Predators Acquire Nils Hoglander
The Nashville Predators are trading for forward Nils Hoglander, first reported by Rick Dhaliwal.
Hoglander is in the second year of a three-year contract that pays him $3MM in cap hit for the 2026-27 season, which expires in 2028, when he’ll turn 27. In return, the Canucks received a third-round pick in 2029 originally owned by the Colorado Avalanche.
“We are excited to add Nils to our mix,” MacFarland said via the Predators press release. “He is a 25-year-old experienced winger who is known for his relentless, high-energy style of play, bringing a consistent motor to the lineup night after night. We believe the player can come in and have a key role.”
What Nashville can hope for from Hoglander is what he was in the 2023-24 NHL season, where he scored 24 goals for 36 points in 80 games in his age 23 season. As this past campaign wasn’t friendly for him.
The 25-year-old scored five points in 38 games for the Canucks in 2025-26. He missed a lot of the early season due to an ankle injury, which he suffered during the preseason, and that was the headline for the majority of his year. Hoglander missed 8-10 weeks and didn’t play his first game until December 8th, against the Red Wings. He didn’t see more than 12 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time and was scratched on several occasions.
Throughout the year, Vancouver overall had a difficult time finding any stretch of consistency, but the Predators are hoping Hoglander can put 2025-26 behind him in a new scenery where he can ramp back up to rhythm.
Nashville, along with the signings of Jack Drury and Ross Colton to the forward group, Hoglander’s cap hit puts the Predators at $16.8MM as they add a reliable winger to an already solid left side behind veterans Steven Stamkos and Filip Forsberg, albeit right-handed forwards, but also gives the Preds optionality for Hoglander to fit into their forward group on the left side as well.
More to come.
Predators Sign Jack Drury To Five-Year Deal
New Predators GM Chris MacFarland didn’t waste much time acquiring a player he was familiar with, swinging a trade for Jack Drury earlier this week. He has wasted little time signing him as well. PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that Nashville has signed the center to a five-year, $22.5MM contract. The breakdown of the agreement is as follows:
| Year | NHL Salary | Signing Bonus | Trade Protection |
| 2026-27 | $4MM | $0 | N/A |
| 2027-28 | $4.625MM | $0 | Full NTC |
| 2028-29 | $4.625MM | $0 | Full NTC |
| 2029-30 | $4.625MM | $0 | 8-team NTC |
| 2030-31 | $4.625MM | $0 | 8-Team NTC |
The 26-year-old is coming off matching his career high offensively in terms of points. He potted a career-best 10 goals this past season along with 17 assists in Colorado while playing in all 82 games. Drury was also quite successful at the faceoff dot, winning 58.1% of his draws, also a personal best. In the postseason, he fared relatively well, collecting three goals and two assists in 13 games for the Avalanche while winning more than 61% of his draws.
That performance was good enough for Nashville to part with a pair of decent young players in winger Zachary L’Heureux and center Fedor Svechkov to land Drury, forward Chase Bradley, and a 2029 third-round pick. Considering that both L’Heureux and Svechkov were first-round picks in 2021, it was a sign that MacFarland felt very strongly that Drury has another level to get to relative to the limited offensive numbers he has put up so far in his five-year career. Drury has posted 30 goals and 52 assists in 268 games between Carolina and Colorado so far.
It’s fair to say that this contract also cements that expectation. AFP Analytics projected a three-year deal worth around $2.9MM per season, a price tag that this deal beats considerably in terms of money and term. In doing so, they buy four extra years of team control as he would have been a restricted free agent with salary arbitration rights on Wednesday had this deal not been signed. Since next season is an RFA year, he was not eligible for any trade protection for that year.
Nashville now has just under $20MM in remaining salary cap space, per PuckPedia. Defenseman Justin Barron is their only full-time NHL restricted free agent on the roster while center Erik Haula is their most prominent pending unrestricted free agent. Even with this signing, the Predators have ample cap space to try to get back into the playoff picture next season.
Predators Acquire Adam Edstrom
The New York Rangers have traded forward Adam Edstrom to the Nashville Predators. The deal was first reported by Vince Mercogliano of The Athletic. Edstrom is entering the final season of a two-year, $1.95MM contract signed with New York in June 2025.
The Rangers received forward prospect Massimo Rizzo and the 148th-overall pick in Saturday’s fifth-round per an announcement from the Nashville Predators. New York is not expected to extend a qualifying offer to Rizzo, who is set to enter free agency on July 1st per Peter Baugh of The Athletic. His inclusion in the deal balanced out contracts for the Predators.
