Olympic hockey provided viewers with a thrilling tournament that will not soon be forgotten. Now that the tournament is over, the players leave national team ties behind and are ready to resume their NHL careers. At least one player on the Nashville Predators will return having possibly improved his draft stock as the trade deadline looms large in the first week of March.
Erik Haula has had a good season by all accounts. He's surpassed his scoring total from last season, and has aims at breaking the 40-point mark for the 4th time in his career. Now his underlying 5 on 5 stats haven't been great, but that is explainable away as the Predators frankly haven't been great this year. Their current status is as a fringe Wild Card contender, but we'll see if they can keep that up.
If the decision is made to sell off some assets, Haula has always been a name considered as a trade candidate. He was brought in with just one year left on a reasonable deal, and is known as a player who has been a capable mercenary, for lack of a better term.
Still, Haula was a few years removed from some of his best seasons. Getting back into form with the Predators has certainly helped, but his performance in the Olympic Games might be the selling point that drives home a trade, and drives up the return value for Haula.
Haula's performance at the Olympics wasn't a result of an all-star lineup
Our own Jordan Manning highlighted Haula's play among others already, He ended the tournament as the 2nd highest scoring Finnish player, behind just Joel Armia. Sebastian Aho, Mikko Rantanen, and Artturi Lehkonen all ended up tied with Haula for 2nd place on the team in scoring. Haula scored 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists) across the 6 games where he also recorded as many penalty minutes, and ended as a +4 on the tournament.
Now you might consider this a one-off and say, 'hey this is Haula with an all-star lineup, and it raised his stats.' Or it could prove that Haula can still play in an effective top-six role, and can show up against some of the very best in the world. The bronze medal winner was playing very well in an incredibly pressure-packed situation. That bodes well for someone who would be brought in as a rental player to help a team achieve professional hockey's ultimate goal, a Stanley Cup victory.
Haula is just one of the names on the Nashville Predators that will be considered as trade targets, but he has likely set himself apart from the pack with his strong showing in Milano-Cortino. You could think about the Stars as a natural fit since they are chock full of Haula's former Finnish teammates. The Red Wings could use an extra center, and they are no longer a divisional foe. Maybe the Canadiens or Blue Jackets could use some depth?
No matter what the occurence, whatever the price would have been for Erik Haula in January, is chump change compared to what he's worth now.