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Predators Activate Jeremy Lauzon, Place Roman Josi On IR

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The Predators made two roster moves leading into tonight’s game versus Pittsburgh.  Per a team announcement (Twitter link), they have activated defenseman Jeremy Lauzon off injured reserve.  In a corresponding move, blueliner Roman Josi was placed on IR.

Lauzon has missed the last three weeks due to a lower-body injury.  The 27-year-old is off to a particularly quiet start offensively as he has just one assist in 22 games after putting up a career-best 14 points in 2023-24.  However, Lauzon’s physicality is the hallmark of his game and he leads the team in hits per game, checking in at 4.58, down only slightly from last year’s rate when he recorded 386 to lead the NHL by a significant margin.

As for Josi, he last played last Tuesday, meaning he will be eligible to be activated as soon as he’s cleared to return, assuming they back-date the IR placement (meaning he has already missed the required seven days).  The captain isn’t producing at quite the same rate as last year when he passed the point-per-game mark for the second time in his career but he’s still Nashville’s leader in scoring with 23 points in 29 games.

Canadiens Acquire Alexandre Carrier

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The Canadiens and Predators have swapped blueliners before Thursday’s roster freeze.  Montreal has acquired Alexandre Carrier from Nashville in exchange for defenseman Justin Barron.  Both teams have announced the deal.

Carrier is in his seventh NHL season, all of which came with Nashville after they drafted him in the fourth round back in 2015.  He has gone from a depth defender to one counted on inside their top four.

However, the 28-year-old hasn’t been able to duplicate his 2021-22 performance that saw him land a spot on the All-Rookie Team.  That year, Carrier had 30 points and 124 blocks in 77 games while logging nearly 21 minutes a night of ice time.  He only managed 29 points in the following two seasons and has seven in 28 outings this season while averaging just over 20 minutes per game.  Carrier is currently dealing with an upper-body injury but is believed to be ready to return to the lineup, relays TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link).

Carrier had a chance to test unrestricted free agency for the first time this past summer but instead elected to remain in Nashville, inking a three-year, $11.25MM deal that runs through the 2026-27 campaign.  With David Savard being a pending unrestricted free agent and a speculative trade candidate as a result, it stands to reason that Carrier will eventually take his role as the veteran option on the right side of Montreal’s back end, ensuring they’ll have one experienced player on that side beyond this season.

As for Barron, the 23-year-old was a first-round pick by Colorado back in 2020, going 25th overall.  It’s the second time in his career that he’s been on the move after he was the centerpiece of the package that the Canadiens acquired in exchange for winger Artturi Lehkonen back at the 2022 trade deadline.

At the time, Montreal was hoping that he’d become a key cog on their back end for years to come.  However, while Barron has shown flashes of being a capable NHL player, he has struggled with consistency.  Last season, despite a stint with AHL Laval, he collected seven goals and six assists in 48 games while averaging 18:38 per game and it appeared as if he’d turned a corner in his development.  That earned him a two-year, $2.3MM bridge deal this past summer.

Unfortunately for Barron and the Canadiens, that hasn’t been the case this season.  He has been a frequent healthy scratch over the first two-plus months of the year, only getting into 17 of 31 games.  In those outings, he has been limited to just one goal (without recording any assists) while his playing time has dropped to just 14:43 per game.

This move gives Nashville a younger player to try to turn into a full-time piece while saving the team $2.6MM on the salary cap.  Barron will also still have two years of team control when his deal expires while Carrier will be an unrestricted free agent when his contract is up.  With the Preds struggling much more than many expected this season, it will be interesting to see if GM Barry Trotz has any plans to quickly utilize those cap savings with the roster freeze approaching or if he’ll wait until the new year to try to add another piece to their roster.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Predators Place Marc Del Gaizo On Waivers

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The Nashville Predators have placed defenseman Marc Del Gaizo on waivers per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Del Gaizo has cleared through waivers once already this year, joining the long list of players to be waived and assigned to the minors before the season started.

