Nashville Predators: Ripple Effect to the Ryan Ellis Trade

More Cap Space, More Offseason Drama?

Look, I think it’s crazy to think that David Poile is in a position to be chasing elite superstars like Jack Eichel and Gabriel Landeskog, but he does have the money to play around with.

According to PuckPedia, the Nashville Predators have just under $26M of cap space available, but the aforementioned contract extensions with Forsberg and Ekholm play a part in that. Now there’s more room for Poile to work out a deal with those players, as mentioned earlier.

As for chasing an Eichel or Landeskog on the open market, just because they have the money doesn’t mean they should do it. It’s a highly risky proposition if you ask me, but they do have the cap freedom to pursue it after the Ellis, and also the Arvidsson trade.

I’m still on board for more conservative free agency pickups like Blake Coleman, with the hope that Tampa Bay can’t retain him. Veteran player who have some upside but not overly expensive is who I’d rather be targeting, but this does leave room for an Eichel or Landeskog to be at least possible.

The trade of Ellis really opens up the Predators offseason to potentially be one of the wildest ones we’ve seen ever. Poile has money to spend, something to prove, and I don’t think he’s ready to fully commit to the term “rebuild”. He’s going to make another big move, whether we like it or not.

So the trade of Ellis has a massive ripple effect on this offseason, and he’s earned that effect as a player who did so many great things for the Nashville Predators franchise. He’ll be missed, but business is business.