Offseason Mailbag Part 1: Dougie Hamilton, Impact Players & More
should the Nashville Predators pursue douge Hamilton is there a future Phenom coming in the pipeline you’ve got questions we’ve got answers on today’s locked on Predators mailbag your locked on Predators your daily podcast on the Nashville Predators part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome to the locked on Predators podcast and thank you for making us your first listen of the day we are your free daily Nashville Predators podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day want to kick off this episode today with a shout out to our lock on pred heads those are our everydays who tune in to talk Nashville Predators hockey with us each and every weekday we appreciate your support and we love that we get to spend a little bit of your day with you I’m an Kimmel I am a writer at Penalty Box radio and my friends I have a partner in crime you do I’m Emma lingan and I am the Predator site editor and reporter for the hockey news on today’s show Emma and I are tackling the biggest questions that you all have about the Nashville Predators we’re going to talk about offseason moves Barry trots could be considering we’re also at the end of the show going to share a little personal insight into High School you might want to stick around for that it may explain some things to you about Emma and I as people these days but before we dive into all of your great questions do want to let you know today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $ five bet that’s $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet visit fanduel.com lockon to get started all right Emma so we sent out the bat signal the Nash signal whatever signal that we have asking for questions and we got tons of questions we’re actually G to end up doing a two-parter to answer mailbag questions but great questions that we got we’re g to kick it off with a question about an off seon acquisition what do you think of the Nashville Predators pursuing douge Hamilton from New Jersey no mov next question I mean that that’s the short answer the long answer is uh he’s too expensive I mean New Jersey signed him to that massive contract he’s making n million a year you’re not gonna h i mean Roman Yosi makes that you’re not gonna have another defenseman who’s that expensive it’s not going to happen yeah and also like to to chime in I am with you this for me is a no and I think there are layers to it but really and truly the short answer is no I think the $9 million is a nonstarter if you’re if you’re looking for you know a summary that $9 million I agree with you that’s a non-starter but you’re also looking at somebody 30 years old um love the size love in hockey years let’s be clear in hockey years that’s different math you know you do have to love the size we have talked about like it would be great to get some more size on the blue line 66 230 pounds I can respect that sneaky good offensively so you have to like that you know been involved on the power play also not bad there are downsides though that I think make this really really risky first of all the Nashville Predators while they have cap space like you said they are not spending 9 million dollars on anybody whose name is not Roman Yosi when it comes to defense I think he’s also a little bit streaky and if I’m paying $9 million for someone I want $9 million of consistent production as well and coming off an injury last season I think he ended up having surgery he only played like 20 games but here’s the other thing and this for me is is a little bit of a hitch in the gidd up when it comes to doing any deal at all with the New Jersey Devils and it’s not because because I have a problem with the team or anything like that but at this point I just don’t see how the Nashville Predators and New Jersey Devils can really do a deal for anybody because what New Jersey would want from Nashville Nashville is probably not willing to give up what New Jersey you know if if the Predators were to pursue douge Hamilton which they won’t but if they were I just don’t think Jersey is willing to give up what Nashville wants like where these two teams are right now in their you know trying to get to the to the postseason trying to get to another Stanley Cup you know opportunity here they’re just not at places where they’re going to be willing to trade impact players that both GMS are going to want like I just don’t see these two teams having a deal for anybody right now I think people like the media try to force these teams together all the time in trade talks because yes there’s a connection you know Tom Fitzgerald Berry trots there’s like that history there but it’s also like Devils need goal tending the Predators have a goal tender who is you know technically could be trade bait and so everyone keeps trying to to force this to happen and it’s like that that and I think that the Predators end up like anytime any free agent name or or trade uh like trade candidate pops up the Predators are immediately linked to them no matter who they are I mean we saw it Mitch Marner we saw it just recently with Patrick l we’ve seen it with stevenh Stam Co all these guys who it’s like they’re either free agents or they they’re wanting to move their teams have made made it that you know made them available on the trade market immediately the Predators get thrown into those conversations every time why because they have the cap space 100% it doesn’t mean that they’re going to use it on one player uh it means honestly they’re probably not going to use it on one player and so I think that’s part of it too just because the Predators have the space now listen don’t get me wrong I love douge douge I was with douge in Carolina we were actually Neighbors in Carolina fun fact oh how cool um spent spent a lot of time together uh during Co when the entire world shut down and there was nothing to do but sit outside and play poker um so it was me Andre Fetch