Predators Sign Navrin Mutter To One-Year Extension
The Nashville Predators have signed forward Navrin Mutter to a one-year, two-way, league-minimum contract for the 2025-26 season. Mutter was set to become a restricted free agent this summer, after completing his three-year, $2.3MM entry-level contract signed in 2022.
Mutter played four seasons in the OHL prior to signing his entry-level deal. His junior career started with the Hamilton Bulldogs in the 2017-18 season, where he quickly found a knack for gritty and antagonistic hockey. Mutter recorded 231 penalty minutes in 155 games through his first three OHL seasons, leading up to the cancelled 2020-21 campaign. He made his pro debut during the cancelled year – spending three games and recording no stats, other than a minor penalty, with the Stockton Heat. But Mutter opted to return to Hamilton for the 2021-22 campaign, and was traded to the Kitchener Rangers mid-season. Between the two squads he recorded a career-high of 22 points and 108 penalty minutes in just 62 games – good enough to convince Nashville to sign him as an undrafted free agent the following summer.
Mutter spent his entry-level contract finding his footing in the minor leagues. He played through his rookie AHL season in 2022-23 and immediately carried over his hard-hitting, dirty-area style of hockey. Mutter recorded eight points, 72 penalty minutes, and a minus-11 in 53 games as a rookie. That was enough to maintain his spot in the AHL for the start of the 2023-24 campaign, though Mutter was demoted to the ECHL in December after recording just two points in the first 12 games of the season. He went on to find a scoring streak in the third-tier league – netting five points in his first eight games. That mark rose to 11 points and 63 penalty minutes in 33 games before Mutter was recalled back to the AHL, where he finished the year with six points and 63 penalty minutes in 26 games.
With his legs under him, Mutter held onto the important role of depth enforcer for the Milwaukee Admirals this season. He only managed four points in 37 games, but did tally 87 penalty minutes – the second-highest PIMs-per-game on the team behind Kyle Marino‘s 150 PIMs in 63 games. This extension will return Mutter to his bruising role in the minors with likely little upside as an everyday NHLer. But should the Predators need a hard-hitting, tough-nosed fighter to boost their lineup – winger Mutter will carry the two-way flexibility to join the NHL camp.
Nashville Predators Sign Navrin Mutter
The Nashville Predators have dipped their toes into the undrafted free agent market, signing Navrin Mutter to a three-year entry-level contract. The deal starts in 2022-23 season and Mutter will continue to play with the Kitchener Rangers for the rest of this season.
Mutter, 20, has split this season between the Rangers and the Hamilton Bulldogs, where he previously served as an alternate captain. The 6’4″ forward has little offensive upside–he has 17 points in 44 games this season–but brings an impressive physical game, sometimes even going over the line. Mutter’s 88 penalty minutes this season is second in the entire OHL, after finishing second in 2019-20 with 107.
That brand of physical hockey has obviously interested the Predators, who have now signed the undrafted forward to an NHL deal. He’ll likely join the Milwaukee Admirals on an amateur tryout when the OHL season ends, but that actually won’t be his first taste of professional hockey. During the 2020-21 season when the OHL was shut down due to COVID restrictions, Mutter played three games with the Stockton Heat, recording two penalty minutes in the process.