Nashville Predators: My Heart Can’t Take Losing Craig Smith at Trade Deadline

You have certain players who you like and root for from the beginning. For me one of those players has always been Craig Smith for the Nashville Predators.

The NHL trade deadline is quickly approaching, and the Nashville Predators are one of those teams on the fence on what they’ll do.

There’s a few players on the Predators that could be on the trade block and be moved. A realistic possibility is the departure of Craig Smith.

It’s often not easy letting players go at the trade deadline when you’ve taken on the role of “seller”. The Predators have had a rough season and might have to make serious roster adjustments for next season.

Smith’s legacy in Nashville

Smith is a career-long Nashville Predator. He was drafted in 2009 and has been a regular in the lineup since 2011-12. Time really does fly by.

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I’ve always been a huge fan of how hard and gritty Smith plays. He leaves it all out there, and you never have to question his intensity or drive.

It’s time to be honest, though. Smith would make sense to part ways with if it means building this roster back up for next season and beyond.

The Predators have a plethora of forwards, but lack defensive firepower. Smith could be more valuable somewhere else.

More so, their prospect pipeline isn’t that deep. They have some big weapons, but not enough of them to feel overly confident about them.

Out of all of the players that could be moved, Smith would be the hardest to see leave the Predators. The guy is a fan-favorite, and is 5th on the franchise all-time list with 157 career goals.

Filip Forsberg is the only current Predators player he trails. I’ve always hoped that Smith retires with the Predators, and him leaving would rival how hard it was seeing Shea Weber being traded away as heartbreaking.

If he does end up leaving the Predators in less than two weeks from now, he’ll be considered top-five all-time as one of my personal favorite players. He actually already is regardless.

It unfortunately would make sense

Unfortunately, Smith being traded for the right return makes sense. He’s due to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason and will be enticing to a lot of teams with playoff hopes.

There’s others that could be moved as well by the Predators. Guys like Mikael Granlund, Nick Bonino and Kyle Turris are also possibilities.

Smith started this season off slow, but has since revved back up. He has 11 goals in his last 23 games after scoring just two goals in all of the games prior to that.

He’s really making a case for himself as still being a valuable player despite being 30-years-old and on the back-nine of his career.

With all of this said, letting him go has to be for the absolute right price. I don’t want to see him just dumped off for future draft picks. I need to see at least one player in a deal for him that can help this team immediately.

Obviously I’m personally biased in my thoughts for Smith due to how big of a fan I am of him. But it is a business, and he’s one of the most valuable Nashville players on the trade block.

This is going to be a difficult trade deadline for GM David Poile to navigate through. There’s six games left before the deadline, so we’ll see how much movement the Predators make in the standings before that.

If the Predators slip backward even further in the standings, I’m afraid Smith might go to a contender and for nothing more in return than a draft pick or two.

I’m clinging onto hope that the Predators win four or five of their next six and figure out a way to keep Smith. Please don’t go, Craig.