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Best remaining free agents by position

By Joey AlfieriJul 2, 2018, 11:15 AM EDT
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Most of the big money has already been spent in free agency. Names like John Tavares, James van Riemsdyk, Paul Stastny and James Neal have all found new homes. Although there aren’t many big names left on the market, there are still some quality players left that can help make a team better.

Here’s the best of the rest by position:

Center

• Joe Thornton: Everyone expects Thornton to return to San Jose, but as of right now he’s still an unrestricted free agent. The 39-year-old is coming off a knee injury. He had 13 goals and 36 points in 47 games last season. Thornton isn’t the same player he once was, but he can still be a complementary piece on a good Sharks team.

• Antoine Vermette: The veteran isn’t as productive as he once was, but there’s still likely going to be in demand over the next couple of days. The 35-year-old had just eight goals and eight assists in 64 games with Anaheim last season.

• Daniel Winnik: The 33-year-old plays a very specific kind of role, as he’s an energy forward and penalty killer. Winnik had six goals and 23 points in 81 games with Minnesota last year. There probably won’t be a rush to sign the veteran, but he can still be a useful asset. He’s also capable of playing center and wing.

As you can probably tell, the center market is pretty thin.

Wing

• Rick Nash: He’s the only 20-goal scorer left on the market now that James Neal has landed in Calgary. The  problem is that the 34-year-old isn’t sure if he wants to keep playing hockey. Nash suffered another concussion after he joined the Bruins, so that’s got to be weighing on him and his huge decision.

• Patrick Maroon: The rugged winger split last season with Edmonton and New Jersey and he remained relatively productive, as he accumulated 17 goals and 43 points in 74 games. There probably would have been more interest in his services if he wouldn’t have had to undergo back surgery this offseason. Maroon will still find a nice landing spot in the next few days.

• Anthony Duclair: Since he scored 20 goals and 44 points back in 2015-16, Duclair’s career has been a bit of a disappointment. The Coyotes gave him every opportunity to succeed after they got him from the Rangers, but things just never materialized. The 22-year-old was shipped to Chicago last season, but that didn’t help ignite his career either. But he’s still young and a team should roll the dice on his upside.

Defense

• Calvin de Haan: The 27-year-old isn’t an offensive juggernaut by any means, but he’s on the right side of 30 and he’s fully capable of serving as an effective number four or five defenseman on a solid team. De Haan was limited to just 33 games last season, but he played in 82 contests the year before that.

• Luca Sbisa: Like de Haan, Sbisa also missed a significant amount of time last year. The 28-year-old had two goals and 14 points in 30 games with the Golden Knights. Sbisa is a bottom-pairing defenseman that is capable of moving the puck a little bit.

• Dan Hamhuis: The 35-year-old is a defensive defenseman that averaged over 20 minutes of ice time with Dallas last season. He had three goals and 24 points in 80 contests last season, which isn’t awful considering the style he plays.

• Alexei Emelin: The Russian blueliner went from being Shea Weber‘s defense partner in Montreal two years ago to being a bottom-pairing defender in Nashville. Emelin doesn’t give his team much when it comes to offense or moving the puck up the ice, but he’s a hard-nosed defender that can lay people out.

Goalies

• Steve Mason: After signing with the Jets last season, Mason was moved to the Montreal Canadiens late last week. The Habs, who had a ton of cap space, opted to buy out the netminder, so that’s why he’s on the market right now. The 30-year-old had a rough year in Winnipeg. He was plagued by injuries and never really settled into his new city. Some added playing time will do him some good.

• Robin Lehner: At 26 years old, Lehner still has time to develop into the number one goalie many expected him to be, but he’s going to have to do it soon. He had a 14-26-9 record with a 3.01 goals-against-average and a .908 save percentage with Buffalo last season. Playing on a decent team could benefit him in a big way.

• Kari Lehtonen: His days of being a big money goaltender are over. The 34-year-old hasn’t posted decent numbers in a while, so he’s more of a backup netminder at this point of his career. Finding his next home won’t be easy given his recent performances and age.

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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.

No big moves needed as Predators primed for another Cup run

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By Scott BilleckJun 14, 2018, 11:09 AM EDT
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Another summer is here, and the warm months wouldn’t be complete without hearing fresh P.K. Subban trade rumors.

This isn’t exactly all that surprising, of course. The Nashville Predators’ defenseman is one of the league’s premier rearguards and comes with the possibility of quite the haul in return in any deal swung for him. And he just seems to have this knack for working his way into the rumor mill

Case and point: he’s on TSN’s Trade Bait board this year, and he’s inside the Top 10, just for good measure.

But while it might not come as a shock to the hockey world to see Subban’s name being thrown around in the trade winds again, there’s absolutely no reason why the Predators would want to trade one of the league’s top defenseman away from a team that remains so well-positioned in the Central Division, the Western Conference and the NHL as a whole.

Let’s review: Subban is a great defenseman that’s sound in puck possession, shot suppression and putting up points.

Naturally, Predators general manager David Poile has subsequently shot down the rumors regarding Subban, who has four years remaining on a seven year, $72 million deal with an annual cap hit of $9 million.

“You see tweets from different places, but that’s not happening,” Poile told The Athletic‘s Pierre LeBrun. “P.K. played terrific this year. He played really well. He’s a really good player. He’s one of the three candidates for the Norris Trophy. I really don’t know where this comes from.”

We’ve seen this song and dance before.

