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Craig Smith To Test Free Agency

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Craig Smith has spent the past nine seasons in Nashville but it appears as if he’ll be changing teams next month.   His agent Kevin Magnuson told Adam Vingan of The Athletic (subscription link) that the winger will be testing free agency when the market opens up on October 9th and that Smith is seeking a three-year deal.

The 31-year-old has been a part of the Predators organization since they selected him in the fourth round (98th overall) back in 2009.  They’ve certainly had an excellent return on their investment as he has played in 661 games for them which is good for fourth in franchise history while his 330 points are good enough for sixth all-time.

However, his production has tapered off a little bit as of late.  While he managed to get 51 points in 2017-18, it’s the only time in the past five seasons that he has reached 40.  This season, he played in 69 games, tallying 18 goals and 13 assists but perhaps more tellingly, his playing time dropped to just 13:25 per night, the lowest in his career.  His usage dipped a bit further in the playoffs as he logged only 12:49 per game in their four playoff contests while being held off the scoresheet.

Smith had a $4.25MM AAV on his deal for the last five seasons and while his recent production seemingly wouldn’t justify that price tag again in what should be a weakened free agent market, Magnuson seems to think that his client will be able to once again be in that range.

I think the number, because there are eight to 10 teams that have decent cap space, I think we won’t be too far off at the end of the day. He’s not going to be signing any blockbuster deals, but at the same time, he’s going to be in the market or a little bit above it, I think.

Nashville has just over $8MM in cap room at the moment but they have multiple roster spots both up front and on the back end to fill with that money.  If some of those players sign for close to the minimum, they should have enough cap space to re-sign Smith or add another veteran but for the time being at least, they’re not prepared to bring Smith back although Magnuson wouldn’t rule out a reunion once the veteran sees what his other options will be next month.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Michael McCarron Re-Signs With Nashville Predators

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The Nashville Predators have signed Michael McCarron to a new one-year, two-way contract for 2020-21. The deal will pay McCarron $700K at the NHL level and $300K in the AHL, keeping him from unrestricted free agency.

McCarron, 25, was a first-round bust for the Montreal Canadiens, who invested the 25th overall pick in him in 2013. The 6’6″ forward never did manage to improve his offense enough to really be a difference-maker at the NHL level, even struggling at times to produce at the minor league level.

Still, McCarron will provide some depth and experience for the Predators that can come up and down when needed, or add some size to the Milwaukee Admirals lineup. In 69 NHL contests, he has just eight points but did score 10 goals in just 27 games down the stretch for the Admirals last season.

McCarron was scheduled to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent, something that could happen again next season if he doesn’t play in ten games for the Predators.

NHL Announces First And Second All-Star Teams, All-Rookie Team

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Following the announcements of the final five NHL regular season awards, the league also revealed their three all-league rosters: the First-Team All-Stars, the Second-Team All-Stars, and the All-Rookie Team. Below are the 2019-20 honorees:

First All-Star Team (link)

G: Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
D: Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
D: John Carlson, Washington Capitals
LW: Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers
C: Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
RW: David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins

The 2020 First-Team All-Stars are a historic group, the first time since the inaugural all-league honors in 1930-31 that all six honorees are first-time members of the team. Unsurprisingly, this team also covers most of the league’s major awards with Draisaitl taking home the Hart, Ted Lindsay, and Art Ross, Josi winning the Norris, Hellebuyck winning the Vezina, and Pastrnak earning the Rocket Richard.

Second All-Star Team (link)

G: Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins
D: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
D: Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
LW: Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins
C: Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
RW: Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning

The President’s Trophy-winning Boston Bruins finish with a league-best three players on All-Star rosters. Their division rival, and current Stanley Cup finalist, the Tampa Bay Lightning are the only other team with more than one inclusion on the all-star rosters. Noticeably absent from either all-star teams are future Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. This is just the third time since 2005-06 that at least one of the pair have not been on a postseason All-Star team, while they have both have been selected in the same year eight times in the past 15 years.

All-Rookie Team (link)

G: Elvis Merzlikins, Columbus Blue Jackets
D: Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
D: Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks
F: Victor Olofsson, Buffalo Sabres
F: Dominik Kubalik, Chicago Blackhawks
F: Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens

The rookie elite, led by Calder Trophy-winner Makar, is an older group than usual. Merzlikins, Olofsson, and Kubalik, all 25 or older, played in Europe for a considerable amount of time before jumping to North America as a polished product, while Makar and Hughes each played a pair of seasons in the NCAA and Suzuki aged out of juniors before turning pro. Nevertheless, the first-year pros were all impressive and still have many  quality years ahead of them.

Roman Josi Named Winner Of The 2020 Norris Trophy

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The NHL Awards roll on with the presentation of the James Norris Memorial Trophy, presented to the league’s top defenseman. This year’s winner is the Nashville Predators’ Roman Josi, as voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association. Josi took the award against stout competition, with the Washington Capitals’ John Carlson and the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Victor Hedman as his fellow finalists.

