Nashville Predators are already heading towards selling off these veterans in 2026

It's never too early to start thinking about the 2026 NHL trade deadline when you're a team like the Nashville Predators who appear to be going nowhere and just stuck in mediocrity.

You're already starting to see some high profile veterans for the Predators be thrown around in trade rumors, including Steven Stamkos and Ryan O'Reilly. Before we get to each of those storied veterans, who have very different situations, let's first look at the Predators as whole and their cap situation.

According to PuckPedia, the Predators have around $6.68 million of current cap space, which is the ninth-most among NHL teams. Some room to play around with, but of course no one is expecting the Predators to be aggressive buyers. If anything, they're going to look to shed some veterans contracts and set themselves up for a more proper rebuild.

Nashville Predators will have a lot of players to consider selling off before 2026 Trade Deadline

The Predators have several players due to be unrestricted free agents in the 2026 offseason, further pushing them towards the sellers market when the trade deadline approaches on March 6, 2026.

Among their current starting forwards alone, the Predators have five players due to become unrestricted free agents next offseason; Cole Smith, Michael Bunting, Erik Haula, Michael McCarron and Tyson Jost.

Going down to the current starting defensemen, only one is in that boat; Nick Blankenburg. Spencer Stastney will be a Group of 6 UFA unless he surpasses the 80 NHL games threshold, which he's already at 67 NHL games. So it looks like he'll end up being an RFA.

Justus Annunen, backup goalie for Juuse Saros, will also be an RFA with arbitration eligibility. I wouldn't count him out of being traded if his play looks good enough in backup duty for a goalie deprived team to try him out. Obviously the return for the Predators would be minimal and they would have to feel good about calling up a goalie in the prospect ranks.

Going back to the big ticket trade candidates, they're not even in this category of becoming a free agent anytime soon. Stamkos still has two more years left after this one, while O'Reilly has one left.

O'Reilly is getting a lot of attention the day after the Predators losing to the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 in another offensively deprived showing. O'Reilly was very crticial of his individual play, while some insiders suggest that the market for O'Reilly would still be high among contending teams.

David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period suggests that the Predators will be listening to offers from contenders when the time comes on O'Reilly. I was on board with the Predators trading O'Reilly last season, and even more so right now with him having just one year remaining and the contract being much easier to move at just $4.5 million annual cap hit.

Ryan O'Reilly is Nashville's best trade piece, Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault will be very hard to move

I'll echo the same thing I said last year on O'Reilly; I love the guy as a leader and it would be painful to see him leave Nashville on these terms, but the Predators need to be entertaining offers and get what they can out of him. Obviously don't give him away in desperation, but if a contender comes knocking with a sweet deal, you take it and don't look back if you're Trotz. Especially something like a 2nd-round draft pick or a quality prospect that can be NHL-ready immediately.

You don't want O'Reilly's trade value to sink even lower in his final year of his contract in 2026 and really be stuck with very little return. Strike while you can and give O'Reilly a chance to play postseason meaningful hockey near the end of his NHL career. He'll be age 35 in February.

As it pertainst to Stamkos, it's much more complicated and far-fetched that he gets dealt. Nearly a double amount of cap hit to ask a team to take on at $8 million, and with an additional year left compared to O'Reilly's. Much less, O'Reilly is producing much more than Stamkos currently is.

To trade Stamkos with where we stand right now, the Predators will almost certainly have to retain salary on another veteran that didn't work out, and Trotz would have to check his ego at the door and admit he messed up in the 2024 offseason taking Stamkos off the hands of Tampa Bay.

Pierre LeBrun states that there haven't been any conversations between the Predators brass and other teams in terms of shopping Stamkos at this current time. His reporting seems to suggest that the Predators are still waiting to see if they can push for the playoffs, and then decide what to do once that dream starts fading away later into the second half of the season.

So in other words, check back later in a month or two.

I just don't see Stamkos getting traded anytime this season. There's not going to be a good enough offer for Trotz to admit defeat on this one. He's not going to retain more salary just to get rid of Stamkos, and that's the only way this gets done. He might even have to include a prospect or something else to push a team to take on a declining Stamkos' remaining two years.

However, O'Reilly is fully possible and I'd give it a coin flip probability at this point. If the Predators are heading towards another season far out of the playoffs, then you have to aggressively shop O'Reilly at that point.

The only way you can make an argument for keepig O'Reilly into his final year of his contract is if the Predators find a serious hot streak soon and O'Reilly is one of the main reasons why. Then I can see keeping him because you don't want to stop that momentum. Just doesn't seem very likely at all that this happens, so I say O'Reilly ends up being the top trade target for Nashville once the calendar flips into 2026. The noise and the rumors will get louder and Trotz's phone will start ringing more.

Others that look to be likely on their way out in trades this season are Bunting, Haula and maybe even McCarron. Really anyone who can fetch you a great deal in draft compensation or getting younger and faster then you should be entertaining it. This current product just isn't working, obviously.

For what it's worth, both Bunting and Haula haven't damaged their trade value coming into the season, and if anything have enhanced it a little bit.

One player out of these UFA's I can see Trotz being stubborn on not losing and actually re-signing is Cole Smith. It's obvious how vital this guy is to the bottom-six and the penalty kill when he's not out there. Trotz loves these types of players, so I can see Smith sticking around past the trade deadline.

Most of the young prospects should be relatively safe because usually you only deal them if you're in "win now" mode, and the Predators are not. You have Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L'Heureux becoming RFA's in 2026, and Justin Barron on defense with arbitration eligibility.

One more big ticket veteran that will also get some trade buzz is Jonathan Marchessault. A much easier salary cap hit to stomach than Stamkos, but he also has one extra year left going all the way to 2029 offseason. His stock is way down, just like Stamkos.

There are always a couple GM's who think there situation is much better than the selling team's situation, and that struggling player just needs a change of scenery. That could ultimately be the case for Marchessault, so I wouldn't call it a zero chance. Maybe around 20 percent? Stamkos I would say even lower, and O'Reilly again I put at 50/50.

Bunting and Haula could both easily be unloaded, but the returns won't be much more than a used bag of hockey pucks and maybe a late round draft pick.

Unless any of these guys start playing better, the Predators are going to be in a world of hurt of unloading any of them. About as bad a of scenario for a General Manager to be in for Trotz right now. His team is likely heading nowhere promising and most of his trade pieces have stocks that are trending down as well.