Revisiting the biggest offseason acquisitions in Nashville Predators History
This has been perhaps the most impactful offseason in Nashville Predators franchise history after what they accomplished on July 1. What are some other offseason major additions, both good and bad, in their history?
Nick Bonino signed in July 2017 to 4 years
Let's start off a little small on the impact scale and remember when the Predators signed trusted and well-respected veteran Nick Bonino, fresh off his Stanley Cup win with the Pittsburgh Penguins over the Nashville Predators earlier that year.
Bonino is your prototypical "do a little bit of everything" type of player. A meat and potatoes player, if you will. The Predators were in an interesting spot during the 2017 offseason after going on that magical run to the Stanley Cup Final, which frankly caught everyone off guard including the most diehard fans.
Looking back on this addition now, I'm kind of nuetral on it. Bonino wasn't a bad pickup by any stretch of the imagination, playing three seasons with Nashville after getting a pretty sizeable pay increase from $1.9 million per year with Pittsburgh to $4.1 million per year with Nashville.
Bonino would put up back-to-back seasons of 35 points and have a really strong plus/minus rating of a combine plus-44 in his last two seasons with Nashville before being traded to Minnesota in return for Luke Kunin.
Now at age 35, Bonino's peak years started to regress just before Nashville dealt him to Minnesota, so all in all it was a quality pickup for the brief three years they had him.
James Neal traded to Preds for Patric Hornqvist & Nick Spaling in 2014 offseason
Another offseason trade that really sticks out in Predators history is dealing a fan favorite Patric Hornqvist to the Penguins in return for James Neal.
Hornqvist had just posted a career high in points with 53 points and entering the prime of his NHL career after being drafted by the Predators in the seventh round of the 2005 draft.
On the other hand, Neal was around the same age but a much more prolific offensive player including an 81-point season just a couple years prior to the trade to Nashville.
Unfortunately for Nashville, Neal's production didn't ever translate to anywhere close to being another 80-plus point player. Neal dropped down to just 37 points in 67 games in his first season with Nashville.
Neal did rebound in his second year with Nashville by putting up 31 goals and getting All Star votes while having an impressive two-way game with 113 hits, 31 blocks and 49 takeaways.
With the Vegas expansion draft, the Predators lost Neal for nothing which in hindsight wasn't a bad thing because Neal really dropped off after just one more season. He never really returned to being a major offensive player and hasn't played in the NHL since 2021-22.
Hornqvist was able to keep his consistency all the way up until the 2021-22 season as well. Overall, this trade can be called a wash that didn't deliver the lofty expectations the Predators were hoping to get from a once 81-point player in James Neal.
Gustav Nyquist joins Ryan O'Reilly in Offseason 2023
Let's get to more recent times and discuss Gustav Nyquist and Ryan O'Reilly, both additions got the Barry Trotz era as Nashville Predators General Manager off to an exciting start.
No one was really sure what Trotz had planned as he was preparing for his first season as an NHL general manager, but signing the respected duo of O'Reilly and Nyquist ended up being a brilliant decision based on Year 1.
Just look at how productive O'Reilly and Nyquist were on Nashville's top line, joining forces with Filip Forsberg. It was more efficient and reliable than the infamous JoFA line was in the heyday of Ryan Johansen, Viktor Arvidsson and Forsberg.
Nashville's top line was second among NHL forward lines in 2023-24 in Expected Goals For with 39.9 according to MoneyPuck.com. They are expected to return in 2024-25 as Nashville's top line again, and now with reinforcements behind them in Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault.
I must admit that at the time I was enthusiastic about the O'Reilly signing and loved the championship pedigree he would bring at the center role, but was skeptical and more so just undecided about adding Nyquist to the mix.
Nyquist definitely proved my doubts to be wrong, and now the about-to-be 35-year-old veteran is looking to rebound off a career high season of 75 points.
The short-term route that Trotz took with Nyquist could also end up being a wise decision. Nyquist is going into his final year of his current deal, and will be easy trade bait if the Predators decide to move some pieces before the 2025 trade deadline.
O'Reilly is signed at three more years at a modest $4.5 million. For what he produced in his first year with Nashville, that is a bargain. Especially with the salary cap expected to keep growing in the coming years.
Paul Kariya is first major free agency signing in Preds History
The Predators missed the playoffs for the first five years of their existence as they went through the difficult growing pains of an NHL expansion team. However, with Trotz at the helm behind the bench, this franchise gradually starting becoming a worthy playoff contending team.
Fresh off their first playoff appearance and 91 points in the 2003-04 season, it was time to go "big game hunting" for the Predators and did they ever. It can be argue to this day that Paul Kariya is the biggest free agency signing in Predators history. Well at least you could've said that before Stamkos was signed three weeks ago.
Kariya, now an NHL Hall of Famer, signed for a pretty lucrative short-term contract for those times in 2005. He joined the Predators, despite being courted by several suitors, for a total of $9 million over two years.
