This year’s class of NHL Free Agents is an interesting bunch. On name recognition alone, there hasn’t been a UFA packed with this much starpower in years, with players like Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jonathan Toews, and Ryan O’Reilly poised to test the open market. There are also a plethora of good players in their prime — Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov, Matt Dumba, and Max Domi — that attract plenty of attention, and could be the missing piece for a team hoping to make a deep playoff run.
But if you’re hoping the Nashville Predators swing for the fences on one of those big names, don’t hold your breath. Incoming GM Barry Trotz has stated he doesn’t expect to be a “big player” in free agency this summer, mentioning he’ll likely let other GMs “fight” over the top guys in the class.
It’s a plan that, at least for this Summer, makes sense for the Predators. The team is transitioning the core towards the younger players on the roster and are being patient with the “contender window.” Plus, outgoing GM David Poile just pulled a trade deadline master-class to get the Preds out of a dire cap situation; the Preds aren’t going to immediately circle back and fill their newfound cap space with more bloated, long-term contracts.
However, that doesn’t mean Trotz will stand pat on July 1st either. He stated earlier that he’s willing to be aggressive in free agency if “the right person is there.” That may not include any of this year’s headliners, but there are still options in this year’s class that could help the Predators in both the short and long term if the right deal pops up.
J.T. Compher
A long-standing “grit guy” for the Colorado Avalanche, the 28-year-old Compher found himself in an elevated role last season thanks to roster turnover and a rash of injuries. Compher made the most of it with career-highs in points (52) and assists (35.) Beyond that, he’s also a premier defensive forward (the Avs’ top penalty-killing forward last season) and a frequent contributor to the power play. His quickness and aggressive forechecking also cause problems for opponents (just ask the Nashville Predators), which fits the aggressive “go get the puck back” mentality Brunette wants to instill.
Compher certainly checks a lot of boxes for the Preds, and his ability to thrive in the middle six while still playing a “gritty” role could make Nashville less-reliant on needing to pack the bottom line with “penalty killing specialists.” The term and money will be the big question mark here. Compher is under 30 and just came off a career season. It’s likely he’ll want a deal similar to what former Michigan teammate Andrew Copp got with the Detroit Red Wings last season (5 years, $5.625 AAV.) The one caveat is that last season’s free agent class was much thinner, meaning a more robust market this year could bring the price down.
Gustav Nyquist
His end-of-season cameo with the Minnesota Wild last season proved that not only does Nyquist seem fully-healed of the injuries that sidelined him for most of the season, but that those injuries didn’t seem to dampen the lightning-quick speed that’s been a trademark of his game his entire career. The 33-year-old notched 5 points in his 3 regular season games with the Wild, then added 5 points in the Wild’s six playoff games against the Stars.
If the Preds’ goal is to get faster, they could certainly do worse than Nyquist, who has a history of speeding by opposing defenders with ease. That, combined with veteran leadership, could make him a perfect complement to Tommy Novak or Luke Evangelista, two other players who love to take advantage of the open ice. His recent injury issues are a concern, but it’s highly unlikely many teams will offer more than a two-year deal, a pricetag the Preds could feasibly live with.
Jesper Fast
Where Nyquist is known for his breakaway speed, Fast’s trademark might be his overall quickness; his ability to quickly accelerate and change direction allows him to stay locked in to some of the NHL’s top offensive players. This is part of why Fast has earned a reputation as one of the league’s most reliable defensive forwards, and also the reason several NHL teams will likely come calling on July 1st.
Fast’s scoring has never been his strong suit (his 34 points in 2021-22 was his career-high), but there’s enough of a pop that would make him an immediate bottom six upgrade over, say, Cole Smith or Michael McCarron, while still giving the Preds a player who can eat up a lot of penalty killing minutes. Like Nyquist, it’s unlikely teams will want to give the 31-year-old depth guy anything more than a short-term deal, perhaps just enough time to help the Preds bridge the gap towards some younger options coming through the system.
