Part of what made it easier for the Nashville Predators to trade some of their key players, young or otherwise, was getting a juicy return for them.
Trading Yaroslav Askarov to San Jose was tough to do, but the Sharks gave up a 2025 first-round pick as part of the deal. Same goes for the (infamous) trade with Tampa Bay in 2023 in which the Predators sent Tanner Jeannot to the Lightning for a package of five draft picks that also included a 2025 first-rounder.
With three first-round picks already set in place for the upcoming draft, using one of them to acquire a veteran to balance out the lineup and give Steven Stamkos, Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi and Jonathan Marchessault some help would be useful.
This idea has its flaws, admittedly, but the Predators acquired top picks and prospects in past deals because they’re in position to rebuild on the fly and their prospect pool needs help.
However, when you spend to add Stamkos, Marchessault and Brady Skjei in an offseason because they’d just made the playoffs plus the fact that they’ve already dealt a pile of young players this season, trading a first-round pick for someone who can help right now and (ideally) for a couple more years makes sense.
Nashville general manager Barry Trotz hasn’t been shy about making moves, but if he wants this group to get back into the playoff race ASAP, the time to be bold is now.