nikov and douge Hamilton just sat outside played a lot of Poker for okay who was the best in that Trio not me okay um I didn’t even know I for you time no I didn’t even like they had to teach me and I’m pretty sure they deliberately taught me wrong but thankfully we weren’t playing for money or at least I wasn’t um but no love douge but I agree with you I think that you know when he was in the last year of his contract in Carolina he had one really good year so that drove his price up it’s kind of like I mean I’m not before anyone comes at me for making this comparison I’m not saying it’s exactly the same but in this guard it’s kind of similar to Sam Reinhardt right now with the Florida Panthers he’s in a contract year and and he’s playing out of his mind like 50 plus goals uh you know like doubled his previous season high like it’s insane and so that you know is going to drive his price up when he hits the free agent market and Carolina was not going to pay that much for him New Jersey then went and overpaid for for him and I think that that you know now now we’re kind of seeing like that’s why and those are the kinds of contracts that Barry trotz is not a fan of and he’s not going to want to inherit one of those um you know for for a guy who has not been consistently playing at that level right I agree I’m not saying that Nashville shouldn’t go out and maybe look for a bigger sized defenseman of course they want to get and we’ve talked about this on multiple episodes you know there was a lot of lessons in this postseason Nashville learned some firsthand size May matter more right now in the NHL the way the game is being played so I’m not saying that Nashville shouldn’t go out and look for something like that but for me the price is a non-starter you can get size without spending $9 million yes yes and Nashville also is seeing what they have in the pipeline now we know that Spencer Stasney is not 66 we know Mark Delo not 66 but you want to get these guys involved in the NHL get them up to speed this season and give them ice time and I don’t know that you want to go out and and get this season that big star Big Fish defenseman and to be honest I’m not 100% sure Nashville’s goingon to need to do that to get back into cup contention anyway you know I I think if they can add some size for a much more affordable price which is available and out there and develop the players they have in the system I just don’t know that this fills a need that Nashville’s going to have long term would it be great to have him absolutely would I pay $9 million no I think too you know you look at things that Nashville needs and they need more Blue Line scoring and they need size and so I think with the the whole why not both in one one package named douge Hamilton it’s you can get both of those things from different players too I would like to to keep that you know make sure people keep that in mind you don’t need one guy who can do everything like ideally you have multiple guys who who fill those different needs for you yeah well and right now Nashville has one guy who does both his name is Roman Yosi so you can build around that and like you said it doesn’t have to be one player that does both of those things put in some different pieces and also douge Hamilton has the same salary or very close to it as Roman Yosi and you cannot argue that those two players are both worth the same one of those things is not like the other on the ice yeah on the ice yeah coming up Emma and I are gonna talk about the Nashville Predators pipeline is there a Phenom develop in Milwaukee in the NCAA in the CHL that we need to be talking about and watching for also what do we think Barry tr’s priorities are going to be this offseason we’re going to discuss those questions in just a moment first want to let you know that today’s episode is brought to you by our friends at FanDuel look just because the NBA basketball season and NHL seasons are winding down it does not mean the action is winding down at FanDuel there are still plenty of sports plenty of Sports Action happening this summer and you can bet it all on FanDuel right now new customers are going to get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning five bet that’s 200 bucks you can use to bet everything from the finals MVP to who is going to hit one out of the park so go and check it out visit fanduel.com locked on and add a big win to your summer bucket list FanDuel America’s number one sports book all right Emma we are answering mailbag questions and I think this is a really interesting question for us to dive into and it’s a little bit tricky because we are going to have to look into our crystal ball just a little bit do the predators have a Phenom coming up through their ranks that could be a fure heart winner now I think those could be two very different questions do they have a Phenom coming up through the ranks and could they be a future heart winner y’all har most valuable player to their team in the regular season in the NHL let’s remember only one guy wins it it’s really hard to win the heart it’s so hard to win the heart like to me the guy that I’m most excited about in the Predators pipeline right now um and we’ll probably see him in Milwaukee next year is Tanner mullik um he I mean there are fast skaters and then there’s Tanner mullik like I mean it’s he’s mesmerizing to watch I mean he’s is he’s explosive he’s fast he’s so smooth um handles the puck like a pro um has that scoring touch as a defenseman now again smaller guy uh so that’s you know doesn’t necessarily address one of the needs that we’ve talked about before but if we’re just talking about guys who I am the most excited to see uh play really at the pro level but then you know eventually at the the NHL level it would be Tanner mullik he is 100% on my short list and I love that you use the word mesmerizing that is the best way to describe watching Tanner mullik do skating drills you know I was talking in this this strange