Latest On Predators RFAs
- Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman cites colleague Jeff Marek to report that the two restricted free agents the Nashville Predators will issue qualifying offers are center Cody Glass and defenseman Alexandre Carrier. That means notable players such as 2017 first-round pick Cal Foote and capable defensive winger Rasmus Asplund will hit the open market. It’s somewhat a surprise to see Foote go unqualified, seeing that he was recently acquired as part of the Tanner Jeannot trade and does have a first-round pedigree.
Nashville Predators Trying To Acquire Top Five Pick
This is a huge night for the Nashville Predators franchise, hosting the 2023 NHL Draft – the first under the leadership of new general manager and franchise coaching legend Barry Trotz. Over the past few hours, it’s become clear Trotz is looking to make an earth-shattering move on the draft floor tonight to move up in the first round.
Multiple reports suggest the Predators have called the Montreal Canadiens about trading up to fifth overall, and Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli now reports Nashville’s put goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov into play. The Russian netminder, who was the 11th overall pick in the 2020 draft, is one of the best netminder prospects in the world and posted a .911 save percentage in 48 games with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals this season.
Askarov would make tremendous amounts of sense for the two teams Nashville’s called about in the top five – Montreal and the San Jose Sharks, who Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic says are getting multiple calls about their fourth overall selection. Both teams have a decent pool of goalie prospects but no surefire starter in their future.
It’ll take much more than Askarov to get either of those teams to part with their picks, though. Nashville holds the 15th and 24th overall selections tonight, with the latter acquired from the Edmonton Oilers for Mattias Ekholm. It’ll take at least Askarov plus the 15th pick, potentially a tad more given the game-breaking, franchise-changing talent available with each of the first five picks in this draft.
With Trotz’s public posturing of wanting high-upside, skilled players in Nashville’s prospect pool, it’s fair to wonder if Nashville is targeting Matvei Michkov if they do move up. While there are some concerns about his defensive engagement (depending on who you ask) and obvious off-ice questions given his contract status and geopolitical uncertainty, he’s the highest-upside prospect in this draft not named Connor Bedard.
Nashville Predators Sign Jake Livingstone To Extension
The Nashville Predators announced this morning that they have re-signed defenseman Jake Livingstone to a two-year two-way contract extension. The 24-year-old made his NHL debut this past season dressing in five games for the Predators, posting a single assist. Livingstone struggled for the most part as he was caved in while on the ice at even strength. The two-way extension makes sense as it appears the young defender needs time in the AHL to develop.
Livingstone signed a one-year ELC this past spring to join the Predators for the remainder of the season after spending three years in the NCAA with Minnesota State where he had 21 goals and 59 assists in 91 career games. The native of Creston, BC finished off his college career by being named to the All-CCHA First Team and also won the conference’s Defenseman of the Year award for the second straight season.
Before enrolling at Minnesota State, Livingstone spent four years in the BCHL with the Langley Rivermen. In 185 career BCHL games, he posted 22 goals and 82 assists and was named to the BCHL’s Second All-Star Team in his final season.
With his two-year extension, Livingstone will count $775K against the salary cap while in the NHL and will make $82,500 while in the AHL. For a player who was never drafted and never played major junior hockey it’s a pretty good outcome. He isn’t the best skater in the world, but he has good size standing 6’3” tall and weighing in at 205 pounds. If he can improve his puck handling and skating, he could become a valuable bottom-pairing defenseman for the Predators as they navigate their first rebuild in a long time.
Snapshots: Dubois, Lucic, Galchenyuk
The Los Angeles Kings and Winnipeg Jets appeared close to a Pierre-Luc Dubois trade over the weekend, but things haven’t progressed as quickly as expected. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that there is “still work to be done” and that the Jets haven’t even given Los Angeles permission to discuss an extension with the center.
Arpon Basu of The Athletic, meanwhile, tweets that the Montreal Canadiens are still open to finding a way to make it work, if the Kings aren’t able to close the deal. Darren Dreger of TSN adds that the Canadiens have re-engaged, making it unclear where Dubois will actually end up.
