After a lot of side deals that were made with Vegas didn’t exactly work out for the other team, some have wondered if there will be less of those this time around. Some general managers have suggested their intentions is just to lose who they lose and be done but that isn’t the case for Nashville. In an appearance on ESPN 102.5 The Game (audio link) following the Viktor Arvidsson trade on Thursday, GM David Poile indicated his preference would be to get a side deal in place:
Ideally, if we could strike a deal to determine a certain player who we would lose, I’d like to do that.
They effectively had an opportunity to make an arrangement with the Kraken with Arvidsson who Poile acknowledged would have been left unprotected and selected by Seattle had it not been for the trade with Los Angeles. In the end, his preference was to get some assets in return for the veteran and they did just that by picking up second and third-round draft picks.
Nashville is in a situation where they will almost certainly want to protect four defensemen, limiting them to just being able to protect four forwards. With that in mind, they’re likely to leave high-priced veterans in Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen. Making a move to clear one of those contracts off the books would certainly help free up some extra flexibility but with both signed long-term at $8MM apiece, a trade like that isn’t the most realistic.
Arvidsson’s departure now allows them to protect someone like Calle Jarnkrok which would then push Nick Cousins and Rocco Grimaldi to the forefront of likely exposed forwards with veterans Matt Benning and Mark Borowiecki the notable blueliners that would be available. On the surface, a side deal doesn’t appear to be needed as none of those are core players but evidently, Poile would like to have some more certainty surrounding who he’s going to lose. With the expansion draft being less than three weeks away, time is quickly ticking for him to make a deal to get that certainty in place.
Hard to believe just 2 years ago everyone was praising Nashville for that insane centre depth and how they got Matt crazy cheap at 8 mill per. How quickly things changed
Not quite everyone, I was calling him a DOG and explaining that said DOG didn’t care about hockey, only his wannabe country music career.
I, obviously, stand by those remarks.
Talented player, I won’t deny. But zero heart and no drive…unless it’s a contract year.
The guy I don’t understand is Ryan Johansen…why is he so useless now? He was a good player who seemed to care. Did the big contract make him soft? Injuries? Coaches figure him out? Is he a DOG, too? What happened there?
@forwhomjoshbelltolled – You and I were among the few with those stances. And, still can’t figure out RJ92 yet…
If the first DOG is Duchene , he hasn’t been the same since he walked out during game with Colorado due to trade and few others afterwards , he hasn’t been the same player not producing offensively or defensively since, Guess his music career isn’t going well either hasn’t even come out with a one hit wonder
@riverrat55 – Well, G, word on the streets was that he picked an awful title to be his one-hit-wonder: “Mama said go top shelf, don’t clank one off the post, son!” :)
Forgive my ignorance what does DOG stand for?
@backhandinbaptist – Well, I look at “DOG” the same way as “dog”, just yelling it! Other guys might have a different twist, though…
Haha so I should bark at him eh?
@backhandinbaptist – Sure, but show a LOT of teeth!
After McPhee fleeced teams in trades and the expansion draft, they’re motivated to trade unprotected assets, before Seattle gets their pick.
Since Vegas doesn’t have to protect anyone, they could do well in this expansion too.
The situation is a bit more complicated for the Preds than as laid out here. Carrier has to be protected as well as the other 4 Dmen, so that only leaves 3 forwards available to be protected. That’s likely Forsberg, Kunin and Jarnkrok, which leaves Sissions exposed. That’s they guy Poile likely wants to keep Francis away from taking.
Exactly my thoughts as well…