Nashville Predators: Five Intriguing Free Agents They Should Be Pursuing

It’s already been a very productive and busy offseason for the Nashville Predators, and it’s probably not over yet as free agency opens up on Wednesday.

The biggest priority of the offseason has already been taken care of as the Predators managed to re-sign their all-time leading goal scorer Filip Forsberg to an eight-year, $68M contract. We can all collectively exhale after seeing this finally get done.

Additionally, the Predators made a significant trade for Ryan McDonagh to solidify their defensive core, and extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents, most notably Yakov Trenin.

After all of this, the Predators currently have just over $9.6M of projected cap space, per CapFriendly. A fair amount to still pursue a middle-six winger to round out their starting lineup.

Here are five free agents that the Nashville Predators should be able to afford with their remaining cap space that would put a stamp on what’s been a rather successful offseason.

Max Domi, Carolina Hurricanes

Previous Cap Hit: $5.3M

Domi is a very realistic target for the Nashville Predators to pursue. He would fill the need of adding another offensive playmaker to the top-six. Essentially filling in for the departed Luke Kunin, who was just traded away to the San Jose Sharks.

As a seven-year NHL veteran with still plenty of productive years ahead of him, Domi is exactly what the Predators should be looking for. He’s capable of putting up 20-plus goals if he’s on the right line.

Domi would be an upgrade from what the Predators got from Kunin last season. However, the Predators would be taking a chance on Domi returning to his pre-2020 production level. He’s had a rough couple of seasons playing with Columbus and Carolina.

Here’s what Domi has been able to accomplish at 5v5 point scoring per 60 minutes, and it’s some of the best numbers on the UFA market per PuckPedia:

Even though he’s had some down years recently, Domi has still been productive with 28 assists last season. He also put up a very impressive Corsi rating of 65.1 and put up six points in 14 playoff games.

This is a realistic possibility for the Predators and they have plenty of cap space to pull off a deal for Domi. I’d be extremely pleased with adding him to mix next season on the Predators as he would provide an offensive boost to lineup, and he’s also just 27-years-old.

Andre Burakovsky, Colorado Avalanche

Previous Cap Hit: $4.9M

Adding a player with a Stanley Cup pedigree should always be sought after on the free agency market. Burakovsky has that winning edge to him after winning a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche this past season, and also winning one with the Washington Capitals in 2018.

Burakovsky just had a 61-point season and was a huge part of the Avalanche’s march through the postseason as he added another eight points in 12 games.

At just 27-years-old, Burakovsky already has 93 games of postseason experience and been a half point per game producer. You want proven winners in the playoffs on your roster, and that’s exactly what the Predators have been missing as they’ve lost in the first round in four consecutive postseasons.

Burakovsky isn’t going to come cheap. He’s absolutely earned himself a large pay increase, but I do think the Predators have enough cap space to swing for the fences for one more huge offseason move.

The Avalanche are going to have a difficult time holding on to everyone they want to keep, so Burakovsky might end up being the odd man out.

Burakovsky is addmitedly somewhat of a risky addition, but if I’m the Predators I take that chance based off what he showed everyone last season, and his experience of playing on very good teams his entire career. He’d fit great on a line with Ryan Johansen.

Dominik Kubalik, Chicago Blackhawks

Previous Cap Hit: $3.7M

A newcomer to my free agent radar for the Predators is Dominik Kubalik. The Blackhawks firesale continues. That team is literally having an “Everything Must Go” sale, and I’m all here for it.

Kubalik was not extended a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent, so that’s why he has suddenly emerged onto the market. For the Predators, they need to be strongly looking at this former 30-goal scorer who finished third in the Calder Trophy award voting in 2020.

You can get Kubalik for a moderately cheap price on the open market. Maybe around the $5M range, but I wouldn’t go much higher than that. There is some risk involved with this youngster because his goal production has tailed off a bit since that impressive rookie season.

However, I also don’t put a ton of stock into Kubalik’s numbers slumping because he played for such a wretched team. With better linemates and a better system around him, I think he has all the potential of returning to a 20-plus goal scorer.

Kubalik isn’t necessarily my top choice if I’m shopping on the open market for the Predators, but he’s certainly not a terrible backup option if your other targets fall short.

Ondrej Palat, Tampa Bay Lightning

Previous Cap Hit: $5.3M

And now one of the top prizes on the free agent market, Mr. Playoff Clutch goal scorer himself, Ondrej Palat.

Obviously Palat did himself a lot of good on the open market by how he performed in the playoffs for the Lightning. He scored 11 goals during the Lightning’s playoff journey that ended in the Stanley Cup Final. Three of those 11 goals were game-winners.

Palat is going to be difficult for the Predators to afford as he’s almost certainly the most expensive player on this list. However, it’s not impossible if the Predators decide to be really bold.

This proposition does scare me some becauase Palat is 31-years-old, and I’d prefer the Predators to target younger players. However, I can’t really deny how beneficial Palat would be to this lineup that lacks enough scoring threats to be a deep playoff contender.

There’s still an outside chance he takes a cheaper deal to remain with Tampa Bay, but I have my doubts on that. He’s going to get a huge payday, and the Predators are a team that could spend right up to the cap to get him. Not a high probability, but don’t completely rule it out.

The addition of Palat, which would be the second Lightning player to switch to the Predators this offseason, would definintely raise some eyebrows on the Predators becoming a contender again. It wouldn’t come without tying up a considerable amoung of money into a player that’s moving into the back nine of his career.

Honorable mention for the Nashville Predators to look at

The following players have a decent chance to also be looked at by the Nashville Predators, but for different reasons I just don’t think they’re as good of fits as the five on my list.

For purely selfish reasons, and not practical necessarily, I would love to see Kessell in a Predators uniform for pure entertainment value.

I also really like Trocheck’s game, but as a center it’s just not the biggest position of need. The Nashville Predators need another winger more so than another center for their top-six.

• Andrew Copp
• Ryan Strome
• Phil Kessell
• Vincent Trocheck
• Reilly Smith