Predators’ Steven Stamkos Pushes Back On Trade Interest
Feb. 27th: Stamkos himself poured cold water on the idea of him being traded before next week’s deadline. According to Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean, Stamkos said, “I haven’t talked to (GM Barry Trotz) at all about that.” Stamkos later added that there was “zero” chance he’d be willing to waive his no-movement clause. Although things could change, Stamkos’ strong rebuttal against LeBrun’s report indicates he’ll finish the season in Nashville. There was no added reporting on whether Stamkos would reassess his view this offseason.
Feb. 26th: The Nashville Predators could soon part with their biggest free agency signing in recent memory. Centerman Steven Stamkos has emerged in trade rumors, though Nashville will have to work around the future Hall-of-Famers’ full no-movement clause. As things stand, Stamkos is only prepared to accept a trade to one of three clubs – the Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild, or Dallas Stars – per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.
A reunion in Tampa Bay would certainly be the most welcome outcome. Stamkos spent 16 years with the Lightning after being drafted first overall by the club in 2008. He debuted with a 46-point season in the following season, then jumped to 51 goals and 95 points in the 2009-10 season. The season was, at the time, the third-highest scoring season from a teenager in the NHL since 2000, behind Sidney Crosby’s first two seasons in the league.
Stamkos found another gear with 60 goals and 97 points two seasons later. With that, he locked in a star’s role on top of the lineup that – with sustained scoring and an exemplary supporting cast – would lead Stamkos to back-to-back Stanley Cup wins in 2020 and 2021.
Stamkos left Tampa Bay three seasons later, in one of the most coveted free agency signings of the 2000s. The move hasn’t gone to plan though, with Stamkos dwindling from 81 points in his final year in Tampa Bay to only 53 points in his first season in Nashville. Meanwhile, the Lightning have yet to fill the hole left at the center position, even deploying winger Jake Guentzel in the center role amid injury troubles. A reunion would mean a return to the top role for Stamkos, and allow Brayden Point to take a step back amid a down year.
But while Tampa Bay has stayed a top offense despite their missing piece, the Wild seem a star center shy of emerging as a super-team after trading de facto top center Marco Rossi in a package for top defender Quinn Hughes. The Wild offense could offer the mix of speed and skill to elevate a 36-year-old Stamkos, who is already scoring at a 40-goal and 63-point pace this season. Stamkos would offer a heavy shot to go with playmakers Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Mats Zuccarello.
Alternatively, Stamkos could become the next star addition to a Dallas club that acquired Mikko Rantanen ahead of the 2025 Trade Deadline. Dallas has scored the seventh-most goals in the league with Wyatt Johnston and Matt Duchene taking on top center duties. Adding another star hand to that mix could be enough to will Dallas back to the Stanley Cup, after three consecutive losses in the Western Conference Finals.
The Predators will need to be handsomely rewarded for departing with the player who was meant to surge the club back to the top of the standings. Future capital will be the focus of any deal, as Nashville looks to expedite a rebuild of their lineup on the back of a strong prospect pool. Teams will also need $8MM in available cap space to take on Stamkos’ deal with no retention. Of the three potential landing spots, only Minnesota could afford that price tag on the day of the Trade Deadline. Tampa Bay would need to clear out $5MM in cap space, while Dallas would need nearly $7MM in space.
The teams will have a bit of time to pull together the necessary funds, with LeBrun reporting that a deal is most likely to occur around the summer. Stamkos has two years remaining on his current contract. Still, those markers will set a tense market around Nashville’s star, veteran forward. That could leave a Stamkos trade as the top agenda item for whoever replaces current general manager Barry Trotz who will step down from his post at the end of the season.
Image courtesy of Haljestam-Imagn Images.
Predators’ Nick Perbix Generating Interest
Exactly one week away from the trade deadline, plenty of teams are on the prowl for defensemen, particularly those that are right-handed. Earlier today, Anthony Di Marco of the Daily Faceoff reported that teams have kicked the tires on Nashville Predators defenseman Nicklaus Perbix, and that the Predators remain open to just about anything.