how it came up I was talking to my husband something came up about skating and I said watching Tanner mullik at development Camp doing skating drills is like watching a drunk Bambi trying to stand on ice and then watching like uh Tanya Harding or you know just this amazing skater he is mesmerizing he is super fun to watch do you know who also made my short list and and you know we’ll see this could come to fruition or not sooner rather than later but for me I’m really keeping an eye on Luke Evangelista and I know we all love Luke Evangelista off the ice he is just just such a delight but I do wonder if there is going to be something in Luke Evangelista that is going to become not identical to but as valuable as potentially A Philip forsberg and I know that’s those are big skates to pH in a franchise and so I I you know hesitate to even put it out there because we’ve just seen a little bit from him he officially technically just had his rookie season uh and I don’t want to put any it’s hard to put pressure you know you don’t ever want to put pressure on a young player but there is something about Luke evangelista’s style of play and the rate at which he improved especially in the second half of this season that makes me think keep your eye on what Evangelista May grow into you know just keep your eye on it I agree like this season in particular I feel like watching H like the arc his growth Arc his character development Arc over this season was so like it was so just evident to me how much he had grown in his confidence and once he starts playing with more confidence o like he was generating I mean even even into the playoffs like you wouldn’t have guessed that that was his first playoffs I mean he was generating some unreal chances he h he still has to work on finishing them you know that’s that’s something where it’s like okay that kind of brings you back down to earth with him a little bit that it’s like all right he is only 22 let’s let’s calm down but I think that man once he once he starts finishing those chances look out you know I think that’s why and I’ve said this before whether it’s Chandler Stevenson or whoever I think you get him with a legitimate playmaking Center and and someone who can do for Luke Evangelista what Ryan O’Reilly did for Philip forsberg and just completely open up his game and not that forsberg was irrelevant by any means before Ryan O’Reilly but it just kind of unlocked this new level to his game and his his offensive production and I think that that’s what you need like Luke Evangelista himself like is doing what he can and he’s done what he can um and I think he’s come an incredibly long way this season even if his you know stat line doesn’t necessarily reflect that I think that he just watching him and the confidence that he plays with um and the you know the Comfort level that he plays with um and you can tell he’s taking more risks I mean even within the playoff series I I think you could see it like from game one on you could see him just kind of loosening up a little bit getting more comfortable like getting more physical like getting into those tough spaces that maybe he wasn’t comfortable with before and so I think he’s there you just got to get him with someone who can who can get him the puck and and help him finish those chances I love that I agree with you let’s see what he can do with somebody who can help him grow even more it seems to me watching Luke Evangelista this season it’s like he has settled into the NHL game and I mean that in the best way where he’s not trying to make his game fit or or he’s not trying to get it just right like he in the second half of the Season like it clicked with him like okay the NHL game now is the time to see him take some steps forward in that and I think finishing is is a big part of his game that we need to see Improvement on but I like what we’ve seen from Evangelista I like his trajectory I know there’s always typically that quote sophomore slump this could be considered his sophomore junior year but you know splitting hairs so I’m excited to see what Evangelista can do this season but I think he’s he’s a guy who may have sneaky potential for the Nashville Predators I definitely think so and like again I you know before the season even started going into training camp I had him kind of on my mental list as a a bubble player who may or may not even like I wouldn’t have been surprised if he didn’t make the roster out of training camp not you know through any fault of his own but even like he really wasn’t if if things had gone well he shouldn’t have played at all in the NHL last season in 22 23 like we shouldn’t have seen him at all um in Nashville now we did and it went well but again like circumstances were different and I’m like okay he’s maybe like I don’t I don’t want to say he was rushed but like kind of out of necessity he did have to come up for those 24 games at the end of the 2223 season which also way to work the system Nashville I don’t know if this was planned but 25 games is the cut off to still be considered a rookie so this past season 23 24 since he had only played 24 games the season before he was still a rookie and so still a rookie baby gonna be a fun player I think to watch especially in training camp and next season which leads into another question that we got when we asked for questions for the mailbag which Predators player will have a Major Impact this year so when you look at Nashville’s roster in 2425 Emma who is a player that jumps out at you as being somebody who is going to be a Major Impact player um I don’t know I kind of I look at um a guy a guy like Jeremy lozon who kind of had a breakout year this this past season and you know this was really his first time being a regular always in the lineup guy and and we saw that he could maintain um his like same level of play and the only times he didn’t play was when he was injured and so I think that he’s a guy that you know everyone talked about