But while Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin couldn’t ultimately be believed in the end, there’s no reason to think Poile would drop that bomb in his defensive corps, one that is largely staying the same aside from Alexei Emelin becoming a unrestricted free agent.

That vaunted core on the back end — arguably the best in the NHL with Subban, Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis (a UFA after next season) — is all under contract

Let’s not forget that the Predators are one year removed from the Stanley Cup Final, and that they lost a tight series to the Winnipeg Jets in second round this season. And most importantly, let’s not lose track of the fact that Nashville is still in prime position to make another run this upcoming season.

Scott Hartnell is gone, but the Predators only have two other players searching for new deals — Ryan Hartman and Miikka Salomaki, both restricted free agents and filler pieces rather than key cogs. Everyone else is under contract and the Predators can look forward to Eeli Tolvanen entering the lineup next season.

Juuse Saros is an RFA in goal (and you’d have to think the Predators will want to square that one away ASAP with 35-year-old Pekka Rinne set to become a UFA next offseason) but their lineup will look quite similar to that of this past season, one which led the Predators to the 117 points and the Presidents’ Trophy during the regular season.

The Predators are sitting pretty, too, under the cap, with $7.5 million to give in its current state — a number that is expected to rise with next season’s cap being projected in the $78 million to $82 million range.

If it ain’t broke, you don’t fix it. And that cliche certainly applies to the Predators this summer.

Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck

WATCH LIVE: Nashville Predators vs. Washington Capitals

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By Adam GretzApr 5, 2018, 7:28 PM EDT

Watch Live On NBCSN

Nashville Predators

Forwards

Filip Forsberg – Ryan Johansen – Viktor Arvidsson

Kevin Fiala – Kyle Turris – Craig Smith

Colton Sissons – Nick Bonino – Ryan Hartman

Miikka Salomaki – Mike Fisher – Austin Watson

Defense

Roman Josi – Ryan Ellis

Mattias Ekholm – P.K. Subban

Alexei Emelin – Anthony Bitetto / Matt Irwin

Goaltender: Juuse Saros

NHL On NBCSN: Predators can clinch Central Division, Western Conference

Washington Capitals

Forwards

Alex Ovechkin–Evgeny Kuznetsov–Tom Wilson

Andre Burakovsky– Nick Backstrom–TJ Oshie

Brett Connolly–Lars Eller–Devante Smith-Pelly

Chandler Stephenson-Travis Boyd- Alex Chiasson

Defense

Dmitry Orlov–Matt Niskanen

Michal Kempny–John Carlson

Brooks Orpik– Christian Djoos

Goalie: Philip Grubauer

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

WATCH LIVE: St. Louis Blues vs. Nashville Predators

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By Scott BilleckFeb 25, 2018, 11:30 AM EST

WATCH LIVE on NBC – 12 PM ET

PROJECTED LINES

St. Louis Blues

Forwards

Ivan Barbashev — Paul Stastny — Vladimir Tarasenko

Jaden Schwartz — Brayden Schenn — Vladimir Sobotka

Alexander Steen — Patrik Berglund — Nikita Soshnikov

Scottie Upshall — Kyle Brodziak — Dmitrij Jaskin

Defenseman

Carl Gunnarsson — Alex Pietrangelo

Jay Bouwmeester — Colton Parayko

Vince Dunn — Jordan Schmaltz

Starting goalie: Jake Allen

Nashville Predators

Forwards

Filip Forsberg — Ryan Johansen — Viktor Arvidsson

Kevin Fiala — Kyle Turris — Craig Smith

Scott Hartnell — Nick Bonino — Calle Jarnkrok

Miikka Salomaki — Colton Sissons — Austin Watson

Defenseman

Roman Josi — Ryan Ellis

Mattias Ekholm — P.K. Subban

Alexei Emelin — Yannick Weber

Starting goalie: Pekka Rinne

MORE: Pro Hockey Talk 2018 NHL Trade Deadline Tracker

Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck

Fights, blood, nastiness between Rangers, Predators

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By James O'BrienFeb 3, 2018, 11:25 PM EST
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The New York Rangers are leaving Saturday’s game against the Nashville Predators feeling wounded in more ways than one.

For one thing, the two teams continue to move in opposite directions in the standings, with the Predators staying hot and the Rangers’ playoff hopes dwindling in a 5-2 decision for Nashville.

The bumps and bruises weren’t just figurative, though.

Things got nasty at times between the two teams, and in some cases, it seemed a little one-sided. Marc Staal didn’t return to the game after a hard, questionable hit by Alexei Emelin, a defenseman with a reputation for blurring the line between being physical and delivering illegal checks:

Considering Staal’s injury history, there are some very reasonable concerns about another possible concussion.

That wasn’t the only physical moment, either, as Jimmy Vesey was bloodied and did not return to the game after a heavy collision with Filip Forsberg:

(The tone of such a tweet is a reminder that Predators fans haven’t forgotten about Vesey leaving town.)

The check left Vesey bloodied:

That was enough for Brady Skjei to drop the mitts in a fight with Ryan Johansen, but the fight might have gone Johansen’s way.

So, the Rangers lost two notable players to injury, badly lost, and their opponents had a “dance party” after the game. Not good.

Moments like these only rub salt into your wounds:

The Predators are a team that can win in a number of ways, and apparently that can sometimes means getting a little nasty. The Rangers found that out in a painful way.

UPDATE: 

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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.