Nashville Predators: 2018 Offseason Outlook
They are the reigning Presidents Trophy winners but suffered a tough game 7 loss in the second round to the Winnipeg Jets.
The Nashville Predators have a team built to win right now. What they can not do is overreact to their playoff loss. The Predators have a great team and keeping this team together is their best shot. They have three great centers, one of the best defense cores in the league, and a Vezina finalist in Pekka Rinne.
Sure, the Predators have players they need to resign and free agents they should pursue. But if Preds are smart, they will recognize that they have an excellent team and won’t try to fix what ain’t broke.
Salary Cap Situation
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The Predators have $7.5 million in cap space to work with. This is before factoring in the salary cap rising to somewhere between $78 million and $82 million.
They have three unrestricted free agents and three restricted free agents. Once they let some free agents slide, more money will be freed up to get some players to improve their team.
It also helps when you have a wizard of a general manager that can sign Roman Josi to a $4 million deal, Mattias Eckholm for $3.75 million, and Ryan Ellis for $2.5 million. Not only does this team have a great d-core, they have a super affordable one as well.
Free Agents
Not much of significant movement is going on with the Predators this offseason. All of their key players are signed and they don’t have a ton of cap space to do much. However, they do have three restricted and three free agents that they have to deal with.
Restricted Free Agents
- Miikka Salomäki (RW)
- Ryan Hartman (RW)
- Juuse Saros (Goalie)
Miikka Salomäki was a solid fourth liner for the Preds and will most likely be resigned because he is an affordable and efficient depth forward.
The Nashville Predators gave a lot to acquire Ryan Hartman. They will not give him up so easily. He had three goals and three assists in 23 games which is not ideal, but he suffered an injury to his shoulder which impeded his ability to play at full strength.
Juuse Saros is the big name on this list. He has a .925 save percentage in 26 games and is a big piece of this Predators’ roster. Whenever Pekka Rinne starts to slip up, you can count on him to step in. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of deal he gets. Will the Predators sign him long-term?
Unrestricted Free Agents
- Scott Hartnell (LW)
- Alexi Emelin (LD)
- Anders Lindbäck (G)
All three of these guys are disposable for the Predators. Hartnell is 37 years old and is on the decline of his career. The Predators have tons of internal depth in defense so Emelin is going to be gone as well. Rinne and Saros are a dominant tandem and Anders Lindbäck will not be needed.
This will free up a lot of cap space to sign other free agents that will be more useful to Nashville.
Free Agent Targets
As I’ve said before, the Predators will be a Stanley Cup contender even if they do nothing. However, there are always ways to get better and one player will certainly improve this roster.
James van Riemsdyk
James van Riemsdyk is a true blue scorer. Last season with the Maple Leafs, he put up a career-high 36 goals. The Predators would love more scoring and this guy is the perfect fit. He’s a big guy and gets his goals in the crease from tip-ins.
JVR would fit well with Nashville and will bring a new style of scoring to this team. His defensive side of the game is sub-par, but with a defense and goaltending of Nashville, it should be no problem. Besides, they have just enough cap space to give him $5-6 million dollars per year.
Other names have been speculated such as Riley Nash and Thomas Vanek, but these names don’t seem too likely for the Predators to sign. Neither would significantly improve the Preds like JVR would.
John Tavares
The Predators would have to get very creative to sign Tavares. Either that or he’s going to need to be willing to take a substantial discount. That said, David Poile once traded his franchise defenseman in Shea Weber. So even if he needs to let go of Rinne, he wouldn’t be afraid to do it. After all, the Predators have Sarros.
Next: What's the plan for Pekka Rinne?
Other than that, the Preds really don’t need to do much else. This team is the real deal.