It has been rumored for a while that the Nashville Predators are going to ignite the dynamite and blow the team to smithereens this summer. With that, there will be a few good pieces ripe for the picking. Given the right price, there are a few guys who will look great with the Hurricane over their chest instead of the sabretooth tiger of the predators.
Now, Nashville isn’t going to ship everyone off. There are three untouchables, all for slightly different reasons. Ryan Ellis is one, I’m assuming because they think the value for him is greater to the team than whatever they can get back for him. That’s probably true too, which shows you that Nashville has a general manager who’s not going to do stupid things in David Poile.
Roman Josi is another one of their untouchables. He’s the captain of the team, and one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL. Despite being a little lackadaisical in his own zone, he still clearly has a place on this Predators roster going forward. His offensive production has not faltered, and with his contract looking to take a steep turn in the final years, they will get more out of him than back for him.
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Pekka Rinne is the final untouchable. Likely because he’s 38, and in the final year of his contract, the team wants him to retire a Predator. Unless Rinne asks to be allowed to go chase a Stanley Cup in what might be the last year of his NHL career, he’ll retire a Predator. I also don’t know that the market for a goalie like Rinne would be too great seeing his inconsistency in the last few seasons.
Otherwise, everyone on the Nashville roster is ripe for the picking. However, we all know that David Poile has been in this league forever, and knows exactly what his players are worth. Looking at his roster, there’s no doubt he has the assets here to pull off a New York Rangers-style rebuild and recoup enough assets to open the window again in a few years.
Now, I will not be talking about two players who might scream at you coming off this roster. Neither Jusse Saros nor Filip Forsberg will feature here. There was already a piece that came out a few days ago talking about the idea of acquiring these two, so I will instead link to that piece below here and talk about a few other potential targets for the Carolina Hurricanes.
So, you might be thinking “Who else is there on this Nashville roster? Their only available goaltender isn’t in this piece and with no Forsberg either? Why am I reading?” To that, I ask you to be patient. Nashville has a roster with many studded pieces and many desirable assets. With no one other than those 5 off the board as potential targets, one can only hope for certain moves to be made.