- One landing spot has been ruled out for Milan Lucic, as Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV reports that the Vancouver Canucks are no longer in the mix. The Canucks had reportedly expressed interest in the pending free agent forward, who will be leaving the Calgary Flames after three seasons. Now 35, there is no longer much offensive upside in the veteran forward, but he can still be an imposing physical presence on the ice.
- Alex Galchenyuk, the player acquired by the Nashville Predators in yesterday’s Ryan Johansen deal, will not be re-signed by the team according to LeBrun. His inclusion was simply to clear a contract slot off the books for the Colorado Avalanche. The 29-year-old Galchenyuk played just 11 games in the NHL this season, failing to record a single point.
Nashville Predators Hire Pekka Rinne
The Nashville Predators aren’t really the Predators without Pekka Rinne in the mix. The team’s legendary goaltender is back in the organization, named a European Development Coach and Scout today. Rinne will work out of Finland, but collaborate with goaltending coach Ben Vanderklok to help develop the club’s goalie prospects. He’ll also be back in Nashville to help with development camps this summer.
Arguably the greatest Predator of all time, and the only one to have his number retired by the club, Rinne retired after the 2020-21 season. In his 15-year career, which was spent entirely with Nashville, he posted a 369-213-75 record in 666 starts. Rinne won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender in 2018, and was a finalist on three other occasions. In 2011, after posting a .930 save percentage in 64 games, he finished fourth in Hart Trophy voting.
Rinne is 17th all-time in NHL save percentage and tied with Tom Barrasso for 20th on the all-time win list. He’s now starting the next chapter in his hockey life, serving as a goaltending coach for Team Finland at the recent World Juniors and joining Nashville to see what the other side of the sport is like.
Even the press release indicates that part of this appointment is to “learn and observe,” suggesting there may be more responsibility coming his way at some point if he desires it. Regardless of role, Nashville fans will happily welcome back their franchise goalie.
Poll: What Has Been The Most Impactful Pre-Draft Trade?
The 2023 NHL Draft is now only three days away, and there has already been a flurry of activity in the NHL trade market. Yesterday, we saw the Colorado Avalanche acquire Ryan Johansen from the Nashville Predators, and the Arizona Coyotes acquire Sean Durzi from the Los Angeles Kings. Following up on those deals, there is heavy expectation that the St. Louis Blues will acquire Kevin Hayes from the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Carolina Hurricanes will add back Anthony DeAngelo to their lineup. If yesterday didn’t bring enough action, it’s also expected that the Kings are close to acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets.
After losing Nazem Kadri to the Calgary Flames last offseason, the Avalanche had a very difficult time replacing the void left by Kadri on the team’s second forward line. Throughout this past season, Colorado originally tried to patrol Alex Newhook in that role, but after failing to live up to expectations, J.T. Compher was thrust into that role. Compher did excel, scoring 17 goals and 35 assists this season, the best statistical performance of his career. Unfortunately for the Avalanche, Compher is set to enter unrestricted free agency, and Colorado may not have the cap space to retain him.
By acquiring Johansen from the Predators, the Avalanche clearly wanted to make an outside move to complete their second line. This past season, Johansen did not play particularly well, scoring 12 goals and 16 assists in 55 games, having his season ended by a foot injury in February. However, the year prior, Johansen was a proficient offensive player in Nashville, scoring 26 goals and 37 assists.
Sticking in the Central Division, the expected acquisition of Hayes for the Blues should fill the void left behind by Ryan O’Reilly last season. Hayes has very much had an up-and-down career, having much of his time spent in Philadelphia hampered by injuries. This past season, he did have the best offensive output so far with the Flyers, scoring 18 goals and 36 assists in 81 games. It was well known that Hayes and head coach John Tortorella sparred quite consistently, and it was becoming more and more clear that his time in Philadelphia would be coming to an end.
In Los Angeles, the Kings’ trade of Durzi largely indicated that the team was trying to move out money to acquire better talent. In Durzi, Los Angeles largely had a defenseman that was exceptional at moving the puck but was not as responsible on the defensive side of the game. He did score 38 points last year for the Kings, but the underlying defensive metrics were not positive. Opening up $1.7MM with that trade, it has now been reported that the Kings are expected to acquire Dubois, as well as sign him to an extension. Not only will this move allow the Kings to strengthen their second line, but by being able to move Phillip Danault to the third-line center position, Los Angeles may be one of the deepest teams in the Western Conference.
