On the surface, the trade of Alexandre Carrier for Montreal Canadiens defenseman Justin Barron doesn't move the needle hardly at all for the Nashville Predators, but something else seems to be brewing.
Carrier has been dealt to the Canadiens for a younger, offense-first defenseman in Barron. Both players have failed to live up to their full expectations on offense, but from the trade the Predators shed more cap space to the tune of an extra $2.6 million, per PuckPedia.
Simple trade for Nashville Predators, but what else is cooking?
Nothing confusing about this trade. No extra drafts picks or retained salary. Just a one-for-one swap, and for Predators General Manager Barry Trotz, it means moving on from a player he just signed to a new deal this past summer.
Scott Wedgewood was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in a backup goalie swap a few weeks ago after he was signed by Trotz during the 2024 offseason. Philip Tomasino, who was just signed to a new deal by Trotz in September, was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in early November for a fourth-round 2025 draft pick.
Trotz is a shrewd operator. It doesn't mean it's all going to work out like he wants, but he is proving that he's not shy about moving players and staying aggressive on changing the roster.
I'm inclined to think there's a much bigger move at play here. There's plenty of time left before the 2025 trade deadline, and Trotz seems to be looking to not only get younger with his roster, but also get as much salary cap space as possible to make a trade that really move the needle.
The Predators have approximately $11.1 million in current cap space, leaving plenty of room to make deals to upgrade the roster in a significant way. The plethora of draft picks they have to include in trades really gives Trotz a lot of bargaining chips at the negotiating table.
It's also not just draft picks and salary cap space working for the Predators to make moves, but they have some current starters that can be traded including Gustav Nyquist and Colton Sissons as your two easiest trade candidates to move.
Barron will hopefully benefit from new scenery in Nashville, has upside as former 1st-Round Pick
As for the player the Predators are getting, Barron brings a little offense to his game but really struggled to find his place in the Canadiens lineup. He has played in just 17 games this season, logging one goal and just 14:43 of average ice time. Carrier is averaging of 20 minutes of ice time for the Predators.
Barron is also a right shot defenseman like Carrier, and Barron does have more career goals than Carrier in fewer NHL games, but just slightly. Not enough to get caught up on. But the Predators are hoping that new scenery for Barron can help provide some much needed extra offense to a team that is last in the NHL in goal scoring at 2.25 goals per game.
The Predators' defensive corps with the addition of Barron shapes up with veterans Roman Josi, Brady Skjei and Luke Schenn, while having more youth with Adam Wilsby and Nick Blankenburg. There's also Jeremy Lauzon who should be getting closer to returning off of injured reserve.
So there's your seven defensemen for the Predators' starting lineup, with Marc Del Gaizo hitting waivers on Wednesday. We'll have to wait later into Thursday to see if Del Gaizo goes unclaimed and heads back to the Milwaukee Admirals.
When everyone gets healthy for the Predators' defense, Barron will have to earn his playing time over another young right shot defensemen in Blankenburg. And quite frankly, Blankenburg has impressed me with his skating and speed, so I don't think it's cut and dry that Barron gets a ton of playing time initially. He'll have to really earn it.
Again, this feels more about the cap space than the player you're getting in return.
Carrier has been with the Predators organization for a while and gradually worked his way up to NHL duty. He wasn't a fast riser initially, playing across five AHL seasons, but the Predators eventually started giving him fulltime NHL action in 2021-22, six years after his draft date in 2015.
It is hard to lose Carrier, which tells me Trotz is thinking 3D chess here. You don't just simply move on from a decent two-way defenseman in Carrier that you literally just signed unless you really covet that extra cap space, which an extra $2.6 million is pretty sizeable.
Now the question will be what does Trotz have up his sleeve? It's almost certainly too late to rescue this season, but if he can maneuver to make big moves for the team's long-term future and avoid a long, drawn out rebuild then he should do that. Trotz will need to push to find an answer at center and upgrade this team's speed element for 2025-26.