Nashville Predators Sign Key Restricted Free Agents Early in Offseason

The Nashville Predators came into the offseason with a lot of questions, but the one thing everyone knew they had to do was lock up their two key restricted free agents: Cody Glass and Alexandre Carrier.

Not even three days after free agency opened, they got their biggest priority done.

For Glass, it is a two-year contract worth $5M, and for Carrier it is a one-year contract worth $2.5M. Both guys were signed to very reasonable deals based on their careers so far, and the Predators still have over $8.5M of cap space if they want to make another move.

With both players having been restricted free agents, they obviously could not have gone anywhere they wanted without the Predators letting them.

General Manager Barry Trotz could have waited until later in the offseason and still gotten these contracts done, but the fact that they are done now is a major credit to the rookie GM.

Signing these contracts makes everything else so much easier for Nashville Predators

As mentioned, both of these contracts were cheap, and about as fair for both sides as you could ask for.

Glass’ deal especially is one that has to make all within the Predators fanbase and organization smile. The biggest reason for that is that at its conclusion, he will still be a restricted free agent, and the Predators will still have his signing rights.

It is way more likely than not that if Glass continues to develop nicely, he will be with the team for the long haul, and they may have one of their top-six centers for the next decade.

Carrier’s situation is not as cut and dry, and several were speculating that he could be trade bait after a fairly disappointing 2022-23 year. The Predators are wise to keep him for another year, as injuries derailed his last season, and he had gotten better and better all throughout the 2021-22 season.

Now, Carrier will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of 2023-24, which is far from ideal, and he must have a big year if the Nashville Predators are to seriously invest in him. It is a lot of pressure on both sides, but there is a lot of potential and he deserves another shot to prove his worth.

No matter what you think of the individual contracts, just the fact that they are done now is a huge relief for everyone associated with the Predators.

Through all of Nashville’s offseason moves so far, such as parting with previous veterans, bringing in new ones during free agency, and potential acquisitions via trade, the main goal was to make decisions to benefit the youth.

By signing Glass and Carrier so early on, Trotz showed that is indeed what he is aiming for.

It is such a breath of fresh air from previous years, in which former GM David Poile would let these negotiations go to arbitration. Of course, Glass was not arbitration eligible, but Carrier was, and his discussions had potential to get ugly based on how we have seen these situations get handled.

The fact that both of these contracts got done so smoothly shows that necessary sense of urgency, and has to ease the minds of anyone who was perplexed by the other free agency moves.

Trotz has a plan, and it is another sign that the skilled youth will get the roster spots they deserve as the Nashville Predators go through a “retool” and not a “rebuild”.