Lastly, the Hurricanes are bringing back a familiar face, as reports indicate that Carolina and Philadelphia are working on a trade. Last offseason, the Hurricanes felt that DeAngelo’s asking price on his next contract was too rich for their blood, and moved him to the Flyers for three draft picks. By acquiring DeAngelo, Carolina now has four defensemen set to hit unrestricted free agency next season, even though it does strengthen their blue line for next year.
After all the moves up to this point, which player do you think will have the biggest impact on their next team?
Nashville's RFAs Don't Appear To Be Priority For Trotz Just Yet
- In a recent appearance on 102.5 The Game (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman relayed that none of Nashville’s pending restricted free agents appear to be on the front burner right now. Center Cody Glass and defenseman Alexandre Carrier are the two notable ones for the Predators that have arbitration rights and the filing deadline is July 5th. Accordingly, while incoming GM Barry Trotz might not be focusing on those two just yet, some discussions for those players will need to be held relatively soon.
Predators Trade Ryan Johansen To Avalanche
The Avalanche have made a move to add to their forward group as they’ve acquired center Ryan Johansen from the Predators in exchange for the rights to pending free agent forward Alex Galchenyuk. As part of the deal, Nashville will be retaining 50% of Johansen’s contract, one that carries an $8MM cap charge through 2024-25, meaning Colorado will add Johansen on their books at a $4MM price tag. Incoming Predators GM Barry Trotz released the following statement about Johansen’s departure:
“On behalf of the Predators organization, we want to thank Ryan for his contributions to our team and community over the last seven-plus years. He played a large role in our franchise’s accomplishments since arriving in January 2016, helping lead us to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, the 2018 Presidents’ Trophy, back-to-back Central Division titles in 2018 and 2019 and several postseason appearances. Ryan also dedicated a considerable amount of time to the Predators Foundation and helped us grow the game in Middle Tennessee, including his work with youth hockey in our community. We wish Ryan all the best in Colorado.”
Johansen has spent the last eight seasons with the Predators after they moved Seth Jones to acquire him back in 2016. The hope at the time was that they were moving a top young defenseman for a top young center, one that could emerge as their top option down the middle. Things got off to a reasonable start on that front as he had 95 points in his first 124 games with the Preds, helping him earn his eight-year, $64MM contract. However, after that, his output largely cooled off as he managed just 60 points once in the following four years, never surpassing the 15-goal mark in the process.
In 2021-22, it looked like Johansen had turned a corner as he notched a career-high 26 goals while recording 63 points. Those numbers weren’t exactly worth an $8MM price tag but for the time being, he and Matt Duchene were giving Nashville at least decent production up the middle. Unfortunately, that didn’t carry over to this past season as the 30-year-old managed just 28 points in 55 games before undergoing emergency leg surgery in February, ending his campaign prematurely.
For Colorado, this is a relatively low-risk gamble that Johansen can rediscover his offensive touch. They never truly replaced Nazem Kadri who left in free agency last summer, opting instead to largely go with internal options including J.T. Compher. Compher had a career year in 2022-23, picking up a career-high 52 points but he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent next month and will likely land a contract that’s worth more than what the Avs will be covering on Johansen’s deal. At $4MM, as long as Johansen can put up around 40 points while continuing to be above-average at the faceoff dot, he’ll provide ample value for Colorado and with the firepower they have, an uptick in production is certainly a possibility.
With this swap, the Avalanche have around $8.5MM in cap room, per CapFriendly with at least six players to sign with that money. However, that doesn’t account for Gabriel Landeskog‘s injury that will cause him to miss the entire 2023-24 campaign so GM Chris MacFarland has roughly $15.5MM still at his disposal over the coming weeks.
As for Nashville, this is an underwhelming return, to put it lightly, for someone that just a few years ago was one of the focal points of their attack. But the Predators are clearly embarking on at least a partial rebuild after jettisoning several veterans at the trade deadline and in a flat salary cap environment, getting full value for Johansen would have been next to impossible. The move now gives them a little over $19.5MM in cap room to work with, per CapFriendly, so if they want to be active in free agency to try to make it a quick retool, they’ll have the flexibility to do so. Alternatively, if they want to take on a bad contract or two to add more assets, that will also be a viable option for them.