Nashville will buy a roster player for a cheap price in this move. The 6-foot-8 forward appeared in 35 games with the Rangers last season, netting five points and two penalty minutes. His season was knocked off course by a fractured ankle that forced Edstrom out of the lineup from December to March. He was also limited by injury in the 2024-25 season, appearing in just 51 games and scoring nine points.
When healthy, Edstrom offers reliable lineup depth. He has recorded 16 points, 58 shot blocks, and 189 hits in 97 career games – quiet numbers but solid enough to carve out fourth-line minutes routinely. That presence will help Nashville make up for Zachary L’Heureux‘s departure from the lineup. L’Heureux was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in a deal that returned Jack Drury to Nashville on Thursday. The Montreal-native brought a major physical presence that Drury won’t be able to match outright, prompting Nashville’s cheap addition of a bit more physicality.
New York will take a late draft pick and open roster spot away from this deal. Edstrom’s departure should make a bit more space for the recently-acquired Pavel Dorofeyev, while also clearing the path for wing prospects Adam Sykora, Nathan Aspinall, and Brody Lamb.
Predators Acquire #31 From Hurricanes, Select Tommy Bleyl
The Nashville Predators have landed one more pick in the 2026 first-round. They have acquired the 31st-overall pick from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for 42nd-overall and 57th-overall. Nashville used the pick to draft defenseman Tommy Bleyl from the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats.
Nashville will reel in one of the draft’s more alluring prospects with this move. Bleyl was a dominant puck-mover in the QMJHL this season. His skating was flashy and smooth – two words that could also describe his ability on the puck. Bleyl was shifty and hard to stop whether he was driving the puck downhill or creating chances from the offensive blue line. Bleyl also showed off a fearless and physical defensive game, though his thin frame forced him to work a bit harder against strong competition.
Bleyl grew from 5-foot-9 to 6-foot between the ages of 16 and 18. He has yet to fill out that frame – but still flaunts all of the skating talent that he possessed as a junior player – making his draft profile eerily similar to late-blooming winger Ryker Lee, who Nashville selected in the 2025 draft. Lee blossomed at Michigan State University this season, the same school that Bleyl is set to attend in the 2027-28 campaign, after pushing off his commitment by a year as to not compete with Chase Reid for the starring role. That will make Moncton a must-watch program for Predators fans, at least until the New York-native returns to the United States in 2027.
Nashville Predators Acquire Jack Drury
New General Manager and President of Hockey Operations, Chris MacFarland, continues to poach talent from his previous team. According to Frank Seravalli of Victory+, the Nashville Predators are acquiring center Jack Drury from the Colorado Avalanche.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed the deal, sharing that the Avalanche is sending Drury, a prospect, and a draft pick to the Predators for Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L’Heureux. The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun filled out the rest of the trade, reporting that Chase Bradley is the prospect headed to Nashville along with a 2029 third-round pick.
Drury, 26, was scheduled to become a restricted free agent in a few days, and there was growing speculation that he may have priced himself out of Colorado’s long-term plans. Given that Zakhar Bardakov is likely returning to the KHL to continue his professional career, the Avalanche no longer has any restricted free agents to worry about for the time being.
The New York, NY native doesn’t have an incredibly high offensive ceiling, but he is one of the most responsible centers in the league. This past season, Drury registered 10 goals and 27 points in 82 games for the Avalanche with a +15 rating, averaging 14:29 of ice time per game.
As mentioned, most of his value comes from his work in the faceoff dot and on the defensive side of the puck. He is one of the best faceoff takers in the league, winning 58.1% of his draws last season, and has managed a career success rate of 57.1%. While it wasn’t essential for the Predators to enhance their faceoff percentage this offseason, finishing 17th last season at 49.96% indicated there was significant room for improvement.
Despite being a restricted free agent this offseason, Drury is only one year away from becoming an unrestricted free agent. Given today’s trade, it’s clear that MacFarland is interested in keeping Drury around beyond the 2026-27 season. Still, any multi-year contract they sign Drury to will include some of his UFA years, so it won’t be as cheap as it otherwise would be. He is owed a $1.675MM qualifying offer.