For comparison sake, the same salary that Ryan O'Reilly makes now from the Predators nearly two decades later.
Kariya wouldn't disappoint and certainly wasn't a flop for the franchise. He would easily lead the team in points in his first year shattering franchise single season record with 85 points, which still to this day stands as the fourth-most in franchise history. That record stood tall until the 2021-22 campaign when Matt Duchene and Roman Josi passed him.
That 2005 Predators team would blaze through the regular season with 106 points and another playoff appearance. In 2006-07, the Predators would increase their regular season output to 110 points but lose in the first round again to the same team as 2006, the San Jose Sharks.
Equally impressive, Kariya played in all 82 games in both seasons with the Predators. In his early 30's, his career was heading into the unavoidable decline, Kariya and the Predators parted ways.
Kariya played just three more seasons after leaving Nashville, and even though his time with the Predators was brief, he's still an all-time great to ever throw on the Predators sweater.
Jason Arnott added to an Improving Predators Roster
As the Predators began growing into a viable Stanley Cup Playoff team, the front office led by David Poile looked to keep adding big weapons in free agency. After already adding Paul Kariya the offseason before, they added another major one in Jason Arnott.
Arnott had already been in the NHL for over a decade but was fresh off a 76-point season with the Dallas Stars. The Predators were getting themselves a proven offensive goal scorer and leader in the locker room. A well-respected veteran around the NHL chose Nashville again just after Kariya had done the same thing. The tide was turning and the Predators weren't an expansion team punching bag anymore.
After four years with the Predators and achieving the captain's role, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils. Much like Kariya's post-Predators days, Arnott wouldn't last in the NHL much longer.
Looking back on this addition now almost 20 years later, Arnott was never able to help lead to a playoff series win for the Predators, but he did give the franchise notoriety as a destination place for major free agents. Something that Nashville is proving even more today with Stamkos and Marchessault joining forces.
Around this same time, another franchise great J.P. Dumont was also signed in free agency by the Predators. He gets an honorable mention. He's 11th on the franchise's all-time point list with 267.
Chris Mason is an underrated addition in the early days of the Preds
The Predators would eventually become a factory of goalies over the next two decades, but early on they had Mike Dunham and Tomas Vokoun lined up as their goalie duo as an expansion team.
It flew under the radar probably at the time, but the Predators made a late offseason trade for unproven goalie Chris Mason. It would take a few seasons to get Mason up to the NHL on a regular basis, but by the 2003-04 season Mason was regularly getting into games and putting up respectable numbers.
Mason's breakout year was 2006-07 when he played in 40 games, winning 24 of them and putting up a .925 save perentage. He split the starts with Vokoun as that Predators team amassed 110 points. Not bad for an unproven young goalie you traded for eight years prior.
Not to mention, Mason has become one of the key ambassadors of the team now as the color analyst for the Predators' regional coverage. Fans love his player perspective and expertise he brings to the broadcast booth.
For being a shot in the dark goalie trade, this one worked out really well for the Predators and for Mason.
Matt Duchene goes down as the most controversial addition in Preds history
To no fault of his own, and more at the fault of front office leadership, Matt Duchene is arguably the most polarizing player in Nashville Predators history. From the beginning, fans were hard on the criticism of Duchene and expected fast results.
Duchene was signed on July 1, 2019 to a mammoth $56 million contract by the Predators. The Predators had just suffered a demoralizing first round exit to the Dallas Stars during a time when many fans still thought the Stanley Cup windown might be open.
That really was the beginning of the end of the David Poile era and for the Predators to head back to the drawing board. Many were then calling for a total rebuild and to start moving away from expensive veteran contract and invest more in the youth and draft development.
But the dismay of many diehard fans, the Predators took a home run swing with Duchene at $8 million per year for seven years. He was never able to fully live up to that lofty contract, although he did have spurts and made his peak in 2021-22 with 43 goals and 43 assists.
Just this past season Forsberg surpassed Duchene for the single season goal record with 48. But even with the stat padding, Duchene never got the full support of the fanbase. The fact is he did do a disappearing act in the playoffs with the exception of a game-winning overtime goal against the Hurricanes in the 2021 playoffs.
Aside from that, in total Duchene managed just nine points in 14 playoff games with Nashville. Despite that, and even being put on the chopping block of the expansion draft unprotected list, it was thought that Duchene was here to stay for a while. Viewed as untradeable thanks to his contract.
The Predators took the shocking route of a buyout, and Duchene managed to revitalize his career with the Dallas Stars. To this day I still don't fully understand why the Predators chose the buyout alternative, and now they'll be paying Duchene $5,555,556 to not be playing hockey for them in 2024-25.
Overall I think Duchene caught a lot of unfair criticism, and most of that should be redirected towards David Poile's decision to overpay for him in the first place. You can also direct some of that blame towards an ineffective offensive head coach in John Hynes.
I'm sure I missed some other notable offseason additions in Predators history, so reach out to us on X and tell us who we missed @PredlinesNSH @chad_minton!
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