Nashville Predators seriously beef up depth with Erik Haula addition

Erik Haula has all of a sudden deepened the Nashville Predators and their depth chart.

Just a day after announcing the return of Mikael Granlund, the Nashville Predators remained busy by signing UFA Erik Haula to a one-year, $1,750,000 contract.

It takes Haula off the open market finally and it also gives the Predators incredible depth and strength down the middle.

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Plus, at just $1.75 million on a one-year deal, this signing represents fantastic value for Nashville while it gives Haula the opportunity to boost his stock and also prove some people wrong following an injury-ravaged couple of years.

Make no doubt about it, though, this is a home run of a deal for both parties and it is a move that makes the Nashville Predators an intriguing proposition to watch heading into the 2020-21 NHL season.

For starters, this Preds team now looks formidable down the middle with stars Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen both top-six centers, while Haula is perfectly suited to a third-line role and Nick Cousins or Colton Sissons can dominate on the bottom line.

That is some serious depth at one of the most important positions in hockey, and it should help the Predators finally unlock their full potential after struggling to maximise the abundance of talent they have at their disposal for the last few years now.

Secondly, Haula isn’t exactly a one-trick pony and he can play in all situations for Nashville while making a considerable impact in all three zones.

Boasting a career 51.3% win percentage in the faceoff circle, Haula is a dominant two-way center and he’s exactly the type of player you want taking draws in crunch time.

He can also slot in on either power play unit while he’s a more than useful penalty killer too, with the 29-year-old’s versatility again giving Nashville a lot of options and a lot of flexibility.

When fully healthy, Haula can also chip in with plenty of offense and he could be the spark that the Predators’ secondary scoring desperately needs, with the total offense ranking 16th in the entire NHL in 2019-20 (3.07).

Haula should help to address that and also help to ease some of the burden on the likes of Duchene, Johansen and Filip Forsberg given that he is only a couple of years removed from a career-year with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017-18, when he recorded 55 points (29 G, 26 A) in 76 regular season games.

Now, granted, Haula’s play and offensive output has somewhat regressed since then but you can blame a serious knee injury for that, which limited the left shot to just 15 games in 2018-19.

He did play a combined total of 48 regular season games with 24 points (12 G, 12 A) for the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers in the 2019-20 season, while scoring one goal in four postseason contests for the Panthers.

And that’s the interesting point to remember here; Haula was probably far from the peak of his powers last year having just come off a long recovery period, so it is feasible to project that the center will be operating at full tilt come the start of the 2020-21 season after such a long layoff.

Therefore, this really is a win-win deal for the Nashville Predators who are taking little risk by signing Erik Haula to a team-friendly one-year deal, while the payoff could be gigantic if Haula is able to rediscover the form that made him such a success in Sin City with the Golden Knights.

Overall, the Nashville Predators have carved out a really productive couple of days and, after re-signing Mikael Granlund and then picking up an absolute steal in Erik Haula, they are now a more loaded and more complete team and Haula could prove to be their secret weapon in 2020-21.