Could Predators find a trade fit for Steven Stamkos?
The Nashville Predators are not off to the start anyone involved in the organization would have hoped. After last season flamed out in the wake of multiple premier free agent signings, the expectation from GM Barry Trotz and head coach Andrew Brunette was that the roster would gel together this year and turn things around.
Instead, it’s been more of the same. The Predators are 5-6-4, taking home wins in just a third of their games so far. Points from overtime and shootout losses have kept them from bottoming out in the standings, but their -12 goal differential is the second worst in the Central Division.
The team is challenged in producing offense, and perhaps no player is more reflective of that struggle than Steven Stamkos, one of those big acquisitions from the summer of 2024. Through 15 games, Stamkos has two goals and one assist for three points, but he did wire home a clutch goal to force overtime in Tuesday night’s eventual loss to Minnesota.
With a weak offensive infrastructure preventing him from getting his usual scoring opportunities and the clock ticking on his storied career, is there a chance Trotz and the Predators could move him for future assets?
On Wednesday’s episode of Morning Cuppa Hockey, host Jonny Lazarus and co-host and former NHL defenseman Colby Cohen were joined by SportsNet’s Elliotte Friedman to discuss Stamkos’ slow start and if it would behoove both parties for Nashville to find a new home for the veteran scorer.
Colby Cohen: “Is there a situation where someone’s willing to Seth Jones the contract and eat maybe two million and make it a little more digestible? What’s your gut on that one?”
Elliotte Friedman: “It’s interesting. Colby, you’re like the third person this week who’s brought up the name Seth Jones with Steven Stamkos to me, and so they’re generally. It shows that Seth Jones has sort of become the patron saint of, ‘Maybe it doesn’t work here, but it can go work somewhere else.’
I think everybody here knows what’s going on and what the situation is. And I think that what it is, is that if it’s something that makes sense, it’s going to get considered. Like the No. 1 one thing is, if you take a look at Stamkos, if you take a look at his shot totals the last three years that he was in Tampa, he had a pretty consistent shot number. I can’t remember off the top of my head if it was 280 or 240 or whatever it was. It was consistent. And last year in Nashville, it was 170. And this year, it could potentially be even less than that. And what that says to me is the player always has to take responsibility. If it doesn’t work, you always have to be saying, ‘What can I do better,’ or ‘How is this on me?’ But they don’t have a (Nikita) Kucherov. They don’t have anyone even in his mold who can get Stamkos to the pocket. And so I think that if there was a situation that revealed itself, where Stamkos could potentially go where they have a facilitator that could help him, I think everybody would consider it. But that has to materialize first.”
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…