Nashville Predators Choice of Alexander Campbell Will Pay Off

The Nashville Predators used a third round pick to select Alexander Campbell, who may be a very solid piece to the team’s roster in the future.

The Nashville Predators acquired the pick to select Campbell when they traded down from the 34th overall pick, which was acquired in the P.K. Subban trade, to go down to 45th, where they selected Egor Afanasyev, and for the 65th pick, which was used on Campbell.

While many people think the P.K. Subban trade was a total loss, I think the Nashville Predators did a good job picking two guys who could be potential key pieces at the NHL level, including Alexander Campbell.

Campbell is a 5’11 center who last played for the Victoria Grizzlies of the BCHL. He finished seventh in the league in points this season, scoring 21 goals and tacking on 46 assists for 67 points, with linemate and 16th overall pick Alex Newhook being the only 2001 born player ahead of him in points.

With Campbell on his line, Newhook scored 38 goals, which could be great news for Nashville Predators fans, as this showcases his playmaking ability, but Campbell is also great in other facets of the game as well.

For one, Campbell is a very good skater, somewhat mirroring the skating ability of New York Islanders star Mathew Barzal. He can reach very high speeds and is very elusive, so he can get around defenders fairly easily.

Campbell is also a very smart player who knows where to be to complete offensive chances, which is what a lot of analysts say about Sidney Crosby, as he knows how to play without the puck and get into the right places to finish scoring chances. Finishing said scoring chances is something that he is also very good at.

The few issues with Alex Campbell are that he needs to keep filling up physically and build up muscle, as he only weighs in at 154 lbs, and that we haven’t seen a large sample size of him playing against high-end competition.

If the Clarkson University can gain the weight he needs to and further develop his game, he could become a key piece to the Nashville Predators roster in the future.

I have him projected to become a middle six center who could give the Preds around 20 goals and 60 points as his ceiling, which is comparable to what William Karlsson and the aforementioned Mathew Barzal produced this past season.

With that being said, for a third round pick, Alexander Campbell has what it takes to be a productive player for the Nashville Predators, as long as he adds some muscle and continues to prove himself as a hockey player.