3 Burning Questions Surrounding Nashville Predators' Defensive Corps

When Will We See Spencer Stastney Get Another Call Up?

Until the Predators find a trade partner for Barrie, it's going to be hard to find roster space for Stastney. As I've already made clear, I don't see any benefit to benching Barrie while you're trying to find trade interest for him.

On the other hand, Stastney deserves to be playing NHL minutes and would be helping the Predators much more than Barrie or Schenn.

Stastney has played in just nine games for the Predators this season, registering 16 blocks, one goal, five shots on goal and a plus-6 +/- rating. He was just named to the AHL All-Star team along with Yaroslav Askarov.

Another reason it's complicated to get Stastney in the starting lineup is he's a left shot defenseman, and the Predators already have Josi, McDonagh and Jeremy Lauzon as their preferred defenders on the left side.

Lauzon can shift to right side, as can McDonagh, but you don't want to shake up the defensive corps just to get Stastney in. If you did move Lauzon to the right side, he could replace Schenn and leave you with your right side being Carrier, Fabbro and Lauzon.

It's only a matter of when and not if Stastney gets called up back again this season. The organization thinks highly of him as part of their long-term future. The Predators need to see more of Stastney on the NHL level before he hits restricted free agency this offseason.

Once Barrie is finally traded, expect that to pave the way for Stastney to return to the Predators lineup and hopefully for good.