The Nashville Predators traded forward Michael McCarron to the Minnesota Wild on March 3 prior to their game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Predators received a 2028 second-round pick in return for McCarron, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. The remainder of McCarron’s $900,000 salary will go to Minnesota in the deal.

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McCarron, 30, played in 59 games for the Predators this season, scoring five goals and seven assists. In six years with Nashville, McCarron has played 292 games, mostly while playing fourth-line center and manning the team’s top penalty kill unit.

A first-round draft pick by the Montreal Canadiens in 2013, McCarron was traded to the Predators in January 2020 in exchange for forward Laurent Dauphin. Initially McCarron was assigned to Milwaukee, but was soon elevated to a fourth line role with Nashville under then coach John Hynes. He flourished in a defensive heavy deployment, became a mainstay on the penalty kill, and grew into one of the top face-off men in the league with a career 52.8% win rate.

In December 2022, McCarron entered the NHL’s player assistance program, then returned to the Predators in January 2023. In February 2024, he signed a two-year, $1.8 million contract extension through 2025-26.

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This trade makes sense for Nashville (27-25-8, 62 points), even though they are within reach of a playoff spot. Trotz, who announced his retirement on Feb. 2, indicated recently that he’s willing to sell-off expiring contracts to build for the future.

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Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Predators trade Michael McCarron to Wild for 2nd-round pick