Del Gaizo was recalled a few times in October but received a call that’d stick on October 30th. He’s stepped into 20 of Nashville’s 23 games since then, recording three assists, a -1, 28 blocked shots, and 32 hits. The appearances officially cement this season as Del Gaizo’s rookie year, after he played in nine games last season. He recorded a surprisingly similar stat line in those appearances as well – ending the 2023-24 NHL season with three assists, a +2, and 20 hits. Del Gaizo’s impact has been much clearer in the minor leagues. He has been a proud member of the Milwaukee Admirals blue-line since the 2021-22 season, after starting his pro career with a brief, nine-game stint with the Chicago Wolves in 2020-21. In total, he has recorded 89 points, 114 penalty minutes, and a +11 in 209 games and five seasons in the minor leagues.

Del Gaizo’s waiving suggests that one of Nashville’s many injured defenders could return soon. The team is currently without superstar Roman Josi, lineup pillars Jeremy Lauzon and Alexandre Carrier, and depth defender Spencer Stastney. Lauzon and Josi are both listed as day-to-day and both participated in Nashville’s practice on Tuesday. Stastney and Carrier are on injured reserve and would need to be activated to rejoin the lineup.

Predators Reassign Fedor Svechkov

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The Predators announced today that they have reassigned center Fedor Svechkov to AHL Milwaukee. The move frees up a roster spot, indicating that one of their IR-bound defensemen, Alexandre Carrier and Jeremy Lauzon, could be close to returning. According to Robby Stanley of NHL.com, neither will play tonight against the Rangers but skated this morning.

It’s not an unexpected result for Svechkov, who made his NHL debut earlier in his development than most expected. Nashville selected the 21-year-old in the first round of the 2021 draft, and he’s in his second season in North America after coming over from Russia in the 2023 offseason. He got off to a hot start with AHL Milwaukee, posting five goals and eight points in seven games, earning himself a performance-based recall with the Preds struggling to generate offense.

After scoring two goals and posting a -1 rating through his first nine NHL games, he’s returned to the minors for further development. He won’t require waivers to head to the AHL until the 2026-27 campaign or until he reaches 160 career games, whichever comes first.

Over the past few weeks, Svechkov has averaged nearly 12 minutes per game. He has won 46.2% of his faceoffs and recorded four blocks and 10 hits. He’s averaged a shot on goal per game and logged underwhelming possession numbers. He only controls 49.5% of shot attempts at even strength despite starting 73.1% of his shifts in the offensive zone.

Evening Notes: Parssinen, Kuzmenko, Dumba

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The Nashville Predators have continued to be one of the NHL’s busiest teams this season, making trades to revamp their goaltending and move out stalling veterans in favor of top prospects. It seems the latter trend could continue, with the team eyeing trades for forward Juuso Parssinen per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in the latest 32 Thoughts. Friedman compared the rumors to Nashville’s separating from Philip Tomasino and Dante Fabbro, who have each found far more success in their new homes. Tomasino has three goals and four points in seven games with Pittsburgh, while Fabbro has seven points in 15 games with Columbus.

Parssinen has just five points through 15 games this season – four of which came in a four-game span in mid-November. He’s recorded no scoring and a -6 in seven games since that hot streak, losing grip on his third-line role along the way. This year marks Parssinen’s first with a full-time role on the Predators roster, after splitting the last two seasons between the NHL and AHL. He scored an admirable 25 points in 45 games as a rookie – coupled by nine points in 10 AHL games – in 2022-23. But Parssinen took a step back at both levels last season, scoring just 12 points in 44 NHL games and 25 points in 36 AHL games. Making the Predators roster out of training camp was an encouraging sign heading into this year, but after 15 games, the former seventh-round pick may no longer be a fit. His six-foot-three frame and serviceable play at center should draw plenty of attention from around the league, though his 42 points in 104 career games likely won’t earn Nashville a hefty return.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Calgary Flames winger Andrei Kuzmenko is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Walker Duehr is expected to fill his role in Saturday’s game against Florida. Kuzmenko has just one goal and 10 points in 28 games this season. He was healthy scratched for three games at the start of the month, and has since recorded one point and a -2 in three games. He’ll need a return to full health to come with more confident scoring if he wants to ward off emerging prospects Duehr and Jakob Pelletier.
  • Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer provided a bit of clarity into Matt Dumba’s injury, telling Brian Rea of Bally Sports Southwest that he is somewhere between day-to-day and week-to-week. Dumba has missed Dallas’ last two games after suffering an upper-body injury in Sunday’s matchup against Calgary. He’s been oft-injured in his first year with the Stars, limited in or outright missing 10 of Dallas’ 28 games this season. That’s made adjusting to the new setting tough, evidenced by Dumba’s one assist in 19 games – a team-low in scoring among players with more than a few games played. Dumba faced nagging injuries between 2018 and 2021, but rediscovered his health in the last two seasons. Unfortunately, he hasn’t found the scoring of his early career in the return. Once a 50-point scorer, Dumba posted just 26 points in 155 games between 2022-23 and 2023-24. He played for three teams – Minnesota, Arizona, and Tampa Bay – in that span.