Perbix, 27, signed a two-year, $5.5MM contract with Nashville last summer. His contract doesn’t include any trade protection. Before his time with the Predators, Perbix spent three years with the Tampa Bay Lightning, scoring 13 goals and 63 points in 220 games with a +27 rating, averaging 15:45 of ice time.
If Nashville does move off of Perbix at the deadline, they would be selling at a low point. The Minneapolis, MN native has recorded only three goals and nine points in 55 games this season with a -14 rating. Additionally, his CorsiFor% and on-ice SV% at even strength have both hit career lowpoints.
Given that, it’s unlikely that the Predators’ asking price and other teams’ offers will match up by the deadline, unless Nashville becomes desperate to move him. Still, he’s signed through next season, and the Predators have worked their way back to the postseason conversation in their own right. Nashville could be tempted if a team were to blow them away with an offer, but, with all respect to Perbix, he doesn’t strike as a defenseman that contending teams would be willing to do that for.
Predators Reassign Matt Murray To AHL
2/25: Murray’s time with Nashville will end without an NHL appearance, as expected. The team announced that he has been returned to Milwaukee with Saros ready to go following his appearance at the Olympics.
2/19: The Predators announced they’ve recalled goaltender Matt Murray from AHL Milwaukee. He’ll supplement Justus Annunen as a practice goaltender while Juuse Saros continues representing Finland at the Olympics as they advance to the semifinals.
Murray, 28, is in his second season serving as Nashville’s third-stringer and AHL starter. The 2021 NCAA national championship winner with UMass joined the Preds on a two-way deal in 2024 after being non-tendered by the Stars. After being named an AHL Second-Team All-Star last season while leading the league with a .932 SV% in 43 games, he re-upped with Nashville on a two-year, two-way deal that more than doubled his minors salary.
The Alberta native’s numbers have regressed significantly this season. He’s still a serviceable starting option for Milwaukee, but with a .904 SV% and 2.86 GAA in 29 showings with a 12-14-2 record, he doesn’t jump off the page. He still carries value as a veteran call-up option with at least a handful of NHL experience, making four starts for Dallas in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns. He owns a 2-2-0 record, one shutout, and a .885 SV% across his career at the top level.
Murray remains under contract through next season, presumably still as the top call-up option if Saros or Annunen become unavailable. He’s in his fifth professional season after debuting with AHL Texas down the stretch in 2021-22.
Latest On Jonathan Marchessault, Erik Haula
Winnipeg Jets center Jonathan Toews can be marked off any trade deadline wish lists, as the future Hall of Famer says he will invoke his no movement clause if approached, as explained in a piece by Murat Ates of The Athletic.
The reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners welcomed Toews back into the NHL after a two-year hiatus. Joining his hometown club, there were slight hopes the 37-year-old could be a viable second line center, but even if not, he’d be a key presence in a smaller role. Unfortunately things have not gone to plan for Winnipeg, as injuries and a brutal 11-game winless streak at the New Year have sunk the team’s playoff hopes.
Toews’ 19 points in 56 games indicate decline, but he still shows a respectable 48.5% corsi for at even strength, an improvement from his final days as a Blackhawk in 2022-23. As a three-time Stanley Cup winner, practically any contender would welcome Toews with open arms, but the 37-year-old is perfectly content with his childhood favorite team, where he’ll focus on finishing the campaign strong.
Elsewhere across the division:
- Also in Winnipeg, Head Coach Scott Arniel told reporters, including Mitchell Clinton, team Color Analyst, that Neal Pionk is week-to-week with what’s called a “new” injury. The defenseman was nearing a return from a lower-body ailment which sidelined him since January 13, but is now dealing with another issue. With just eight points in 40 games, it figures that Pionk has not been up to full speed all season. Nino Niederreiter is also week-to-week, injured while playing for Switzerland in the Olympics. At 33, the usually dependable scorer has taken a step back with just eight tallies on the year. Finally, Josh Morrissey will miss the team’s road trip, but should return afterward, as soon as March 3 against Chicago. The top defender was injured against Czechia in the Olympics and will have to miss his first game of the campaign as a result.
