Expansion Draft Preview: Nashville Predators

The Nashville Predators have already made a trade this off-season with the upcoming Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft in mind.

Given the team is likely to use the eight-skater protection scheme in order to shield four defenders from Seattle, David Poile sent forward Viktor Arvidsson to the L.A. Kings in exchange for a pair of draft picks.

Poile has also said that he would ideally like to make some kind of side deal with Seattle in order to guarantee a certain player gets selected. Who might that be?

Eligible Forwards

@Matt Duchene, @Ryan Johansen, @Filip Forsberg, @Colton Sissons, @Luke Kunin, @Rocco Grimaldi, @Calle Jarnkrok, @Nick Cousins, @Yakov Trenin, @Mikael Granlund (UFA), @Erik Haula (UFA), @Brad Richardson (UFA)

Eligible Defenders

@Roman Josi (NMC), @Ryan Ellis, @Mattias Ekholm, @Matthew Benning, @Mark Borowiecki, @Dante Fabbro, @Alexandre Carrier, @Erik Gudbranson (UFA)

Eligible Goaltenders

@Juuse Saros, @Connor Ingram, @Pekka Rinne (UFA)

Exempt Players

Eeli Tolvanen, Philip Tomasino, Luke Evangelista, Patrick Harper, Olivier Mathieu, Grant Mismash, Juuso Parssinen, Luke Prokop, Egor Afanasyev, Yaroslav Askarov

What should they do?

As I said earlier, Nashville will very likely use the eight-skater scheme in order to protect four defenders, which is the strength of their roster. Roman Josi has a no-move clause, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm are no-brainers to protect, and Dante Fabbro is a good young defender worth protecting too.

With that in mind, Nashville then has four spots to use on forwards.

Filip Forsberg has expressed frustration with the Arvidsson trade. He’s only one year away from free agency and his name has come up in trade talks multiple times this off-season. If Forsberg isn’t moved, he’s an obvious name for Nashville to protect.

Calle Jarnkrok tied for the team’s lead in goals in 2021 with 13, so that’s another obvious name for Nashville to protect. Other names to consider are Rocco Grimaldi and Luke Kunin, who each buried 10 goals in 2021.

Two names we might see Poile actively try to send to Seattle are Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen. Both players have huge contracts and neither player has lived up to their respective $8,000,000 cap hits. Johansen scored just 22 points in 48 games in 2021 and Duchene has just 55 points in 100 games since signing in Nashville.

Getting out from under one of these deals would give Poile much more wiggle room to work with this off-season.