Predators Do Not Have Much In Terms of Rentals
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio on Monday and was asked about the Nashville Predators and if he could see any moves that could be made to change the course of the season.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: Don’t Expect a Nashville Predators Sell-Off
Scott Laughlin: “Dave, I think a lot of people are wondering what’s going on in Nashville. Okay, so we thought, okay, give them the weekend. Get them get them through Canada. Let’s see what happens. Well, all that’s happened is they’ve lost more and more. They’ve lost three straight now. They’ve won but twice in the past 10, and they’re 31st in the league. It’s almost like we’re waiting for a shoe to drop, Dave, and yet nothing’s happened so far.
The Predators are back on home ice, albeit for one game coming up tomorrow night against the Calgary Flames before they have to get back out on the road again. I mean, what’s going on in Nashville? Are you getting to the point now where you just have to say if you’re Barry Trotz, hey, just not our season? We have to kind of take it on the gym. We’ll move out some assets and get some assets back and maybe retool this thing for next season, and call a time out, and that sort of thing.
NHLRumors: Nashville Predators Still Want To Make Changes
I mean, I think some people are surprised that there hasn’t been at least some sort of a change beyond just a trade of backup goaltenders, beyond shipping out an unproven guy like (Philip) Tomasino up to Pittsburgh. Are you surprised that nothing more has happened?”
Dave Pagnotta: “To a certain extent. I mean the guys that they have under contract, they’re not easy pieces to move, and they don’t have a ton of guys on expiring deals. I think Gustav Nyquist is one of them. But other than that, they don’t have any big assets that they can potentially move from a rental side of things. So any type of big moves that they make going to be pretty impactful, and those are difficult to orchestrate.
So, I expected some more changes. I think I’ve kind of said, I think a lot of people have so far, but I think because of the type of contract that they’ve gotten, the players that are there with term on their deal, it makes it a complicated scenario to make those types of impact changes.
I do think you’re right. I do believe that reality is setting in, and they’re going to have to press pause on the season and retool a little bit in preparation for next season, but to go out there and try to acquire a second-line center in his mid-20s, that’s a tough task to do.
NHL Rumors: Can the Nashville Predators Turn Things Around or Will Changes Need to be Made?
It comes with a right tag. And now, with their situation, now, you have to reconsider the type of assets you give up in terms of high draft picks, because it may be more beneficial to you to hold on to those pieces for all things considered on how the seasons going.
So it’s a tough situation Barry Trotz certainly the GM of that club. It’s just a matter of trying to find the right deals, and I do suspect we’ll see some. It’s just probably going to be a little bit later on versus now, in terms of any big type of moves.
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