
The good news for you is he’ll be gone along with Trotz.