Four Things to Address for Nashville Predators Post Roster Freeze
The Predators at 19-15-0 have exceeded early season expectations, but their roster still has a lot of fluidity and questions to be answered.
Find a Trade Partner for Tyson Barrie, Take Whatever You Can Get
When Tyson Barrie first made it publicly clear that he was seeking a trade from the Nashville Predators, the first thought was this would get done pretty quickly for the sake of both sides.
That just hasn't happened, and the reason isn't entirely clear, but my inclination is that the General Manager Barry Trotz hasn't gotten an offer he likes enough, and he also doesn't want to retain any of Barrie's $4.5M salary.
Eventually Trotz is going to have to take whatever he can get for Barrie and move on from this. The Predators defensive corps is back logged, and Barrie can free up room for Spencer Stastney to get called back up.
I also don't like seeing Dante Fabrro get healthy scratched when he's arguably the third best defenseman on this team behind Roman Josi and Ryan McDonagh.
I'm willing to take a late round draft pick for Barrie just so this can be put behind us, and in the process the Predators can free up a little more cap space.
Barrie played in 17:37 of ice time in the loss to Dallas on Saturday, and has played in 30 of Nashville's 34 games on the season. Fabbro was healthy scratched and has played in just 25 of Nashville's 34 games. This has to be remedied after the roster freeze.
Figure Out a Plan for Cody Glass
This is starting to become a legitimate thing to be worried about; Cody Glass, much of it due to two stints on IR, has had trouble getting his season going. Since then, he has been healthy scratched, including against the Stars.
The Predators went with Ryan O'Reilly, Tommy Novak, Colton Sissons and Michael McCarron as their four center against the Stars. Not ideal considering Glass is your hopeful top-six center, and both Sissons and Novak can be effective wingers.
Brunette has taken this approach with his younger players of benching them and giving them a reset. But Glass needs to ultimately be in there and working through the rust. He hasn't had the time to get adjusted to Brunette's system like the others have had.
I would like to see Sissons moved back to the wing and Glass get third line center minutes. If he can start getting back into a groove, ultimately the hope is Glass can be moved back up to second line center duties with Novak on a winger because they have shown in the past they have great chemistry together.
Glass is signed with the Predators through 2024-25 and then becomes an RFA. He's firmly in your long-term future plans, so he needs to be getting regular starts. But Brunette doesn't seem to want to budge on keeping Cole Smith and Michael McCarron is everyday starters.
Something has to give after the roster freeze.
Will the Preds Decide to Pull the Trigger on Trading a Goalie in 2024?
We've heard a lot of rumblings about Juuse Saros being a desired trade acquisition for teams, most notably the goalie starved Edmonton Oilers. I just don't see Trotz trading Saros unless things really unravel over the next month or so. Even then, my probablity on that happening is low.
However, Kevin Lankinen intrigues me as a viable trade option if the Predators have no desire to re-sign him in the 2024 offseason anyway. That would give Yaroslav Askarov a path to get some backup duty starts to close out 2023-24.
I realize the popular thought is to not rush goalie prospects, but I also believe getting Askarov a handful of NHL starts behind Saros wouldn't be a bad thing. It would give the organization a sample size of how far along Askarov is in his development.
Lankinen could fetch a mid-round draft pick in a trade before the deadline in March. Stockpiling draft picks is a great strategy for Trotz to have as he continues to rebuild while also still competing for a playoff spot.
I'll be decently surprised if Trotz doesn't trade Lankinen before the March trade deadline. Lankinen has been used sparingly just like in his first season backing up Saros. He has just seven starts and a 3.16 GAA.
If Lankinen were to be traded before becoming a UFA this summer, then the Predators will have to make the decision of either calling up Askarov fulltime or finding another backup for Saros in free agency.
Any Prospects on the Radar that Deserve a Call-Up in 2nd Half of Season?
The Predators haven't been forced to make too many call-ups through the first 34 games. Spencer Stastney and Marc Del Gaizo have been called up as defensemen for short stitns, and Mark Jankowski is the only forward that was called up, but he's not a true prospect.
First player that comes to mind is Joakim Kemell. He is fourth on the Milwaukee Admirals in points with 19, and tied for second on the team in goals with eight.
Kemell has a sniper of a shot that will translate well to the NHL, but obviously he has some rounding out of his game before making the fulltime jump. But depending on what happens at the trade deadline, and whether or not the Predators are still firmly competing for a playoff spot, they might make room to call him up for a few games down the stretch.
Egor Afanasyev also has 19 points for the Admirals this season, and already has made his NHL debut last season. It was pretty surprising that he wasn't able to make the Predators roster out of training camp. That's two consecutive years that Afanasyev appeared ready to make the permanent jump to the NHL, but hasn't been able to do so.
Denis Gurianov, who has 280 games of NHL experience and leads the Admirals in points with 24, feels like the next player up among the forwards to get a call-up to the Predators. The problem with that scenario is, if you call him up he's waiver eligible if you send him back down. So you have to keep that in mind.
It seems like a matter of time util Stastney gets called back up. Really we're just waiting on the Barrie trade to finally happen, which was already addressed earlier in this piece.
I don't really see any other prospects for the Admirals that are ready to make the jump to the NHL or need to be rushed. Maybe Zachary L'Heureux if the Predators really get ravaged by injuries and tank in the standings.
Don't expect too many call-ups in the second half of the season unless injuries really pile up.