him being with Alex kerer and you know how they have so much chemistry together and all of that now with the you know the likelihood of Kier not being back this year I think we’re still gonna see how effective Jeremy Lozan is even without Kier um and and I think that he kind of similar in how we were talking about Evangelista I think he’s a guy that has grown a lot in his confidence this year and kind of come into his own and and knowing who he is and what his role is on this team and it’s not just hitting people I get it the hits hits record yes that’s great but why is he hitting people it’s to take back Puck possession it’s to move guys off of pucks and get it back which all feeds right into Andrew brunette’s philosophy on offense so even if Jeremy Lozan isn’t the guy putting the puck in the back of the net that’s not his game he’s getting the other guys off of the puck so that his teammates can put it in the back of the net theoretically so I think that he is so um strategic and in the way that he plays and it’s he’s not just going out banging people around just for the heck of it just you know because just to make some noise it’s really it’s very wellth out it’s very calculated and and he’s very smart and very disciplined about the way that he does it and so I think now that he’s like fully kind of come into that role he’s a guy that I definitely see having a major impact I love that answer can I share with you the person who I hope will be an impact player that I have so much hope will be an impact player next season and for me that is Cody glass yeah and I understand that when his season was so rough last season you know of course it’s going to seem like he’s grown a lot but I will say this I really still believe in Cody glass and and I believe in his work ethic I believe in just his natural Talent ability and I think if you can get Cody glass you know if he has as good an off season as I expect that he will have if he does the work that I expect that Cody glass will do and if in training camp he can earn the trust of Andrew brunette I think Cody glass will be a sneaky impact player for the Nashville Predators I still believe he’s got that there and with a fresh start a fresh uh fresh slate some perhaps different Lin mates that is a player that I really hope we see making a big impact for Nashville I have not and will not count Cody glass out yet you just you want to believe that you know good things happen to good people and yes the universe or whatever higher power you believe in will will reward the people who work hard and do the right things uh so you you can’t you can’t help but root for for a kid like Cody yeah come on Karma do right by Cody glass that’s all we have he deserves it he deserves it he’s he does coming up Emma and I are gonna wrap up today’s mailbag episode we’re going to talk about Management’s priorities for the draft and free agency and then we’re going to give you a sneak peek into who we were in high school you don’t want to miss that first today’s episode is brought to you by policy genius look a lot of life is unpredictable but a good life insurance plan gives your family a financial safety net to protect against some of the unknowns policy genius is the country’s leading online insurance Marketplace it makes choosing the right policy for your family easy and quick with policy genius you can find life insurance policies that start at just $292 per year for one million of coverage some options are 100% online and let you avoid unnecessary medical exams policy genius helps you easily compare your options from America’s Top insurers in just a few clicks their award-winning agents can even walk you through the process step by step policy genius has no incentive to recommend one insurer over another so you can trust their guidance they have thousands of five-star reviews on Google and trust pilot from customers who have found the best fit for their needs so get Peace of Mind by finding the right life insurance with policy genius head to policygenius.com or click the link in the description to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save that’s policygenius.com all right Emma we are working through our mailbag episode next question what should be management priorities when it comes to the draft free agency and the off seon what do you think is is a top priority for Barry trots going into this off season depth at Center and size on defense there it is friends and that’s not even just me saying that he has said that so I think that that’s absolutely going to be areas that they’re going to prioritize this uh this offseason yeah and whether we hear about this in the media in amongst the fan base or not I do think behind the scenes part of this offseason priority is going to be what is your long-term plan and goal we may not see action based on that decision but I do think Barry trotz has to have and probably already does still have you know already has a long-term plan for the Nashville Predators in net because I think what you do in net changes your timeline for a a cup contention it changes your timeline for what are you looking for in the off season what are you looking for in free agency I think it also changes what you draft so for me I think goal tending even if Barry trotz doesn’t make a move that reveals all uh I think it’s important that Barry trotz has laid out in this organization where do we want to be who do we want in net for the next you know eight to 10 years and and as Emma says in Spanish our recommendation is poros do volcano lost do why not both so yeah for me I’m like you you’ve got to figure that out all right so we got this question in in it was an interesting question and Emma I we are not afraid of the hard questions is we’re a little bit afraid of the hard question we welcome them I welcome them we welcome them so here we go Emma this is just a little get to know you question we got what was the hardest class you took in high school and what was your