Notably, this swap now encumbers two of Nashville’s three allowable retention slots through the 2024-25 campaign as one is also being used on Mattias Ekholm. These retentions plus the buyout to Kyle Turris give the Preds $6.25MM in dead cap for the upcoming season.
Galchenyuk’s inclusion in this trade is almost certainly just for contract-matching purposes. Even though he’s a pending free agent, he still counts as under contract until July 1st as do all pending free agents. For the time being, Nashville has 47 contracts on their books while Colorado sits at 45 so both franchises have some wiggle room in the coming weeks on that front.
Galchenyuk played in just 11 games with the Avs this past season, being held off the scoresheet in the process. The 2012 third-overall pick spend most of the year with AHL Colorado and was productive with them, picking up 42 points in as many games. He’ll almost certainly be heading for another two-way contract next season if he opts to stay in North America but after clearing waivers twice in the last two seasons, it’s possible that the 29-year-old looks to try his hand at playing overseas.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nashville Predators Add Derek MacKenzie To Coaching Staff
- The Nashville Predators have hired Derek MacKenzie as an assistant coach, the team said this morning. MacKenzie had previously worked with new Predators head coach Andrew Brunette for a three-year period with the Florida Panthers, concluding with a President’s Trophy win in 2021-22 with Brunette as head coach. MacKenzie had spent the 2022-23 campaign as head coach of the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves after the Panthers revamped their coaching staff last offseason, where he guided prospects such as forward Quentin Musty (who could be available with Nashville’s first-round selections) to high-end seasons.
Latest On Alex DeBrincat
The trade market will only heat up over the next few weeks, and Ottawa Senators winger Alex DeBrincat is expected to be high on the list of most trade bait boards. Reports late last week suggested Ottawa will want to get a move in place by next week’s draft, as the 25-year-old sniper isn’t willing to sign a long-term extension with the Sens after heading to the Canadian capital via trade at this time last year. Today, we have some more clarity on where DeBrincat could end up by the end of the month: the Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators, Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, and the Detroit Red Wings are on his preferred list of teams where he’d sign a long-term extension, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports.
Ottawa acquired DeBrincat from the Chicago Blackhawks just before the first round of last year’s draft, conceding the seventh overall pick (used on Kevin Korchinski), the 39th overall pick (used on Paul Ludwinski), and a third-round pick in 2024. How much of that value Ottawa can recoup in a secondary trade remains to be seen.
Garrioch mentioned last year’s Kevin Fiala trade between the Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings as a comparable, with the Kings sending high-end defense prospect Brock Faber and the 19th overall pick in the 2022 draft in return for Fiala’s RFA rights (he then signed a long-term extension). Garrioch argues that Senators general manager Pierre Dorion should be in a position to get a better return, given DeBrincat is a two-time 40-goal scorer at the time of the deal.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli seemed to pour cold water on that today, however, suggesting an offer from the Detroit Red Wings of winger Filip Zadina (whose time to develop into a full-time NHLer is quickly running out) and futures as a likely return in terms of value for DeBrincat. What does seem clear is that Ottawa likely won’t be receiving a significant roster player in this deal – nor will they be getting the value of picks they gave up for DeBrincat in the first place.
If Ottawa is able to get a prospect closer to Faber’s caliber in return for DeBrincat, though, they should be aiming for a winger who could replace DeBrincat’s spot long-term. The team’s gamble on Tyler Boucher at 10th overall in 2021 doesn’t look like it will pay off, and the team is quickly running out of forward prospects with top-six ceilings with Shane Pinto and Ridly Greig graduating to full-time NHL roles. That could be someone like Mavrik Bourque from Dallas, Fedor Svechkov from Nashville, Mackie Samoskevich from Florida, or Brendan Brisson from Vegas.
Expecting a first-round pick along with Brisson from Vegas may be too much to ask, but the team is slated to pick with the last selection of the first round after winning the Stanley Cup, so it doesn’t quite hold as much value. Dallas and Florida do not have their first-round picks in this year’s draft, while Detroit holds the ninth overall selection, and Nashville holds the 15th and 24th overall picks.