Additionally, the Predators have also acquired Bradley in the swap. Despite being drafted by the Detroit Red Wings as the 203rd overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, he opted to spend his early 20s playing in the NCAA at the University of Connecticut. Last year, he signed as a collegiate free agent with the Colorado Avalanche.
Unfortunately, he has struggled in his transition to the professional ranks. Throughout the past two years, primarily spent with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, Bradley has scored 23 goals and 34 points in 104 games with a +21 rating. He made his debut with the Avalanche in the 2024-25 season, primarily due to the numerous injuries the team suffered.
Meanwhile, Colorado acquires a pair of cost-controlled middle-six forwards in return. Svechkov and L’Heureux are each signed through the 2027-28 campaign at a $1.25MM and $875K salary, respectively.
Svechkov, 23, has the most NHL experience to date, having registered 12 goals and 34 points in 122 games over the past two seasons. Still, if the Avalanche plan to use him down the middle as a direct replacement for Drury, they will have taken a dramatic step back in the faceoff dot. Svechkov owns a career faceoff success rate of 40.5%.
Furthermore, Colorado will need to assist Svechkov in figuring out what kind of player he is. As a recent 19th overall pick, there’s obvious upside, but there’s no area of the game that Svechkov has excelled in through his brief tenure in the NHL. He has shown flashes of decent physicality and work on the defensive side of the puck, but it’s not nearly good enough to overlook his lack of offensive production.
Another recent first-round selection, it’s already well known what kind of player L’Heureux is and will continue to be. Throughout the 2024-25 campaign, he was a spark plug in the Predators’ bottom-six, scoring five goals and 15 points in 62 games, throwing 198 hits.
Unfortunately, he failed to return to that production through the 2025-26 campaign and spent most of his season with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, scoring 14 goals and 28 points in 30 games. Still, unless the Avalanche flip him for another asset, he’ll likely have to start the 2026-27 season on Colorado’s roster, given that he’ll require waivers to be demoted to the AHL again.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee of Imagn Images.
Erik Haula Prefers To Stay With Predators
According to Kevin Weekes of ESPN, Erik Haula, one of three free agents on the Nashville Predators set to become unrestricted on July 1, wants to remain in Tennessee.
The 35-year-old ended the last season of a three-year, $9.45MM ($3.15MM AAV) contract, scoring 14 goals for 38 points in 81 games this past campaign in Nashville, which is a contract high in tallies. Along with that, he triumphed at the 2026 Milan Olympics, scoring at a point-per-game in six games with Finland en route to a bronze medal. Weekes projected that Haula could command an average annual value of around $3.5 MM or more on his next contract with the Predators, as AFPAnalytics projects him to sign a one-year, $3.3MM deal, which he’d take up around 3% of the Predators’ cap hit.
Before he arrived in Nashville, Haula was originally a seventh-round pick of the Minnesota Wild and has signed six different contracts throughout his NHL tenure, none of which were longer than three years. After playing for Minnesota in the NCAA, he joined the Wild in 2013-14 on a two-year entry-level contract at $900k cap hit. He then signed a two-year deal with a $1MM AAV before the Vegas Golden Knights claimed him in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft. After signing a three-year contract worth $8.25MM ($2.75MM AAV) at age 26 with Vegas, he scored a career high 55 points in 76 games. In the final year of that Vegas deal, they traded him to Carolina, before the Hurricanes traded him to the Panthers.
The Bruins then inked him to a two-year $4.75MM ($2.375MM AAV) contract, which he spent between Boston and New Jersey, after the Bruins sent him there in exchange for Pavel Zacha. New Jersey extended him on a three-year deal, where, after two seasons, they traded him back to Nashville for defenseman Jeremy Hanzel and a fourth-round pick in 2025.
The Pori native, if he were to remain off the market, would be integral as a much-needed veteran for a Predators squad that would ideally benefit from it. Aside from top-line center Ryan O’Reilly at age 35, Nashville’s center corps consists of Matthew Wood, Brady Martin, and Fedor Svechkov, all of whom are under 23 years of age. Keeping Haula in the organization not only bolsters the center depth but also provides versatility for the forward group, as Haula can notably provide his services as a left winger if needed.
The Predators have around $23MM in cap space, more than enough to ink Haula to another contract if they choose to go in that direction. They ended up sixth in the Central Division, missing the playoffs by four points in the 2025-26 season. Free agents Nashville will need to assess include the likes of forwards Tyson Jost and Kevin Gravel, rounded out by restricted free agent Justin Barron. It should be noted that the Preds have Matt Duchene and Kyle Turris’ charges at $3.55MM against the cap next season.
