In his first draft with the Nashville Predators, President of Hockey Operations/General Manager Chris MacFarland is considering the cautious route.
After making two trades with his former club, the Colorado Avalanche, MacFarland seems to want to slow things down. He met with local reporters today to discuss the team's pre-draft outlook and expectations heading into Friday and Saturday's course of events.
First order of things, MacFarland addressed the elephant in the room, which of course was the trade from the night prior.
"We can't snap our fingers and, by tomorrow night, or by July 2nd, say 'poof, we're there'... this is going to take time," MacFarland said. "We can get a little better in different ways over time. I can't crystal ball it and say we're going to be a playoff team next year. The goal is to methodically build it the right way."
Svechkov and L'Heureux were first-round draft picks and rising players in the Predators system, but the timeline and development just didn't suit MacFarland's mindset and direction. In his eyes, retaining Jack Drury and Ross Colton provides the team with a stronger bottom six.
"There were reasons for both of those deals that we felt made it important," he said. "Bigger picture, we'd love to get stronger in the middle. We'd love to get more skilled in the middle of the ice."
Going through some "organizational pain" is what MacFarland isn't afraid to do. He understands that this team is in danger of staying in the mushy middle, and is willing to do whatever is needed to prevent that. Trading the two young forwards away is only a piece in a long and tedious puzzle that needs solving.
Shifting the focus to the draft itself, MacFarland said he's been in contact with team's ahead of the Predators in the draft.
"We will be in the conversations on anything that will make us better," he said. "We know where we are and we know what we are right now, but that doesn't mean we're not going to try and make incremental improvements."
In regard to the series of blockbuster trades that occurred over the past week, he doesn't believe we'll see similar moves at the draft. While he noted he's interested in amping up trade discussions, he expects the team to stay put at 10th overall.
"I'd personally be surprised if there's any more action like that (in the top 10), but certainly I'll talk to all my colleagues around the league and try to get a feel," he said. "Right now, the expectation for me would be to make the pick at 10."
Watch the Predators draft their next wave of prospects tomorrow at 6 p.m. CST and Saturday at 10 a.m. CST.
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