P.K. Subban’s injury situation means that the Nashville Predators’ off-season gets a grade of “Incomplete,” but one of the smaller moves has been working out wonderfully.
Defenseman Matt Irwin isn’t blowing anyone’s mind, yet he’s been a very nice piece for their defense, and the team rewarded him with a little future certainty by way of a one-year, $650K extension on Friday.
(Granted, that “certainty” could be questioned since the expansion draft creates a lot of questions for anyone outside of a team’s core ... but let’s table that for a moment.)
As of right now, Predators defensemen under contract through at least 2017-18 currently include Irwin, Subban, Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Petter Granberg and Anthony Bitetto.
Irwin can provide a decent mixture of solid offense and respectable defense - he’s usually on the right end of possession stats - so this deal could be a subtle bargain ... whether it stays in Nashville, or perhaps migrates to Vegas.
#Preds signing Irwin to a 1 year Ext. gives Nashville flexibility in the Expansion Draft with a 5th d-man meeting the necessary exposure req
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) January 7, 2017