Despite missing the postseason for the past two campaigns, the Predators have a mix of youth talent and veteran stars in Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, and Juuse Saros, who can be supported in their quest for the dance while still under contract. The salary cap rising to $104MM benefits everyone, but after the Predators inked Jonathan Marchessault, Steven Stamkos, and Brady Skjei to major contracts, they need to capitalize on the window they have with these notable names.
Morning Notes: Byram, Arvidsson, Reid
The Chicago Blackhawks like Bowen Byram.
According to a recent article published by Scott Powers of The Athletic, Byram is a defenseman who fits the mold of what Chicago is looking for this offseason. The 25-year-old is set to enter the second season of a two-year contract at $6.25MM AAV, coming off a career year with the Buffalo Sabres, scoring 11 goals for 42 points, both career-high totals. The former fourth-overall pick served as a key piece who rounded out the Sabres’ top-4 defensive core on the left side en route to the team’s first playoff appearance since 2010-11.
The sense is that Chicago has future capital that they could offer in a deal with Buffalo, but in speaking to Powers’ colleague Matthew Fairburn, he tells that Buffalo would ideally be looking for a forward to replace the potential loss of Alex Tuch to the market, and that draft picks and prospects are a doubtful return Sabres would want. The Blackhawks have above $40MM in cap space this summer, and the acquisition of Byram would make him their highest-paid blueliner for next season and beyond, pending an extension for the former Stanley Cup Champion.
Additional Notes:
- Viktor Arvidsson was one of seven unrestricted free agents who scored more than 20 goals in the 2025-26 season. According to Pierre LeBrun’s rumblings, Arvidsson, who totaled 54 points in 69 games, and the Bruins have remained in talks regarding an extension to keep him in Boston. He senses that Bruins GM Don Sweeney is keen on returning the 33-year-old forward in black and gold, but wonders if the sides can get comfortable on term. AFP Analytics has his next contract projection at a two-year deal, around $4.9MM AAV, which would be his highest career cap hit, beating a former $4.25MM cap hit inked on a seven-year deal between his playing days in Los Angeles and before that, the Nashville Predators.
- Speaking of the Predators, one of the organization’s top prospects, Cameron Reid, committed to the University of Michigan, as he announced on his Instagram. The 21st overall selection in the 2025 NHL Draft ended his third season in the OHL, scoring 56 points in 57 games and adding 14 points in 18 playoff games. He captained his Kitchener Rangers squad to an OHL championship and a CHL Memorial Cup victory. Head Coach Brandon Naurato adds a key piece to the Wolverines’ back end next season, as Reid joins fellow Predators goalie prospect Jack Ivankovic, also a former OHLer, along with forwards Malcolm Spence and Henry Mews from the Ontario League. Michigan will look to defend its Big 10 postseason title and push for an NCAA title game after losing to Denver in the Frozen Four.
Predators Hire Jamie Langenbrunner As Special Assistant To General Manager
This afternoon the Nashville Predators announced Jamie Langenbrunner as their Special Assistant to the General Manager. The 2000s New Jersey Devils standout forward had been serving as Assistant General Manager of the Boston Bruins since 2022, prior to departing last month in order to pursue new opportunities.
Set to join a revamped front office in the Music City, Langenbrunner, 50, will work alongside new general manager Chris MacFarland as well as Rob Blake, another notable former player who was named their new Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations. It’s an impressive group, as Langenbrunner was a candidate mentioned for New Jersey’s previously vacant general manager position. Both he and Blake were worthy to garner at least some degree of thought across the various GM openings this off-season, such as Vancouver’s, or even Nashville’s itself, leaving the Predators with a highly qualified front office today.
Drafted by Dallas in 1993, the Minnesota native won a Stanley Cup in 1999 with his first franchise, then moving on to the New Jersey Devils at the height of their contention at the turn of the millennium. Hoisting the cup again in 2003 wearing the red and black, Langenbrunner stuck around in Newark for another seven years, until a short reunion with the Stars after a January 2011 trade. Catching on with St. Louis from there, he put the final touches on a 1,109 career as a Blue, dealing with injuries and hanging up his skates in 2014. A proud member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, Langenbrunner captained the 2010 American team which captured silver.
