Some of the top trade candidates for the Nashville Predators also happen to a play a position this team is weaker than maybe any other team in the NHL.
There is just very little center depth ready to move into the Predators lineup if the organization decides to cash in on a trade involving Ryan O'Reilly, which has been the topic of discussion dating back to last season.
Then you have Erik Haula, who has played as high as the second line center role recently, which tells you all you need to know about this team's lack of center depth. That is not meant as any disrespect to Haula or O'Reilly, but it's just being objectively honest.
Further down the depth chart you have Michael McCarron, another center, who is due to be a UFA this offseason and could also be traded and catch some mild interest in the open market.
Three of Nashville's current starting centers are all being shopped for trades
So you have three of Nashville's current starting centers all possibly being shopped, and it's pretty obvious you can't trade them all because then you who is going to play center? Are you going to move Steven Stamkos back to center? Certainly not ideal, and oh yeah, he's also the subject of trade rumors.
The young Fedor Svechkov got his early opportunity to play the second line center role and it just showed he's not ready for that elevated spot in the lineup yet. He has recently been reassigned to the Milwaukee Admirals to get bigger minutes and to regain that confidence again.
In perfect world, Svechkov eventually gets called back up later this season and really shines to close out the campaign after the trade deadline. If you trade any of the guys mentioned at the beginning of this article, then Svechkov has to get called back up whether he's ready or not. You got to eventually throw him in the deep end and see if he sinks or swims.
Brady Martin, the fifth-overall draft pick frm 2025, should be in the plans to get another opportunity to get his feet wet in the NHL next season after playing in three games to start this season. But it is still a reach to think he'll be completely ready for full-time NHL duty in 2026-27, but again the Predators don't have many options left.
David Edstrom is a center prospect you don't hear much about and has yet to make his NHL debut at age 20 and about to be 21 later this month. He was oringally drafted as the 32nd-overall pick of the first round by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023 and came to the Nashville system in the August 2024 trade that involved sending Yaroslav Askarov to the San Jose Sharks.
Edstrom hasn't shown a whole lot of promise 32 games for Milwaukee registering just nine points. However, it is his first season in the AHL and that transition can be difficult for anyone. Even so, it's rather obvoius he's also not ready for full-time NHL duty, but maybe we do see him briefly to close out this season if the Predators decide to trade a couple current starting centers.
Yegor Surin is showing a ton of promise over in the KHL and could be an eventual top-six center for the Predators, but we could be at least two years away from seeing him be ready for the NHL. He still has another year under contract left in the KHL.
There is of course always the possibility that Matthew Wood, who has already shown promise playing on the wing in the NHL, to move back to the center role which he played in his past. It's another shot in the dark, but maybe you see how responds at that position to close out the season.
And again, all of this experimentation will have to come while this team is in a push for the playoffs? How is that supposed to work? It will almost certainly sabatoge their chances to grab a wildcard spot, although many would argue this franchise needs to improve their lottery odds and forget about being the sacrificial lamb in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Trading O'Reilly and Haula would create massive void at the center position with no one really ready to take over
You get where I'm going with this now, don't you? The Predators don't have much waiting in the wings to step up and replace guys like O'Reilly, Haula and McCarron if you decide to trade them in the next month. The only way you pull off these trades is if you're getting younger NHL-ready talent in return to fill in. You have to be getting center talent in return, and that is usually hard to come by as such a valuable commodity.
Nashville's hope is they can at least grab another center prospect who is getting close to NHL-ready by 2026-27. Either way, it's goingmost likely keep Nashville from trading O'Reilly right now unless a team is prepared to give us a hopeful young center in return to plug in right away.
Haula is the really tricky one because he is playing big minutes, even on the second line, but is also in danger of being lost for nothing in unrestricted free agency this upcoming offseason. In normal situation if Nashville had any decent center depth, trading Haula would be a no-brainer. However, now I'm think maybe you see if you extend him for another year now and hope to get a team-friendly discount if Haula is content staying here.
It's a rather tricky dilemma for the Nashville Predators to be in. I do think they trade at least one of these centers, and McCarron is the easiest one to part ways with to at least get some draft capital and maybe a down-the-road prospect.
I will end with this; if Nashville were to go full sell-off mode and trade O'Reilly and Haula, then they wouldn't have to worry about tanking on purpose down the stretch. It would come naturally and probably improve their lottery odds for the first overall pick.