Looking Back On The Nashville Predators Trade For Wayne Simmonds

On February 25th, 2018, the Nashville Predators traded Ryan Hartman for Wayne Simmonds, and with both players gone via free agency, the trade looks extremely underwhelming.

Upon arrival to the Nashville Predators, Wayne Simmonds lacked any impact at all, scoring just one goal and two assists, totaling four points in his 17 games as a Predator.

Hartman was pretty underwhelming as well for the Flyers, who were looking for a nice swap to help them on their chase for a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, but he fell short of expectations in Philly as well, scoring just two goals and four assists for six points.

Hartman wasn’t the piece the Flyers needed to make the playoffs, so they soon sent his RFA rights to the Dallas Stars for Tyler Pitlick, who then proceeded to release his rights and let him walk to the Minnesota Wild.

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Simmonds, on the other hand, was able to make the playoffs with the Nashville Predators, but was still a very insignificant piece to the puzzle and wound up only playing in two of the six games the Predators played in the playoffs, missing the last four due to injury, while not scoring a single point.

The New Jersey Devils ended up signing Wayne Simmonds to a one year, $5 million contract in free agency this offseason, as he did not have the impact the Nashville Predators wanted him to have in order for him to come back.

This trade seems like a loss for both teams, as neither player had the impact they were expected to on their respective teams after the trade, as both players immediately fell in production upon arrival.

Hartman was on pace for one of the best point totals of his career, but with his production taking a dive, he didn’t have the season he would’ve wanted to have, ending with just 12 goals and 26 points.

Simmonds finished with less than 20 goals in a season for the first time since 2013-14, but he could’ve avoided that had he been a better fit as he came into Nashville with 16 goals.

These two players just felt out of place with their respective teams, which is why it was time for them to move on and leave during free agency, these players just weren’t in the right spot for them to be successful.

After all, the Nashville Predators did do pretty well in making up for that trade this offseason, by bringing in Matt Duchene to make the team one of the most stacked offenses in the league, but this trade was still very underwhelming.