Upon the end of his career, the former winger soon caught on with the Bruins as a development coach in 2015, moving up to Director of Player Development four years later, and finally, up to Assistant General Manager in 2022. Nashville will become just the second NHL team he’s been involved with in management. In the new role, Langenbrunner will assist in professional and collegiate scouting, recruiting, as well as special assignments.
Langenbrunner and company face a crossroads which hasn’t changed much since the now-departed Barry Trotz took over for inaugural general manager David Poile. Nashville remains stuck in a tough place between embracing a hardcore rebuild, or continuing to try and recapture their magic from 2017-19 as a playoff contender before it’s too late for the likes of Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg. Many of Trotz’s moves caught the ire of fans, raising questions on his ability to manage a team after his long coaching career. Still, the former bench boss leaves the new regime with the deepest prospect pool they’ve likely ever had, along with a great asset in Ryan O’Reilly, still playing at a top level while signed by Trotz at just $4.5MM.
Ultimately, it’s hard to argue that the Predators have had about as much of an upgrade to their front office as realistically possible, and it presents a reset across multiple levels. MacFarland’s addition of Blake already spelled the end for Brian Poile after 16 years with the organization. Based on the latest news today there’s reason to speculate on Director of Scouting and Assistant General Manager Jeff Kealty, who has been with Nashville since 2001, along with Scott Nichol, also an Assistant General Manager who simultaneously manages the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. Langenbrunner must get to work quickly, as his Predators take the stage at 10th overall in Buffalo at the 2026 NHL Draft in just nine days.
Predators Acquire Ross Colton, Isak Posch
The Nashville Predators are nearing an acquisition of winger Ross Colton from the Colorado Avalanche per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Colton will follow general manager Chris MacFarland in his move to Nashville.
The full deal sends Colton and goaltender Isak Posch to the Predators in exchange for the rights to goaltender Magnus Chrona and third-round picks in 2026 and 2027 per a team announcement.
Colton filled an important, depth role for the Avalanche over the last three seasons. He has served as a utility knife in that time, routinely rivaling the team-lead in hits while also chipping in on breakouts and set-ups. After finding his footing, and a pair of 30-point seasons, with the Tampa Bay Lightning – Colton was traded to the Avalanche in exchange for a second-round pick, used on winger Ethan Gauthier, at the 2023 NHL Draft.
Colton’s first season in Denver marked a career-year. He scored 23 assists and 40 points, while also leading the Avalanche forwards with 141 hits, in 80 games. He was an immediate impact and offered the Avalanche a versatile addition to their bottom-six. His role dwindled on an Avalanche club that deployed 29 different forwards in 2024-25. He sustained a foot fracture just two weeks into the season and didn’t return until early-December. Even still, Colton managed to record 29 points and 145 hits in 61 games.
The winds continued to blow Colton towards a bruiser role this season. He finished the year with 159 hits but only 24 points – the lowest scoring across a full NHL season of his five-year career. On the back of that scoring dip, he fell out of the Avalanche’s nightly roster as the end of the season rolled around. Colton was held out of the first two games of the postseason but returned to the lineup in Game 3 of the first round. He went on to tally five points and 38 hits in just 11 games – an encouraging sign of energy after a lineup battled with Joel Kiviranta.
Colton will now take that momentum into an important role on a young Nashville squad. The Predators have rotated through play-driving bruisers over the last three seasons. Kiefer Sherwood ceded his role to rookie Zachary L’Heureux, backed by Michael McCarron, in 2024. McCarron continued to lead the Predators’ physical presence until he was traded to the Minnesota Wild ahead of the 2026 Trade Deadline. Now, Colton will move into that role – while offering a bit more scoring punch than his predecessors, including Sherwood who didn’t find his scoring touch until after departing Nashville.
As part of this move, Colorado and Nashville will also swap depth goaltenders. Posch, headed to the Predators, played through the first full, pro season of his hockey career after signing with Colorado out of St. Cloud State last Spring. He recorded 15 wins, two shutouts, and an .891 save percentage in 28 games with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. Posch only served one season as St. Cloud’s starter – though he turned in a dominant performance, with 12 wins and a .923 save percentage in 22 games. He was a young free-agent signing who could still have untapped potential.
