Nashville Predators: Four of the Best Midseason Trades in Team History

Trade with your brain, not your heart

This is the classic example of not letting your heart get in the way of making a wise business decision for the team. Going back to March 2014, the Predators were turning into a lame duck team again.

The Predators were about to miss the playoffs for the second-straight season, and it was time to be brutally honest about their original draft pick, David Legwand. Although you always wanted to see him retire with the Nashville Predators, it just didn’t make sense anymore.

To make it even more difficult, the trade partner was the Detroit Red Wings. How odd it was to see Legwand in a Red Wings uniform, but in return th Predators would acquire Calle Jarnkrok, who went on to be a vital piece to the team’s rebuild back into a perennial playoff team.

The Predators haven’t missed the playoffs since this trade in 2014. Seven-straight playoff appearances. Along with Jarnkrok, the Predators snagged a second-round draft pick and Patrick Eaves, who only played five games and never registered a point.

Be that as it may, the acquisition of Jarnkrok was beneficial enough to make this a very wise trade that was difficult to make at the time.

Nashville Predators welcome in a Captain

This trade still blows my mind that the Nashville Predators were able to add such a significant franchise player in Mike Fisher for just two draft picks in return to the Ottawa Senators.

Fisher would come onto a team that was starting to find its playoff touch, and just needed a couple extra pieces to help them get over the hump of the first round. Fisher was a great addition in that regard.

It wasn’t a blazing start to Fisher’s career in Nashville, but his impact in the locker room and on the community was massive. He embraced the city and the fans immediately, and eventually the production on the ice followed.

Fisher would register seven points in 12 playoff games in his first postseason with Nashville, as the Predators finally won their first playoff series over the Anaheim Ducks. He brought an extensive amount of previous playoff experience with Ottawa, which was a major reason why Nashville probably wanted to trade for him.

Fisher would go on to be Captain of the Nashville Predators for 2016-17, and play in over 400 games with the franchise and notch an impressive 240 points. Yeah, it’s safe to say that his trade was a home run for the front office.

Preds make a power move for a top line center

Finding a top line center has always eluded this franchise for whatever reason. They’ve never had trouble stacking high quality defensemen and having outstanding goaltending (Thank you Pekka Rinne), but having elite talent at the center position has been a struggle.

That’s why in early January of 2016 the trade for Ryan Johansen was so massive. The Predators were trading one-for-one Seth Jones to the Blue Jackets for Johansen to hopefully fix their issues at center.

Trading away your former 4th-overall pick from just three years prior is a bold move, especially considering Jones was actually pretty solid in his first two seasons by playing 159 games and logging 52 points.

However, getting Johansen who had just put up 71 points in the prior season for Columbus was huge at the time. And Johansen brought instant results to the Predators as they formed the formidable “JoFA Line” with Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg, and would make an uexpected run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2017.

As for Jones, he also went on to be beneficial to Columbus for a few seasons, including a fourth-place finish in the Norris Trophy voting in 2018. A win-win for both teams in this trade, but I give the slight edge to the Predators because Johansen is still producing top-six minutes for the Predators currently in 2022.

The Highway robbery of all robberies

To this day I still think diehard Washington Capitals fans lose sleep over this crazy April trade from 2013. The Predators were not in a good place at the time and rather lost in their pursuit of playoff success.

It was a lockout shortened season that was coming towards the end and the Predators not in playoff contention. They decided to make a risky trade by sending off a valuable veteran to their prior teams, Martin Erat.

Erat was a fan-favorite and extremely valuable player to the early years of the Predators as they were starting to notch some playoff appearances and dig their way out of the expansion team desert. However, times were tough once again, and the front office had to get creative.

Filip Forsberg was an 11th-overall pick by the Capitals in 2012, and had extensive amounts of playing experience overseas in Sweden. However, he hadn’t played any games in North America and was still a wildcard addition for the Predators to take a chance on.

Erat’s best NHL days were long gone, while Forsberg’s full NHL career was ahead of him. Fast forward to current days, and Forsberg will be one of the biggest free agents on the market if the Predators don’t re-sign him or trade him.

In the next draft the Predators would pick Arvidsson as they gradaully rebuilt their team back into a playoff team. Without this trade for Forsberg, who knows how long the Predators franchise would’ve been in the dark ages and out of the postseason conversation.

Honorable Mention

• 2004: Predators deal two second-round picks for the speedy Steve Sullivan. Ended up being a great move to add some scoring and veteran leadership to a team that always struggled to muster up offense in the early expansion days.
• 2007: Predators make a huge splash by trading for Peter Forsberg. They dealt out a huge haul of two NHL players (Scottie Upshall and Ryan Parent) and two draft picks. Unfortunately, the addition of Forsberg wasn’t enough to get the Predators a taste of playoff success just yet.
• 2012: It wasn’t a blockbuster trade by any means, but the Predators added glue guy Paul Gaustad in part of a swapping of draft picks with the Sabres. They would acquire a fourth-round pick which they used to select Juuse Saros. Thanks, Buffalo.