A pair of veteran forwards won’t be back in Nashville next season.
Center Paul Gaustad, a pending UFA, and winger Eric Nystrom -- who has one year left on his deal at $2.5 million -- are going to move along... or be moved along, per NHL.com’s Robby Stanley.
Gaustad, 34, has spent the last four-plus seasons in Nashville, having been acquired at the ’12 trade deadline. A serviceable-yet-unspectacular contributor, Gaustad had a solid 10-goal, 21-point effort during the ’13-14 campaign but was less of a factor this season, averaging a career-low 11:15 TOI per night.
Nystrom, 33, is a trickier proposition.
As mentioned above, he still has term left on his contract, and it’ll be interesting to see if Preds GM David Poile can orchestrate a trade. Nystrom was a press box regular during the playoffs -- sitting up there for 13 of Nashville’s 14 games -- though he did manage to score seven goals in just 46 regular-season appearances.
It’s very possible Nystrom could be bought out, which would free up a roster spot for prospects like Kevin Fiala, Vladislav Kamenev or Pontus Aberg.