- Trade discussions on Nashville Predators forwards Jonathan Marchessault and Erik Haula are expected to ramp up until the March 6 trade deadline, as reported in an article from The Fourth Period. Insider David Pagnotta mentioned that the Predators were working on deals which had to wait due to the Olympic trade freeze, although it’s unclear exactly which players were in discussion. While Steven Stamkos has come to life of late, Marchessault, 35, has been unable to find his footing as a Predator, with just 17 points on the season. Still signed through 2028-29 at $5.5MM and with a full no movement clause, Nashville would likely take back an unfavorable contract and a limited return if they could avoid retention. Meanwhile, Haula was picked up to be a stop gap center in his second stint as a Predator. A pending unrestricted free agent, he can veto trades to six teams, but would surely welcome a move to a contender, and will have interest in such a weak center market.
Predators Sign Jake Lucchini To Two-Way Extension
The Predators announced they’ve signed forward Jake Lucchini to a two-way contract extension for the 2026-27 campaign. It will be worth the new league minimum of $850K at the NHL level, Alex Daugherty of the Tennessean reports. Defenseman Kevin Gravel, a pending unrestricted free agent, also agreed to a two-year contract extension that will take him off Nashville’s books but keep him with AHL Milwaukee, the team announced.
Lucchini, 30, is solely a veteran top-six AHL option at this stage of his career, but can serve as an experienced call-up option when needed. He inked a two-year, two-way deal with Nashville as a free agent in 2024. He’s yet to see a recall for them this season, but suited up three times for the Predators last year, going without a point.
The British Columbia native has now spent time in the Penguins, Canadiens, Senators, Wild, and Predators systems since turning pro out of Michigan Tech in 2019. He’s been on two-way NHL contracts for most of that time, managing three goals and six points in 54 games with Ottawa, Minnesota, and Nashville across the 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25 campaigns.
Lucchini established himself as an AHL impact piece with a 20-goal, 51-point breakout for the Belleville Senators in 2021-22 and hasn’t looked back. He’s kept up similar point paces in every season since and currently ranks second on Milwaukee in scoring with 13 goals, 25 assists, and 38 points in 48 games.
He’ll now gain even more stability with a one-year extension. It’s rare enough for a journeyman AHL type to suit up for the same franchise in back-to-back seasons, let alone three in a row. Lucchini should be a contender to serve in a leadership capacity for Milwaukee next season as well, as he looks to continue anchoring a Nashville prospect pool that includes Joakim Kemell, David Edstrom, and Ryan Ufko, among others.
Nashville Predators Recall Zachary L’Heureux, Matthew Wood
The Nashville Predators announced today that forwards Zachary L’Heureux and Matthew Wood have been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals.
With the Olympic tournament now over, teams are gearing up for a return to the NHL regular season. The Predators’ first game is Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks, and today’s recalls give head coach Andrew Brunette two additional forward options to work with when constructing his lineup for that game and the games beyond.
Both Wood and L’Heureux are first-round picks who are among the higher-ranked prospects in the team’s system. L’Heureux was a late first-rounder at the 2021 draft, and has spent all of 2025-26 to date in the AHL, scoring 14 goals and 28 points in 28 games. That’s a departure from last season, when he played just four games in the AHL and 62 in the NHL. This recall will give L’Heureux the chance to potentially make his season debut in Nashville. He plays the kind of gritty, aggressive style that teams often covet in bottom-six forwards, so it will be interesting to see whether L’Heureux will be able to hang onto the NHL opportunity he’s set to receive.
Wood, 21, was a first-rounder at the 2023 draft and is in the midst of his first full season as a pro player. The skilled 6’4″ winger scored three points in his three AHL games played during the break, only failing to land on the scoresheet against a juggernaut Grand Rapids Griffins team.
