I'm surprised, but pleasantly, to see Jonathan Marchessault coming up in offseason trade rumors for the Nashville Predators who need to mash that reset button in a hurry.
Frank Seravalli just dropped his offseason trade targets list and Marchessault is all the way up at No.5. Is Marchessault poised to follow the same trend other former Predators players have enjoyed recently, which is flourishing once you get away from Nashville?
The Montreal Canadiens are currently the team being linked to Marchessault, but I'd expect at least a couple other teams being interested as well. Every front office thinks they can be the best fit for a guy that just had one down year at a new club, like Marchessault just had with Nashville.
Don't just give away Marchessault for another team to burn the Nashville Predators in a trade
First off we have to put our emotions aside when examining this possibility and think, what is best for this organization long-term? Running it back with largely the same veteran core, or is it better to get younger and faster and live with the consequences of not being a playoff team for a few years but in the long run, it builds a better foundation to win a Stanley Cup in this decade?
Marchessault is actually relatively cheap at $5.5 million AAV and shouldn't be hard to move at all. One down year on a team where everyone struggled isn't going to sway general managers from being interested in Marchessault.
So now we have to think about return for Nashville. I'm not in the camp of just giving away Marchessault because he's so terrible and we just need to wipe our hands clean. I'm in the middle on this. Yes, trade him if something decent comes along, but it has to be very particular. Give me a prospect I really like and a second or third round draft pick. That's more than fair for a team that really wants Marchessault.
I'm not in desperation mode on trading away Marchessault. We see where that gets us when we desperately just give players away. Matt Duchene continues to cut daggers into me as he has found his place with the Dallas Stars. That's just one example of many former Predators players being reborn once they get away. It wouldn't shock me in the slightest if Marchessault did the same if he is to be traded this offseason.
It's all about return for the Predators here, and General Manager Barry Trotz needs to do some bluffing here. Test the waters and not look desperate. It's not the end of the world if Marchessault comes back to the Predators in 2025-26. Although I will say it does have potential to become a distraction if he wants out already now before we even officially get to June.
We also have to think about how a trade like this would affect the immediate future in 2025-26. Losing Marchessault damages your top-six even more to the extent that this team really is going into a multi-year rebuild mode. Is Barry Trotz really ready to admit that? I have my serious doubts.
So unless Trotz gets a NHL starter out of the deal and also feels very confident in Luke Evangelista being ready for fulltime top-six minutes, then I see this going nowhere because Trotz is going to ask too much to make anything happen.
This is the caveat that I don't know the answer to; how bad does Marchessault want out of Nashville? If he's about to become a massive distraction for this organization because he doesn't want to be here, then we got to get this thing rolling now and find a trade match. Again, there shouldn't be a hard time finding suitors with his relatively low AAV.
I'd be very happy and wish Marchessault the best if the Predators can get a high end prospect with offensive upside, offer a stud center please, and a mid-round draft pick. You shed some additional cap space for the Predators and fuel the rebuild project.