Jonathan Drouin
Alright, enough with the veteran stopgaps in this list… let’s unleash some chaos!
On one hand, Drouin may have the biggest boom-or-bust option in free agency. The 3rd overall pick from 2013 has shown flashes of potential over the years, but his stint in Montreal has been ripe with frustrations, including a two-goal season last year with a few healthy scratches for “disciplinary reasons” thrown in the mix.
On the other, when you watch Drouin actually play, you see glimpses of the creativity that made him one of the NHL’s top prospects. When he’s in the groove, Drouin has a knack for creating space for himself and finding passing lanes to set up his teammates for prime scoring opportunities. That helped him, despite a dismal goal-scoring year, still rack up 27 assists (which, for what it’s worth, would have been the third-most on the Predators last season.)
Would using that creativity to set up the likes of Filip Forsberg and Matt Duchene help Drouin regain his form, or would playing alongside a group of hungry young players like Novak or Evangelista help him find his enthusiasm for the game again? It may be worth a short-term “prove it” deal for the Preds to find out.
Scott Mayfield
Trotz has hinted that he’d like to add some size to the Preds’ blueline, which is why a lot of people have connected one of Trotz’s old stalwarts to Nashville. Mayfield developed into an everyday defenseman with the New York Islanders under Trotz’s tutelage, and has since become a versatile blueliner. He has the size Trotz wants (6’5, 220 pounds), but isn’t a traffic cone in his own end either. He’s an underrated skater and has decent scoring pop for someone considered more of a “stay at home defenseman (6 goals and 18 assists last season.)
There are two big concerns to Mayfield’s game. One is that his defensive metrics significantly dropped last season when Lane Lambert tried to instill a more up-tempo style of play, not unlike the style Brunette wants to run in Nashville. The other is that Mayfield developed a penchant for taking ill-timed penalties as the result of being aggressive and physical at the wrong moments, a trait that seems all-too-familiar to Preds fans. There’s certainly concern that Mayfield would be “just more of the same” on the Preds’ blueline. However, if he can play with the same form he had with Trotz at the helm on Long Island, this could help the Preds sure up some of their defensive issues.
Ryan Graves
Another blueline option (if the Preds opt for a much-needed defensive overhaul) is the 28-year-old Graves, who’s coming off a two-year stint with the New Jersey Devils. Like Mayfield, Graves is a big body (6’5, 226 lbs) that can skate, but a bit more consistent than the Islander when it comes to his defensive game, and capable of going toe-to-toe with other team’s top scoring lines. He can play hefty minutes without making a ton of mistakes, and he’s capable of generating a decent amount of scoring (54 points over the past two seasons) despite starting the defensive zone the vast majority of the time.
It remains iffy on if Graves even hits the open market. The Devils just traded away another pending free agent, Damon Severson, which would seemingly clear up space for them to give Graves a solid contract. If he does hit the market on July 1st, the price tag to land this reliable top four defenseman won’t be cheap. But after being one of the worst statistical defensive teams in the NHL last season, the Predators desperately need to revamp their blueline, and the pipeline beyond the current corps is thin. This could be an investment that pays dividends for Trotz down the line.
Tomas Tatar
A career of playing on mid-to-bad teams for the bulk of his career overshadows the fact that Tatar has been an impressively reliable scorer for most of his career. At 32, he’s a step behind where the player he was during his prime in Detroit and Montreal, but as he showed last year in New Jersey (20 goals and 28 assists), he still has enough pop to be a solid depth addition. He’s a smart player who can be creative with the puck on his stick while also getting himself into dangerous areas, and his two-way game is impressive as well.
Tatar’s skillset would complement players like Tomasino or Evangelista, who have a nose for the goal but have room to grow defensively. He likely won’t command a huge salary or long term, but there will sure to be a few different teams interested in his services. As long as the Preds don’t get into a bidding war, Tatar may be a good bridge option.