final grade physics oh uh my I look I was a good student I was a straight A like honor rooll like Kum ly Society whatever the heck student like I was very good in school yep I was not good at physics I managed somehow to squeak out with a I think it was a B+ which for me that was that was bad not bad but like that was like the lowest grade I got in high school uh final like final grade in a class like that was that was probably the lowest I got and physics just like I don’t know what it was but something like it would make sense to me like when I was in class and you know the teacher Mr stolman he was great teacher but I could not like I just couldn’t do it and like when he would explain it I’m like yes got it understood this makes perfect sense and then I would get to the test and I’m like this I this makes absolutely no sense anymore I I don’t get it like I I understand like physics it’s like the laws of physics like it shouldn’t be that hard to understand but for whatever reason my bra like again I am I am a words person I am not a numbers person and so um yeah I was really not a science person in general much to the dismay of my my parents especially my dad I think he really wanted to get me into like stem he wanted me to like he always bought me books about the solar system and stuff like that and I it was just never like I can name the planets I can name the planets that’s about all I retained from those books but um yeah no it’s not for me not for me um words language uh the those are my things physics not my thing Y which was really annoying because when I got to college I went to a liberal art school so we had to take a science um come on I took the least sciencey science uh I took computer science uh in college just to get my uh requirement out of the way and then I never took science again but um in college physics was known as the easy science class so they literally called it football physics because the football players would take it and so I was annoyed because I was like and people kept telling me like if you don’t like science just take physics that’s what everyone does but I was so scarred by my high school physics experience I was like I can’t put myself through that again I feel that you and I live very parallel lives because I was like you I was a great student I was like Secretary of we called it nerd Society of Honor Society but we called it nerd Society I was like secretary Secretary of my class like always had great grades I am also the daughter of public School teachers so there is pressure you know we just grew up knowing you were going to get good grades well my friends then I hit pre-cal my junior year and two words baby conic sections oh what even yeah and I ended up in in my high school our grades went 54321 a five was an a a one was an F I got for the first and only time in my entire life an F on one of my six weeks report cards s oo yeah it was not great friends it was not great in our house for six weeks it was awful and I’m with you I am a word person I I am word I love history I love English I love literature went to a liberal arts college and my friend I waited till second semester my senior year to take my science because in my heart I just prayed that they would change the requir that’s they didn’t well hey look for whatever reason I always strug struggled more with science than I did with math which makes no sense for me being a word person and a number person like not a number person but one of my um things that I’m like most proud of in my academic career is that I made it all the way through you know high school college grad school never took calculus no somehow managed I took preal Y in high school that was the only class besides my religion class cuz it was was a Catholic school but when I was a senior in high school pre-cal was my only class that wasn’t an honors or AP class CU I was like I’m just gonna squeak through with the bare minimum and then again liberal arts college had to take a math what did I take statistics and then I was done yes and do you know what I remember from statistics tell me I remember that my professor wore cowboy boots every single class that is what I remember from statistics in 199 y’all you’re welcome I remember uh my my professor professor Connelly uh when she was teaching us the the unit on like odds and probability and things um she would open connell’s casino and we would play Cino games to learn about odds and probability and I was like wait this is actually I was like this is math math is math can be fun if only you had paid enough attention to beat douge Hamilton Emma I know I know it’s true it’s true yeah well that’s a little glimpse into Emma and I in high school do with that what you will coming up on tomorrow’s show we are GNA continue working through your mailbag questions we have some great questions we’re going to talk about Patrick l we’re going to talk about the Predators prospects as well so make sure you come back tomorrow and hear the rest of our answers to the mailbag questions but before we go Emma let everyone know where can they find you where can they find your work on social media Emma lingan and online at the hockey news and you can find me on social media at ankor Mama on Ice you can find my work at Penalty Box radio that’s going to do it for today’s episode of the lock on Predators podcast thank you for making us your first listen of the day we’ll be back tomorrow with some more mailbag questions and answers we’ll see you then
Should the Nashville Predators explore a trade with the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Dougie Hamilton? Who are the future phenoms coming up through the Predators’ pipeline? Which players have the potential to make the biggest impact for Nashville in the 2024-25 season? On today’s Locked On Predators, Ann and Emma answer these and more listener questions in the first installment of a two-part offseason mailbag.
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