Nashville Predators Sign Rocco Grimaldi to New Two- Year Contract

The first deal of the day for the Nashville Predators and GM David Poile is retaining one of their own in Rocco Grimaldi.

In a deal worth reportedly $4 million over the next two years, Rocco Grimaldi will be sticking around with the Nashville Predators for the near future:

This looks like an excellent bargain for the Predators, and Grimaldi gets a nice bump in pay as well. He’ll make $2 million in each year of the deal, and he’s absolutely earned it.

A deal that’s well-deserved

Grimaldi has been a bright spot on the third line, mainly with Nick Bonino and Craig Smith. You want to find some consistency and energy on this team, look no further than Grimaldi and his linemates.

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I’m not so sure the Predators would even be a playoff bubble team at the moment if not for Grimaldi bringing it every game with energy and elevating his game.

Grimaldi has half of his 20 career NHL goals this season alone, and has finally appeared to have found a landing spot in the NHL.

He was becoming a bit of a journeyman before coming to Nashville before last season.

Even when he initially came to the Predators, it wasn’t certain that he’d stick around for long. But his play has elevated since coming here, and he’s now a trusted player who can keep getting better at just 27-years-old.

We really started taking notice on Grimald’s potential and importance to the team in last year’s playoffs. The team got bounced out by the Dallas Stars, but Grimaldi scored three goals and had an excellent series.

Grimaldi is blasting away all of his previous career highs now that he’s getting more ice time, which is also the highest he’s ever gotten in the NHL at nearly 13 minutes per game.

Still a few more hours to go before the deadline officially gets here. The Predators have some assets that could be gone by the end of the day, most notably Craig Smith.

If you break up Grimaldi’s line, you have to wonder where he’ll fit in the remainer of the season with departures and players being called up from Milwaukee.

It’s easy to get behind a player like Grimaldi. A player who earns every second of ice time with hustle, grind and grit. You know you’re going to get everything he has when he skates out there.

The Predators are just two points back of both wildcard spots, which are held by Arizona and Calgary. Their next game is tomorrow night as they host the Ottawa Senators, and will then host Calgary for a masssive game on Thursday.