Nashville Predators sign Del Gaizo and Parssinen, Tomasino still waits

The Nashville Predators have announced two new contracts for two of their three remaining RFA’s for the 2024-25 season. They signed defenseman Marc Del Gaizo to a one-year, two-way contract worth $775,000 at the NHL level, and Juuso Parssinen to a one-year contract worth the same value. Forward Phil Tomasino remains unsigned. 

Parssinen played 44 games with the Predators during the 2023-24 season, but was only able to tally 12 points, eight of which were goals. After a rough start to the season and some tough roster decisions, Head Coach Andrew Brunette made the decision to send the young forward back to the AHL with Milwaukee for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. 

With the Admirals, Parssinen was able to find his game again and tallied 25 points in his 36 games in the AHL. Although it wasn’t the season that Parssinen may have hoped for, he was able to help the Admirals through a deep run during the Calder Cup Playoffs, and hopefully built up a lot of confidence heading into training camp for the 2024-25 season. 

Parssinen gets restored confidence from Preds organization

Parssinen’s physicality and ability to separate players from the puck is something that really sticks out about his game. He will be a great tool for the Predators to use if they are looking to add more physicality and creativity to the lineup throughout the season. 

Del Gaizo was able to make his NHL debut during the 2023-24 season, and it was quite an astounding first NHL game for the young defenseman. He started his time in the NHL with a three game point streak, and after his nine games in Nashville, ended with a +2 rating, which is rare for a rookie defenseman. 

With the Admirals, he scored 34 points in 60 games, eight of which were goals, which is an amazing stat for a defenseman at the AHL level. During his time in Nashville and his tenure on the Admirals, Del Gaizo showed that he is extremely effective in all three zones, and is able to keep up with and defend whoever is on the ice. He rarely looked out of place during his first nine NHL games, and was even able to create plays and make a difference not only defensively, but offensively for a team that was struggling to find offense late in the season. 

Because of his consistency, Del Gaizo will be a really important player for both the Admirals and the Predators, as Andrew Brunette should have no hesitation to call up Del Gaizo to get more NHL time. He has proven that he is capable of playing at that level, and we can expect to see him again at some point throughout the season.

Tomasino remains unsigned with time running out

With these two signings recently announced, the Predators are left with one more remaining RFA in Phil Tomasino.

Tomasino has had a relatively rocky and inconsistent start to his NHL career. A lot of fans were hoping he would have a fresh start with Brunette behind the bench, but it seems that he has fallen short yet again.

Brunette stated throughout the season that he felt that Tomasino didn’t always put in enough work on every shift that he took. Although he was able to score 20 points in 41 games with the Predators, Brunette decided to send him back down to Milwaukee, even after a game that looked like one of the best he had ever played in his NHL career.

Tomasino will need to make big strides in training camp in a few weeks if he can hope to get NHL playing time. He was quite the star in Milwaukee with 18 points and eleven goals in just 22 games, but his goal will certainly be to get significant time on the Predators roster. 

However, with all of the new depth that the team acquired during free agency and some other young prospects starting to also prove themselves in Milwaukee, Tomasino will certainly have a battle on his hands for a roster spot.

It will be interesting to see what kind of contract Tomasino receives, if he even receives one. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him traded for another prospect or some draft picks, as it seems like his place on the Predators might be filled.