Nashville Predators Prepare for First Free Agency Period With New Management
Let the NHL offseason games truly begin. Wednesday morning marks the first day of NHL free agency and deals will start to fly around.
This free agency period is an interesting one for the Nashville Predators. With new front office management led by President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Chris MacFarland, the Predators are trying to rebuild a roster that can get back to playoffs.
MacFarland has already gotten to work in the past four weeks since he was hired by Nashville with acquisitions of Jack Drury, Ross Colton, Adam Edstrom and Nils Hoglander, but free agency opens the market for roster improvement.
This year’s free agency class is not the flashiest, but there are still some notable names hitting this market this year. The issue, though, is that a lot of the big names are in older age brackets that have left their prime.
Veterans such as Patrick Kane, Viktor Arvidsson, Vladimir Tarasenko, Erik Haula, Mats Zuccarello, John Carlson and others are hitting the market, but all of those guys are at the age of 33-years-old or older.
Based on the trades that MacFarland has made, he wants to fill the roster with guys in their middle to upper 20s. Guys that are seemingly in the middle of their prime or at least are consistently producing on the ice.
So, this class likely does not move the needle much for MacFarland, but it does not mean they will be sitting around in July.
A player that could fit the desirable description MacFarland and the organization is looking for is defenseman Rasmus Andersson. This past season for Vegas, he had 47 points on 17 goals and 30 assists. He did not produce a ton in the Golden Knights’ run to the Stanley Cup Finals, but he is a guy that Nashville could possibly take a look at. At 27-years-old, he would give a boost to the Predators’ defensive depth.
There is a problem for the Predators this offseason. According to PuckPedia, Nashville has $17.8 million in cap space. It could be worse, but the cap space situation could definitely be better for the Predators.
Because of that, the Predators may not be super active in signings, but they could continue to be active in the trade market.
Free agency begins at 11 a.m. CT Wednesday, July 1. It continues the mission the Predators have to improve the construction of the roster. If they make the right moves, they could find themselves in a position to contend for the postseason next season.
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Graham Baakko writes for both Nashville Predators On SI and Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham graduated from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as an intern for GamecockCentral.