Wood started the year off very well in the NHL, scoring 10 points in his first 11 games of the season, including his first NHL hat trick. His production has slowed down quite a bit, and he’s sitting on 17 points in 46 games this season. He only managed three points in the month of January as his ice time fell noticeably.
With some good games under his belt during the Olympic break, the hope will be that Wood can rediscover some of the form he flashed earlier in the season, and get his production back on track. Nashville is currently in contention for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, and will need contributions from everyone if it hopes to make a surprising run back to the postseason.
The Danger Of Signing Goalies To Lucrative Contracts
The New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks are two of the NHL’s worst teams this season and are both on the verge of massive roster changes. While both teams face unique challenges, one parallel is that they’ve made a mess of their goaltending finances with pricey extensions that were miscalculations.
The Rangers and Canucks are far from alone in this predicament. High-priced extensions have also burned several other teams at the bottom of the standings, leaving them with goaltenders who had been performing well but whose play fell off a cliff after signing their new deals.
That isn’t necessarily the case for Shesterkin, however, it is the case for Linus Ullmark of the Ottawa Senators, Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators, and Jacob Markstrom of the New Jersey Devils, who are all making big money on recent contract extensions, with no guarantees their play will turn around. This has left three teams with win-now rosters featuring goaltenders who are vastly overpaid.
It’s become a trend over the past five-plus years that teams signing goaltenders to expensive deals must be seriously concerned about their performance throughout the term of the agreement.
There is concern about every player’s performance after they sign a lucrative long-term deal. However, goaltenders have become a unique cause for concern lately, and it’s hard to say why.
In the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s, many veteran goaltenders on the wrong side of 30 would sign expensive long-term deals without so much as a second thought from their new teams. In July 2002, for example, goalie Curtis Joseph signed a three-year, $24MM contract with the Detroit Red Wings, even though it wasn’t the best offer on the table.
Joseph had a three-year $26MM offer from the Toronto Maple Leafs but opted to move to Detroit. Toronto then pivoted and signed Ed Belfour to a two-year, $13.5MM deal.
By today’s standards, those contracts aren’t eye-popping, and the term is relatively short. But Belfour and Joseph were 37 and 35, respectively, and there was a chance their play would drop off significantly during the brief time they were signed.
Nowadays, it’s hard to imagine a team giving $8MM a season to a 35-year-old goaltender, and Joseph’s deal was inked 23 and a half years ago. The Senators gave Ullmark four years and $8.25MM annually just last year, but he had just turned 32 and was two seasons removed from a Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender.
It was a pricey gamble for Ottawa and hasn’t looked like good value this season, but Ullmark has been dealing with personal issues, so it’s hard to project how the deal will work out long-term.
Circling back to the Rangers and Canucks, they are a tale of two teams whose expensive goaltending has led to team-wide issues, but for wildly different reasons. In Vancouver, Thatcher Demko was signed to a lucrative three-year deal at the start of free agency, worth $8.5MM annually.
It was a gamble by Vancouver, as they hoped the former Vezina Trophy finalist could bounce back from a poor showing last season. Had Demko had a good year, he would have been a candidate to get $9MM or more on a new contract, but Vancouver thought it was wise to jump the queue. It has not turned out well.
If Demko had played well, Vancouver likely would have paid him an AAV slightly higher than the $8.5MM they gave him, but would’ve been on the hook for more term, which would’ve been riskier. Instead, Vancouver made a different bet and is now on the hook for more term than Demko would’ve received in free agency. But hindsight is 20/20, and for the Canucks, they are stuck with the Demko deal, one they’d love to have back.
In New York, it was a different calculation. Rangers’ general manager Chris Drury believed he had a Stanley Cup contender on his hands, which meant doing everything he could to retain his Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender, Igor Shesterkin. Drury moved out his captain, Jacob Trouba, to open up space to sign Shesterkin to a record-breaking eight-year, $92MM contract.
