Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli: How Are They Doing As Nashville Predators?

On February 15th, the Nashville Predators made a splash in the trade market when they acquired defenseman Cody Franson and forward Mike Santorelli from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a first-round pick, skilled prospect Brendan Leipsic, and forward Olli Jokinen.

At the time, it looked as if this was the perfect deal for the Predators. Fast forward nearly two months, and the wheels haven’t quite fallen off the Predators bus, but it has certainly slowed down a little bit. A six-game losing streak to end February and start March, as well as some rough losses and sloppy play have all coalesced since the trade happened.

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To blame the Predators’ struggles on the trade is unreasonable and just plain wrong. Jokinen, the only roster player involved in the trade from Nashville, would not have salvaged those games during the Great Losing Skid of 2015, and would not have prevented sloppy play and bad losses

However, with that in mind, let’s take a look at how Franson and Santorelli have fit in Nashville since the trade. On the surface, they haven’t contributed much on the offensive end. They have a goal apiece, and Franson has three assists, while Santorelli has two. However, it’s the advanced analytics that show their true contributions to the team. As the analytics show, the two have helped the team, but have not taken them to that “next level,” as was the intention of the trade.