Wednesday night saw defensemen Luke Schenn and forward Tommy Novak traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for forward Michael Bunting and a 2026 fourth round pick. Nashville’s disappointing season has resulted in a sell off ahead of tomorrow’s trade deadline.
With Roman Josi, Jeremy Lauzon, and Adam WIlsby out with injuries, Brady Skjei becomes the most tenured blue liner who has played in the Predators system with a total of 61 games in gold. Second most experience as a Predators defenseman? Nick Blankenburg who has played a total of 39 games for Nashville and who will be sharing those top pairing minutes with Skjei tonight against the Seattle Kraken.
The vacancies on the blue line open up opportunities for other players according to head coach Andrew Brunette.
“It’s an opportunity for other guys to step up,” Brunette said after morning skate on Thursday.
Two of the players Bruno will be watching closely are Marc Del Gaizo and Spencer Stastney.
Twenty-five year old Spencer Stastney will play his tenth game of the season tonight against Seattle. The 2018 fifth round draft pick made a strong impression in his debut season last year but dealt with an injury and then took time away from hockey at the beginning of this season. A majority of Stastney’s playing time has come with the Milwaukee Admirals.
“He gave us a great stretch last year, and then he got hurt,” Brunette said. “This year he missed some time, and his first call up I thought he played a really good first game and then it kind of slipped.”
Stastney played six games in January for the Predators before being recalled once again on March 1. He played in Nashville’s loss to the New York Rangers over the weekend and in the win over Boston on Tuesday night.
“He’s played two really good games for us,” Brunette said of Stastney’s return to the NHL line up.
“Hopefully he can build that again. I think he’s a kid that when he’s got confidence, you can tell and when he doesn’t, you can tell. We want him to keep building his confidence and be the player we all think he can be.”
Marc Del Gaizo will play his 34th NHL game tonight and his 26th of this season. While the New Jersey native is seizing his opportunity at the NHL level, he credits his most recent stretch with the AHL Milwaukee Admirals for getting him ready to return to NHL action.
“It was really good for me to go to Milwaukee and play a lot and get a lot of minutes and get my confidence back and get my touches and all those types of things,” Del Gaizo said.
Andrew Brunette likes what he has seen from Del Gaizo in recent games.
“I think Gaiz has been really good since he’s been up. We love his energy, love his skating.”
“I think at times he’s got to kind of reel it in a little but because he wants it. And that what you love with the kid, too,” Brunette said.
“Sometimes I think he gets a little rambunctious, and some mistakes happen, but that’s the evolution of a pro back there.”
Both Stastney and 25-yer-old Marc Del Gaizo benefited from sharing ice time with veteran Luke Schenn, and Schenn’s influence went beyond the ice for the young players in the Nashville locker room.
“He’s been really good to me and a lot of the younger guys,” Del Gaizo said of Schenn.
“He’s played 1000 games for a reason, and he’s a hell of a person and great player. I could always go to him and ask questions about anything. Whether it’s about hockey or life or anything going on, he just was great.”
Now these young players have the opportunity to step into a bigger role with Schenn’s absence.