While it was the right on-ice move given Trouba’s cap hit relative to his play, the Rangers have never been the same since the trade. New York fell off a cliff last season and has remained at the bottom of the league this year, despite Shesterkin being good.
But that is the issue: Shesterkin has only been good. In the years leading up to his extension, Shesterkin was elite.
His play in those seasons masked many of the Rangers’ problems and led Drury and New York management to think the team was much better than it actually was. Shesterkin’s goaltending was a mask, hiding the fact that Drury had built a fatally flawed roster that relied too much on out-of-this-world netminding, which was clearly unsustainable.
While the Rangers, Canucks, Devils and Predators aren’t the only teams with pricey goaltending, they are the most apparent examples of paying a premium for goaltending. But even middle-of-the-pack teams can run into issues where their extensions turn into disasters.
There are good examples in Washington: a few years ago, with Darcy Kuemper, who had just won a Stanley Cup, and Philipp Grubauer, who had been solid for years before signing as a free agent with Seattle and becoming unplayable in the NHL. Matt Murray in Ottawa was the same story, but none is more egregious and obvious than Tristan Jarry in Pittsburgh, who was recently dealt.
Pittsburgh is a relevant example because of Stuart Skinner, who has been a revelation with the Penguins but is a UFA at the end of the season. Pittsburgh already has its goalie of the future in tow in Sergey Murashov, and the Penguins would be wise to ride Skinner into the playoffs and then let him walk in the offseason if his salary demands exceed $5MM annually, which they surely will. It should be interesting to see the Skinner story unfold, but there is plenty of evidence that the Penguins would be wise to avoid giving term to a netminder who is unpredictable.
Predators Notes: Marchessault, McCarron, GM Search
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.
Predators Reassign Reid Schaefer
2/6/26: The Predators reassigned Schaefer to AHL Milwaukee today. He dressed for each of Nashville’s last two games, skating in just under seven minutes of ice time per contest.
2/4/26: The Nashville Predators have added some forward depth to their lineup ahead of tonight’s game against the Minnesota Wild. According to a team announcement, the Predators have recalled forward Reid Schaefer from the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals.
Schaefer, 22, is viewed as one of the better prospects in Nashville’s system. He was originally selected with the 32nd overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft by the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers moved off him relatively quickly, trading him to the Predators a year later in the deal that brought defenseman Mattias Ekholm to Alberta.
Since then, he’s been a relatively solid secondary contributor with AHL Milwaukee. Debuting in the 2023-24 season, Schaefer has registered 21 goals and 53 points in 103 games in the game’s second-highest league. That averages out to just over a point every two games.
Being nearly a point-per-game player with the Admirals this season, the Predators believed it was time to allow Schaefer the opportunity to contribute at the NHL level. The Edmonton, Alberta native was recalled for the first time in late November and remained with the team for nearly two months.
He didn’t make too much noise during his first stint in the NHL, though it wasn’t all bad. Schaefer scored four goals and six points across 25 games with a -9 rating, averaging 10:30 of ice time per contest. He showed flashes of decent physicality, averaging 2.5 hits per game, and was efficient on offense, shooting at a 17.4% clip.
Considering the recent news that Barry Trotz will be stepping down as the team’s General Manager, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Schaefer get another extended look at the NHL level. Depending on how the team approaches the upcoming trade deadline, the next leader of the front office will want a better understanding of what the team has in some of the younger players.
Wood Assigned To Milwaukee
- The most notable prospect headed to the minors is Nashville Predators winger Matthew Wood, per a team release. Wood has spent the bulk of the season with the NHL club after a call-up in late October. He has scored nine goals and 17 points in 46 games, enough to rank seventh among all Predators forwards in scoring. Wood also scored one goal in the first two AHL games of his career earlier this season. He joined the Predators’ roster at the end of the 2024-25 campaign after posting 39 points in as many games with the University of Minnesota. Now, the volume-shooter could find a way to rediscover his scoring touch while also buoying the Admirals’ roster.