Josi, 30, has received Norris votes in the past but made it impossible for the PHWA to ignore him this season with a career-high 16 goals and 65 points in just 69 games. Josi led all defensemen in goals and trailed only Carlson in assists, points, and points per game. He also led all defensemen in shots by a wide margin. Josi additionally averaged the third-most total time on ice and even strength time on ice this year and finished in the top-ten among defensemen in plus/minus.

With all that said, this was expected to be one of the tighter awards races given that the well-rounded Hedman is a previous winner and multiple-time finalist, while Carlson enjoyed a career year of his own that was arguably superior to Josi’s offensively. Yet, the voting was convincingly in favor of Josi. The Predators star received 109 first-place votes to Carlson’s 56 and finished more than 200 voting points ahead. Meanwhile, Hedman finished closer to the St. Louis Blues’ Alex Pietrangelo in fourth than he did challenge Josi and Carlson. Call it a reflection of his career more than this season alone if you like, but Josi undoubtedly deserved a Norris and was terrific in 2019-20.

Nashville Predators Officially Name Dan Hinote As Assistant Coach

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As anticipated, the Nashville Predators have made the official announcement that former NHL forward Dan Hinote has joined the team as an assistant coach. Hinote has spent the past two season as an assistant with the U.S. National Team Development Program and ironically is set to replace Dan Muse on head coach John Hynes’ staff after Muse was named a head coach for the USNTDP. Hinote rounds out a staff that also includes Dan Lambert and Rob Scuderi. Hynes said of his new addition:

Hinote’s character, personality, as well as playing and coaching experience will be a great fit for our team and players. As a player, Dan brought energy and leadership to his teams, winning a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2001, and his experience as a coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets and USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program will be of great value to our organization.

GM David Poile, who has always had a soft spot for the USNTDP, added his own support for Hinote’s hire, stating:

In this assistant coach position, we were looking for a former player who was fairly recently retired but still had coaching experience, and Dan fit that description perfectly. He builds strong connections with players – including Ryan Johansen in his time in Columbus – and has played with Predators alumni and Hall of Famers Paul Kariya and Peter Forsberg in Colorado, as well as Predators Director of Player Development Scott Nichol, Preds broadcaster Chris Mason and Kariya again in St. Louis. Dan complements John and the rest of our current staff nicely, and I trust he will be a tremendous asset to the team.

As mentioned, prior to his time with the USNTDP Hinote spent eight seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets, splitting his time between working as an assistant coach and a pro scout for the organization. Hinote joined Columbus immediately after retiring in 2010. While he spent his final playing season in Sweden, Hinote spent nine seasons in the NHL as a hard-working and intelligent two-way forward. He hopes to bring those same hallmarks to his position with the Predators and impart them on the players.

 

Snapshots: Penguins, Hinote, NCAA

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have already made one trade to add a fresh face to their forward group, but more changes are coming before the start of next season. Josh Yohe of The Athletic breaks down the latest from the team, including a report that the Penguins have “soured” on Jared McCann’s ability to fill the third-line center role. McCann “is a player the Penguins are willing to move” according to Yohe, who also details several other situations including goaltending and defense.

McCann, 24, would likely have huge market appeal if made available, given his versatility and relatively solid regular season in Pittsburgh. The forward, who can play both center and wing, scored 14 goals and 35 points in 66 games but ended up scratched in the playoffs. One thing to remember for any acquiring team, McCann is a restricted free agent in need of a new contract and would be joining his fourth NHL organization before the age of 25.

  • Craig Custance of The Athletic reports that Dan Hinote will be an assistant coach with the Nashville Predators this season, though there has been no official hiring announcement from the team as of this writing. Hinote, who spent nine seasons in the NHL as a depth forward, has worked with the US National Team Development Program the last two seasons and previously was with the Columbus Blue Jackets organization. The Predators, and specifically GM David Poile, are known for their connection to the USNTDP as seen with their recent hiring of head coach John Hynes.
  • Speaking of amateur hockey in the United States, the college season is expected to be officially delayed in the coming days according to Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald, but optimism is apparently building that a 2020-21 season will be held at some point. Corey Pronman of The Athletic has also heard that a late-November start is the hope for college hockey.

Mikael Granlund To Test Free Agency

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While many teams will be using these next few weeks to try to reach new deals for their pending unrestricted free agents, that won’t be the case for the Predators and forward Mikael Granlund.  Instead, his agent Todd Diamond told Adam Vingan of The Athletic (subscription required) that they intend to test the open market when it opens up next month.  Diamond wouldn’t rule out a return to Nashville but they will see what other options are out there first.

Granlund’s time with the Preds has been littered with its ups and downs.  Acquired at the 2019 trade deadline for Kevin Fiala, the 28-year-old had just a single goal in 16 regular season games down the stretch with his new team and only had a goal and an assist in their first-round exit at the hands of Dallas.  Things didn’t get off to a great start this season either.

However, once John Hynes took over from Peter Laviolette as head coach, things started to turn around for Granlund.  He led the team with 11 goals in 27 games under Hynes while his ice time jumped to over 19 minutes per game as well, numbers that Diamond will surely be emphasizing to potential suitors.  His usage was similar in their Qualifying Round series against Arizona as well as he logged 18:43 per game although he only managed a single assist in four games.