Predators Announce Roster Moves With Roman Josi Out

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The Nashville Predators have recalled Milwaukee Admirals captain Kevin Gravel. He is expected to step into the lineup on Thursday to fill in for Predators captain Roman Josi. Josi left Nashville’s Tuesday loss to Calgary roughly halfway through the first period. He returned a few moments later, and took three more shifts, but left again before the first period ended. Josi has since been announced as out day-to-day with a lower-body injury by the team.

Nashville made room for Gravel’s recall by placing defender Alexandre Carrier on injured reserve. Carrier was designated as week-to-week with an upper-body injury earlier this week. He hasn’t played since December 7th, meaning he’ll be eligible to return as soon as Saturday – though his designation suggests a longer absence.

Josi’s absence adds to a mounting injury list for the Predators. Their blue line is down multiple key pieces, with Jeremy Lauzon and Spencer Stastney joining Josi and Carrier on the absentee list. That’s left summer signee Brady Skjei as the sole pillar of the defense, with Luke Schenn, Marc Del Gaizo, and Adam Wilsby as his top supports.

They’ve already struggled with Carrier and Lauzon out – posting a league-worst 0-2-0 record and four-to-seven goal differential since the former left the lineup. Now, the test gets harder – with the most utilized Predator now at risk of missing a few games with his day-to-day designation. Josi has a team-leading 23 points in 29 games this season while averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice time – over three minutes more than any other Predators skater. Josi is one year removed from a 23-goal, 85-point season where he played in all 82 games, and only four years removed from a 96-point year in 2021-22. He’s proven one of the best Swiss players to grace the NHL, and his absence leaves a glaring hole in every aspect of Nashville’s lineup.

Gravel won’t fill in Josi’s hole one-for-one, but he will offer the stout veteran presence of a 12-year pro. Much of Gravel’s career has been spent in the AHL, where he won a Calder Cup with the Manchester Monarchs in 2015 and the Bakersfield Condors in 2021. He joined the Predators organization in 2022 – suiting up for his sixth AHL club in Milwaukee the sixth AHL team, and his fourth NHL club in Nashville. Gravel appeared in 23 games of Nashville’s 2022-23 season, contributing one assist, two penalties, and a -10 from a limited role. He’s since spent all his time in with the Admirals, totaling 28 points and a +4 through 132 games and three seasons. He was named Milwaukee’s captain last season, and carried the title into this year. Now, Gravel will be called upon to support the top club amidst injuries to an overabundance of talent.

Nyquist Scratched With Illness

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  • Predators winger Gustav Nyquist was a late scratch for tonight’s game against Calgary with the team announcing (Twitter link) that he’s listed as day-to-day with an illness. After a career year last season in his first year with Nashville that saw him record 23 goals and 52 assists in 81 games, the 35-year-old has struggled offensively this season.  Through his first 28 games, he has just six goals and four helpers despite logging nearly 18 minutes a night of playing time.

Predators’ Alexandre Carrier Out Week-To-Week With Upper-Body Injury

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There’s another injury on the Nashville Predators’ blue line. Senior content manager for the team, Brooks Bratton, reports that defenseman Alexandre Carrier is considered week-to-week with an upper-body injury.

Carrier played in Nashville’s recent game against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday but left the contest in the third period after getting hit. He finished that game with zero points, a -1 rating, four blocks, and two hits in 15:39 of ice time.

