Nashville Predators sign Jake Livingstone to two-year contract

The Nashville Predators have signed defenseman Jake Livingstone to a two-year, two-way contract.

According to the team, the deal will be for $775,000 at the NHL level.

Livingstone signed a one-year deal to finish off the season with the Predators in March. Livingstone recorded his first NHL assist in a 3-2 win over Calgary on April 10th, his third game in the NHL. He averaged between 14-16 minutes of ice time for a Preds team that missed the playoffs.

The 24-year-old had just completed a three-year run with Minnesota State University when he signed with Nashville, having won the CCHA’s defenseman of the year title for the second consecutive season. He had a career-high 27 assists and 35 points en route to helping the Mavericks qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Livingstone was viewed as one of the best college free agents on the market, someone with good two-way hockey sense and a solid 6-foot-3 frame. When he wants to, Livingstone can absolutely light you up with a punishing hit and he puts some significant power behind his shot. 

The Predators have six NHL defensemen under contract, with Alexandre Carrier and Cal Foote set to become RFAs. The team could elect to go the UFA route to bring in some extra reinforcements after trading away Mattias Ekholm at the trade deadline. So Livingstone could be in tough to make the team full-time, but he does give the team an extra asset that can step in when needed.