Nashville Predators: Grading Every Major Move in 2022 Offseason

It has been five days since NHL free agency opened up, and so far for the Nashville Predators, things have been kind of underwhelming.

General Manager David Poile came out in May and all but guaranteed that he would be going after someone to aid the second line, but up to this point nothing has happened in that regard.

The Predators could still make a trade or signing of some sort, as there are still some intriguing options out there, but most of the big names are taken. The fact that  nothing has happened to address that hole on the roster for a team that said they would is puzzling, especially considering them adding a goaltender in Kevin Lankinen.

That being said, the Nashville Predators have still been busy. While most of the moves have been minor, they have made their fair share of them, and two of them in particular make the lack of activity during free agency even more odd.

Here are my grades for every major offseason move the Nashville Predators have made this summer.

Re-signing Lauzon

The first notable decision by Poile this offseason was this one right by getting Jeremy Lauzon re-signed, which was made to shore up the defensive third pairing for the foreseeable future.

Poile locked up Lauzon, who for some reason was traded a second-round pick for, to a four-year contract worth $2M AAV.

Four years is a bit long for a third-pairing defenseman, so this deal is not perfect by any means. However, it’s not what you would call a bad decision, and is very likely to benefit the Predators for the next few seasons.

Many of the recent past seasons for the Predators have shown that you need third-pairing defensemen as much as top-pairing ones, and Lauzon should be a reliable presence for the next four years.

In his time in Nashville after the most recent trade deadline, Lauzon has certainly played exactly as you would want for a player under his contract, and he also has a cannon of a shot that does not get talked about enough.

Lauzon also is only 25, so he should continue to track upward throughout his contract. With how cheap the contract is for the player in question, we can certainly live with the four-year length, but ideally it would only be two or three years.

Grade: B+

Trading Olivier for draft pick

This was the first trade Poile made during the offseason, and it is honestly one that everyone should be on board with.

A week before the draft, Poile shipped off Mathieu Olivier to the Columbus Blue Jackets for the 122nd overall pick (fourth round), which ended up getting traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who ironically were the original owners of that pick.

I cannot mention this trade without mentioning that Oliver is someone who was originally beloved by the Predators and their fans. He is an original member of the “herd” line, and someone like him who is tenacious and always willing to get into the dirty areas is someone you love to have on your team.

But let’s be real, with the way the Predators are and were set up at the time of the trade, Olivier was never going to see that much action in Nashville. His value was not very high, and to get a mid-round draft pick in return for him is tremendous work by Poile.

Considering that the pick ended up being traded and that the player selected was not going to make much if any impact for the team in the next few seasons, we cannot sit here and praise Poile like he just pulled off the fleece of the century.

Nonetheless, you still have to commend Poile for getting something in return.

Grade: A-

Predators Take Advantage of Salary Cap Dump by getting McDonagh from Bolts

This is where the fun truly begins. Poile’s first major move this offseason was sending Philippe Myers and Grant Mismash to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh.

It goes without saying that the Predators have to be extremely pleased about acquiring McDonagh for virtually nothing. The Lightning were cap-strapped and essentially had no choice but to make this move, and the Predators were able to bring in a guy who is known as a leader and is a very good shutdown defenseman.

McDonagh will improve the team at even strength and play critical minutes on the penalty kill as well.

It is even better for the team that he waived his no-trade clause to make this trade happen, which is a great sign considering how many teams would have killed for a player like him for essentially no cost.

McDonagh’s agent was apparently the first one to reach out to Poile about making this trade happen, and if that is true, it speaks volumes about how people view the Nashville Predators as an organization to come to if you want to have success.

McDonagh unfortunately has a contract that is far from ideal, but again, when you can get a player of his caliber for essentially nothing, you cannot be too upset over it. And considering the impact that he should have in the locker room, making this move was a job well done by Poile.

Grade: A

Drafting Kemell considered a major steal of the first round

The Nashville Predators were a bit of a mystery heading into the 2022 NHL Draft, as many thought they should either trade up in the first round or even trade the pick in order to acquire a superstar forward. But they chose to hang onto it and select the sharp shooting Joakim Kemell out of Finland.

They still really could have benefitted from trading the pick for a star forward, but the actual pick itself is not one to complain about at all. Kemell is extremely adept at shooting the puck and also driving the net, and he is someone many thought could have gone much earlier in the draft.

Kemell has not come short of impressing the team in his first few days in Nashville, as he has already been signed to his rookie contract.

There is a good chance that the Predators got a steal with this selection.

It is hard to grade this move too highly right now, as Kemell is at least two years out from making an NHL impact, and we do not even know how he will actually pan out. But all reports around him have been very positive, which is all we want at this point.

Grade: A-

Disaster avoided as Forsberg gets a new contract (finally)

In what could be described as one of the more dramatic and stressful contract negotiations in Nashville Predators history, they eventually fulfilled their biggest offseason objective of re-signing Forsberg to an eight-year contract.

It took a long time, but when we really look at it, this is a contract that you can say is really good for both parties involved.

Forsberg wanted the contract to be on the high side of the $8M-$9M per year range, and Poile wanted it on the low side, so they met in the middle at $8.5M. Forsberg also wanted a full no-movement clause throughout, while Poile would have only wanted a modified no-trade clause, so they compromised and decided on a modified no-trade clause for the final two years, while the rest contains a no-movement clause.

It really seemed the whole time that Forsberg did want to work things out to stay in Nashville, and given how the contract worked out, it is much easier to just chalk it up to both sides doing what they do in contract negotiations.

That being said, it is still not good that Poile let it come down to four days before free agency, as he should have never tried to play hardball given that Forsberg did not want above $9M per year on the deal.

At this point though, the Predators are happy and relieved that it all worked out, and the contract itself is a good one. But the way in which it worked out did not have to be so complicated and messy.

Grade: B+

Predators surprisingly address backup goaltender position

This is the one notable move for the Predators that you can look at and just ask yourself “why”? Despite Connor Ingram playing well given the circumstances in the playoffs, and especially well in his playoff debut, they went out and signed Kevin Lankinen to a one-year, $1.5M contract.

Lankinen did not play very well this past year, but the team in front of him was bad all year and gave him no help, so it is not worth putting much stock into his most recent performance. He’s a quality backup goaltener and possible upgrade, but it doesn’t really address the major needs the team has. .

The only way this move makes sense is if Ingram is going to be part of a trade package, and depending on the trade made, it could significantly benefit the Nashville Predators. This signing is only one year and will not bog the team down at all, but for now, it just does not make much sense.

Grade: B-