Despite a few low impact trades, the Nashville Predators actually avoided the "burn it to the ground" appraoch by hanging onto their most valuable trade pieces in Ryan O'Reilly and Steven Stamkos at Friday's NHL trade deadline.
There was growing speculation that GM Barry Trotz was pursuing any and all trades and Nashville's roster was truly about to see a rebuild that this franchise has never witnessed.
Instead of that, Trotz held true to his gentleman's agreement with O'Reilly and treating him like he actually does have a No Movement Clause. Stamkos already had a NMC and also a bloated salary, so I never bought into him betting dealt anyway. But it does appear that O'Reilly was the domino that needed to fall first, and then Stamkos would maybe be more willimg to leave too.
Nashville Predators decide not to burn it all down after all
Now you look at this team three points out and you wonder if the veterans can lead the youth along enough to make the playoffs. But again, the problem is that getting the participation trophy for making the playoffs isisn't good enough and hasn't been for a long time.
Trotz obtained some decent draft picks by moving some expiring contracts of Nick Blankenburg, Michael Bunting, Cole Smith and Michael McCarron. Pretty straightforward stuff, and hardly what I would call a full commitment to rebuilding.
I will repeat that I have the utmost respect for O'Reilly remaining loyal to Nashville. He's an old school professional. He wants to win here and doesn't look at it from the lense of a front office.
The Predators are in a precarious situation now that they haven't really committed to full-on selling. They just dipped their toes in the water, but certainly didn't come anywhere close to going head first into the deep end. Fans and critics alike are going to question that decision. They also didn't buy or bring back any prospects wigh future NHL potential. Another missed opportunity.
If this team misses the playoffs after not cashing in fully at the trade deadline then it's going to be one last blemish on Trotz's short tenure as Nashville GM. Honestly, anything short of a competitive first round showing will be a massive failure to me.
This team might actually have just enough to keep this playoff push alive until the final few games now that O'Reilly, Stamkos, Marchessault and Haula all appear to be staying barring and pending deals that were not announced before the deadline came.
The team we saw against Boston on trade deadline eve had some awesome energy. Matthew Wood was tried out and center and responded with two goals. Juuse Saros was spespectacular, and this was without an injured O'Reilly.
They have to do something really special with this to justify only the slight selling and only getting one prospect and one draft pick back in 2026, which is a third-rounder. Largely an uneventful, low impact trade deadline for the Nashville Predators. They rode both sides of the fence.