Granlund is one of the more intriguing names in what is a fairly soft market for forwards.  He’s only two years removed from back-to-back 20-plus goal/65-plus point seasons and at his age, it’s quite possible that he could get back to those numbers in the right environment.  He also has experience at center although he has largely played on the wing in recent years; that versatility will also be attractive.

Having said that, two quieter years offensively undoubtedly won’t help his leverage, especially if he’s seeking a long-term contract.  While he will be one of the top forwards on the market, the flattened salary cap will reduce how many teams are willing to pay big money for a long-term deal at a rate close to the $5.75MM he made on his most recent contract.  As a result, he’s one that might be better off looking for a short-term pact in a better offensive environment that would give him a chance to restore some value before hitting the market again where there is more certainty surrounding the economics.  Either way, he’ll be hearing what his options are no matter what with an early contract with Nashville now being ruled out.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Daniel Carr Signs In Switzerland

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After failing to see much NHL action over the last couple of years, Predators winger Daniel Carr has decided to change things up for a little bit as HC Lugano of the NLA announced that they’ve signed the pending unrestricted free agent.  The deal runs through November 15th with an option to be extended through the end of December which will be dependent on the NHL 2020-21 calendar.

The 28-year-old signed with Nashville as a free agent last summer following a dominant showing in the AHL that saw him post 30 goals and 41 assists in just 52 games.  He was hoping that would propel him to a regular spot in the lineup for the Predators but that failed to materialize.  Instead, he played just 11 NHL games this season and was in the minors for the rest, tallying 23 goals and 27 assists in 47 games with AHL Milwaukee.

Carr has seen NHL action over each of the last five years, getting into 111 regular season games between Montreal, Vegas, and Nashville.  At a minimum, he should have some interest in free agency from teams looking for a high-end producer in the minors that can play a few minutes here and there in the NHL when injuries arise.

That makes this decision to sign a short-term deal in Switzerland a little more interesting.  A good start in that league could help him secure a one-way contract again and give him a possible leg up in training camp but if he doesn’t start strong or gets injured, it could wind up hurting his chances of getting an NHL deal.  There’s some risk/reward potential at play here and it will be interesting to see if any other pending UFAs decide to try a similar path in the coming days; some leagues have started up already while others will be getting underway shortly so decisions will need to be made quickly.

Yakov Trenin Linked To KHL

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The Nashville Predators may end up losing prospect Yakov Trenin if they aren’t willing to give him a one-way contract. The 23-year old’s agent posted a picture of Trenin with a SKA St. Petersburg jersey earlier today, and then followed up with Adam Vingan of The Athletic to explain that they would not accept a two-way deal. The agent, Shumi Babayev, told Vingan that the chances are not great of him returning to Nashville, though he hasn’t technically signed in the KHL just yet.

Trenin, a second-round pick from 2015, finally broke into the NHL this season after several years in the minor leagues. Russian-born but drafted out of the QMJHL, he ended up playing 21 games for the Predators in 2019-20 and scored six points. Trenin’s entry-level contract is set to expire and he obviously believes he deserves more than just the two-way deal many prospects have to accept with little NHL experience. With little leverage as an arbitration-ineligible restricted free agent, Trenin’s only real out would be heading to Russia. Even then, the Predators could retain his rights with a qualifying offer, one that would be a two-way contract worth just $787,500 at the NHL level.

Of course, this could be just a negotiating tactic if Trenin hopes to stay and compete for a roster spot next season on a Nashville team that will be looking for cheap options upfront. His waiver-exempt status will expire after this season, meaning even if he does sign a two-way deal he could very well end up at the NHL level all year. An interesting young player that dominated the AHL level this year, it seems unlikely that the Predators would risk him to waivers in order to send him down even if he’s not playing every night for them.

Eeli Tolvanen Loaned To Jokerit

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The Nashville Predators have decided to send another prospect overseas for the time being, loaning Eeli Tolvanen to Jokerit of the KHL. In the release, the team notes that the loan only lasts until the start of NHL training camp for the 2020-21 season, meaning Tolvanen will be back to compete for a spot.

Now 21, Tolvanen has been quite the cautionary tale in prospect over-hyping so far. The 30th selection in 2017, Tolvanen quickly found success at the KHL level, setting records as one of the most successful teenaged-players in the league’s history. He scored 19 goals an 36 points in 49 games for Jokerit during the 2017-18 season, with six more tallies in 11 playoff games. That sharpshooting led to him becoming one of the most talked-about prospects in the world at the time, but after coming to North America things quickly quieted.

Tolvanen ended up playing three games for the Predators at the end of the 2017-18 season, but was held scoreless and did not participate in the playoffs. The following season he spent almost exclusively in the minor leagues, scoring 35 points for the Milwaukee Admirals. This year was more of the same, as Tolvanen did not see a single recall all season, instead playing in 63 AHL games.

While he’s scored at a reasonable clip in those minor league matches, totaling 36 goals in 126 games, Tolvanen has clearly not been the all-world prospect that many hoped for when he first arrived. There is still plenty of time for him to develop the rest of his game around that lethal snapshot, which is exactly why the team will let him get in some extra game action over the next few months.

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