Colorado will receive a goalie one-year older, and with a bit more experience, than Posch. Chrona made his NHL debut with the San Jose Sharks in the 2023-24 season, amid a wave of chaos in net that also saw Devin Cooley debut. He has spent the two seasons since as the backup to Matt Murray for the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. Chrona racked up 21 wins and a .899 save percentage in 55 games over those two seasons. He has signed a two-year deal with the SHL’s Brynas IF set to begin in the 2026-27 season. That move will effectively vacate a spot on the Colorado depth chart, which should open room for prospect Ilya Nabokov as he moves over from Russia’s KHL.
Photo courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports.
Free Agent Focus: Nashville Predators
Free agency is just over a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. Even with the UFA crop being thinned out in recent months, there will be some quality veterans set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Predators.
Key Restricted Free Agents
D Justin Barron – Brought in from Montreal, the former Colorado first-rounder was one of former general manager Barry Trotz’s attempts to shake up the defense core and add youth. Sometimes caught in bad pinches from head coach Andrew Brunette’s aggressive system, Barron had lapses in his 59 games but still came away with a respectable 51.3% corsi for at five-on-five. With the young smooth skater Ryan Ufko emerging, there’s competition. Barron also overlaps with fellow righty Nicklaus Perbix, three years his senior, whose first season on his new team was a regression from Tampa. Nashville could make moves to allow Barron a shot at a bigger role, but doing so would signify a willingness to embrace growing pains. Either way, he’s due for a raise from $1.15MM, which would likely land in the $1.75MM range with two years of term. It’s worth mentioning that new GM Chris MacFarland was an assistant with the Avalanche when they selected Barron, as well as when they dealt him to Montreal for Artturi Lehkonen.
Other RFAs: F Ryder Rolston, F Massimo Rizzo, F Dalton Bancroft, D Christoffer Sedoff, D Jack Matier
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Erik Haula – Acquired last summer for spare parts as a cap casualty, the journeyman put together another solid season with 38 points in 81 games. Rather than cashing in at the deadline, the Preds kept Haula down the stretch to benefit their young wingers. Dumped by New Jersey for his supposedly over-valued $3.15MM cap hit, the center should have no problem obtaining the same salary on the open market as one of the very few middlemen capable of offering much offensive ability. Nashville could easily make that happen, but at age 35, it makes a lot of sense for Haula to sign with a contender while the Preds open the door for KHL free agent signing Vitali Pinchuk, if not a younger center they could trade for. If that’s the case, it’s the second time the Finn came and went in Nashville for one year.
F Tyson Jost – Picked up off waivers from Carolina in the fall, the former high draft pick is past the point of reaching his former potential, but is still solid depth in his own right. Capable of playing center, Jost mostly stuck on the wing this year. The 28-year-old did exactly what the Predators took him on for, skating in 69 games and coming away with 16 points. Playing in the most games in a campaign since 2018-19 as a youngster in Colorado, Jost didn’t do much to move the needle on his stock. A team could come calling with another offering around the league minimum, but playing in over 60 NHL games again would be a surprise. The Predators would be best suited to turn over Jost’s role to 23-year-old Zachary L’Heureaux, although there are ties with MacFarland from their time in Denver, for what it is worth.
D Jordan Oesterle – The soon-to-be 34-year-old’s status as a “key” UFA is indicative of Nashville’s relatively barren free agent class, although Oesterle respectably has over 400 NHL games of experience. Claimed off waivers from Boston in March 2025, the lefty only got into one game with the Predators this year, otherwise playing in the AHL. Never known as much of a play-driver, Oesterle was tremendous for the Milwaukee Admirals, recording 46 points as their top defenseman, ranking second in team scoring. He’d be a great addition to any AHL club with the ability to be called up in a pinch as depth, or the Michigan native could follow the international route for the first time.
Other UFAs: D Andreas Englund, D Kevin Gravel
Projected Cap Space
The Predators enter this offseason with over $28MM in cap space, which puts them among the 10 franchises with the most breathing room. Having weathered the worst of Matt Duchene’s buyout, they’ll net another $5MM to work with as his total will drop. Duchene and Kyle Turris’ charges total just $3.55MM against the cap next season. By no means looking to spend big again, Nashville would be wise to weaponize their cap space with buy-low players that can support their young cast, or trades, like they did with Haula. Even if the Predators maximize opportunities for their youth, there’s still a huge need down the middle, along with rounding out their forward depth. There’s more than enough cap space to do so, however, MacFarland and Rob Blake deem fit.
Photos courtesy Eakin Howard-Imagn Images (Barron) and Jeff Curry-Imagn Images (Jost). Contract information courtesy of PuckPedia.