He’s in the midst of a down season compared to his career averages. Carrier already has 26 giveaways through 28 games on the year, just 13 shy of his 39 through 77 games during the 2021-22 NHL season. He’s also produced a career-low +/-, CorsiFor%, and on-ice save percentage in all situations in his seven-year career.

Carrier was also on the sixth-worst defensive-pairing (for pairings that have played 150 or more minutes together) in terms of xGoals%. According to MoneyPuck, the duo of Carrier and Jeremy Lauzon combined for a 40.9% xGoals% over 242.9 minutes together.

Head coach Andrew Brunette had finally split the defensive pairing in recent games but will now be without both for the foreseeable future. The Predators haven’t made a corresponding roster move but one should come before their game tomorrow night against the Calgary Flames. Nashville now has six healthy defensemen on the roster.

Predators Owner Speaks On State Of The Team

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Alex Daughterty of The Tennessean wrote about the thoughts of Nashville Predators’ soon-to-be majority owner Bill Haslam. The story covers Haslam’s thoughts on general manager Barry Trotz, head coach Andrew Brunette, as well as the team’s summer free agent spending spree that has not worked out according to the plan. The Predators currently sit second last in the entire NHL in points after dishing out big money long-term contracts to Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei.

Haslam tells The Tennessean that the organization still feels that it should have spent that money on pricey free-agent acquisitions and says that it would do whatever it takes to keep making the team better.

There is no faulting the logic that the Predators had going into the summer, The team performed well last season with much less talent (on paper) and seemingly felt that some offseason moves could move the team from playoff contender to Stanley Cup contender. However, a third of the way through the season, they sit seven games below .500 and don’t look like a group that is set to go on a run.  That being said, a run of good play can change things quickly, just look at the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have won five of their last six and are back in the thick of it in the Eastern Conference.

Nashville needs more from Stamkos and Marchessault, who both have just 13 points in 28 games this season. Stamkos’ even strength production has fallen off a cliff as he has just one goal and two assists, while Marchessault has just three goals and three assists at even strength.

Skjei, on the other hand, hasn’t produced near the offense he did last season when he had 47 points in 80 games with Carolina, but the biggest alarm bell on the 30-year-old is the amount he is turning over the puck. Skjei has already matched last season’s turnover numbers with 36 in the first 28 games and could exceed 100 on the year if he keeps up this pace.

Nashville Predators Issue Injury Updates

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The Nashville Predators will be looking for their eighth win of the season tonight without a few key players. The organization announced center Ryan O’Reilly is week-to-week with a lower-body injury and that defenseman Jeremy Lauzon has been placed on the injured reserve. The only player Nashville will receive back tonight is forward Michael McCarron, who’s been activated from the injured reserve.

It’s an insult to injury for a team that has struggled to score this season. Nashville’s first line of Filip Forsberg, O’Reilly, and Gustav Nyquist has led the team with a 55.8% xGoals% in 175 minutes and represents three of the top-six highest-scoring forwards on the roster.

O’Reilly has been a large part of that line’s success. He’s won 55.2% of nearly 500 faceoffs despite most of his draws coming in the offensive zone. He’s only managed five goals and 14 points through 26 games this season but is shooting one percentage point higher than his career average.

The Predators will try newcomer Steven Stamkos on the first line in O’Reilly’s stead. He’s not nearly as good as O’Reilly in the faceoff dot but has held his own throughout his career. The one issue that could arise is Forbserg and Stamkos are both shoot-first players which could cause some chemistry issues on the top line.

McCarron’s return reintroduces some size to the team’s fourth line. McCarron won’t help the team alleviate their goal-scoring issues as he’s only scored two goals and four points in 18 games. Still, he brings a physical presence to his game which is always useful toward the bottom of the lineup.

Lauzon’s lower-body injury strikes as an addition by subtraction for the Predators. He’s maintained his physicality this year with 103 hits in 22 games but hasn’t done much aside from that. Head coach Andrew Brunette finally separated the defensive pairing of Lauzon and Alexandre Carrier but the former still seems like he needs a reset.

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