Starting Where It Began
2022-08-31It all started with an under the radar trade for the Predators. It seemed as though the EHE off-season suddenly popped with a ton of big deals and heavy names changing teams. But there was a curious deal underneath it all that flew under the radar for most, the Predators sent a 3rd round pick to the Dallas Stars, a team who they finally beat in the playoffs a month prior, and acquired a familiar face – Sean Monahan. There’s more to this trade than what most of the league would see on the surface.
Sean Monahan was selected 60th overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2014 inaugural draft. The Predators second pick in the draft, their first being Sidney Crosby, who is still with the Predators to this day.
Crosby went on record after the re-aquisition as saying “It is awesome to have Monahan back in the fold. Him and I had a lot of discussions back in 2014 and 2015 about working together on making the Predators a cup contender and bringing a cup to Nashville one day as the center pieces of the team. It was heartbreaking when he got dealt in 2016. So to have him back now, it’s almost a blast from the past, and a new opportunity to achieve what we once set out to do together.”
It was every intention to build the team around Crosby and Monahan back in 2014. But when the Nashville Predators won the super draft lottery in 2015 with 6.5% odds and drafted a guy named Connor McDavid, suddenly the blueprint of the team took a major shift, and suddenly they had too many elite centers. “At the time, Monahan was a 2nd line center. You add McDavid to the fold on a bizarre lottery win chance and it’s like, well we can’t have Monahan on the 3rd line, he was too talented and it allocated too much of our salary cap at the center position where our wings and defense were being hindered as a result. We had to make the very tough decision to move Monahan to better make use of that asset and move it to a different part of the line-up.” Wolf said, “but let me reiterate, it was a tough day for me, I never wanted to move him and for the longest time had regretted it.” Sean Monahan was shipped to the Boston Bruins for Taylor Hall, who as well as Crosby, is still on the team to this day. The trade was intended to move a surplus of what they had at center and allocate to what they needed at the time, a top line left winger.
Sean Monahan was then flipped immediately by Boston and traded to the Dallas Stars. The archrivals of the Predators, to add salt to the wound. Monahan who was once poised to center the Preds franchise for a decade had suddenly dawned the Stars jersey. Monahan would go on to play the next 6 seasons in Dallas, never missing a single game.
So when it became a possibility to add Monahan back to the fold, the Predators GM jumped on the opportunity, bringing back a familiar face whom they originally drafted and never wanted to let go. This time it made a lot more sense, Monahan in this day is more suited for the 3C position, a position of need the Preds had. “I was ecstatic when we were able to get Monahan back, and at a very efficient cost of a 3rd round pick. It was like we had come full circle, starting where it began.” Wolf said. “We believe at this stage in Monahan’s career, he is a bit of a reclamation project but is still an effective player with potential to bounce back. We went into the off-season with a need at our 3rd line center position, and we think Monahan is a really great fit for us there, where 6 years ago he wasn’t.”
THE DRAFT
And then the draft began. “We had all of our original picks, minus the 3rd we had just moved for Monahan. Had a few preliminary trade discussions with teams, some more serious than others, prior to the draft, but ultimately we went into the draft believing we’d be standing pat on the trade front. But of course I always think that until the board starts moving, and once names start coming off the board (or not, rather) teams get a little more desperate to pull the trigger on the deals where hesitancy prevented them from doing so just a couple days prior."
Holding the 18th overall pick, a trade they thought was dead in the water with the Senators came back to life as Ottawa had a guy they wanted at pick 18. “We had our sights on two players in particular, but to my shock when they went off the board, and Ottawa called us about our earlier discussions of trading down, it became a no brainer to trade back and acquire more picks". Wolf explained.
Nashville traded the 18th overall pick to Ottawa for the 30th, 42nd, and 94th round pick. “This trade ended up being quite vital for us later in the draft and I’ll let you know why later in this presser.”
And believe it or not, The Predators actually drafted more Canadians than Russians this year…..
30TH OVERALL – MAVERIC LAMOUREUX (D) (QMJHL, Drummondville Voltigeurs)
"After our two targets went before our eyes at 18th, we had no problem trading back to 30th because we had our sights on this kid. Lamoureux oozes personality, and his potential is sky high. Although his production is still quite raw, he’s got all the tools you need in a tool-box. In the offensive zone, he activates, often ahead of the play. He anticipates openings and makes sure to become an option. He turns shots into passes from the far corners of the offensive zone. In transition, he uses the middle, tries to slip pucks through defenders, and identifies cross-lane opportunities. Defensively, he’s ultra-physical and gets on players early. He’s pretty exciting to watch, and we’re thrilled to add this 6’7 defenseman with these tools to our arsenal on the back-end."
PREDATORS ACQUIRE CAM ATKINSON FROM THE NEW YORK RANGERS FOR 50TH, 114TH, AND PHILIPP KURASHEV
The biggest noise the Predators made on draft day may have not been the picks they made, but the trading for Cam Atkinson.
“Now a reason why trading back from 18th was so vital, was because it provided us with additional 2nd and 3rd round picks, which opened the door for us to have expendable assets in terms of draft picks to acquire Cam Atkinson. If we don’t trade back in the 1st round, we would have been hesitant to make this move. However, we have been very high on Atkinson for a very long time in the EHE, but when he was with the Dallas Stars it was very difficult to get any productive trade talks going with whom was originally in charge there before Justin Tang took over. When Tang took over the Stars, I immediately kicked the tires on Atkinson again and talks were receptive. Ultimately Atkinson went to NYR. Before the draft, I again inquired about his availability with the Rangers, but it was very brief. It wasn’t until we entered the 2nd round of the draft is when those talks heated up and Rangers GM Martins Auzins was looking to acquire some picks. It was tough to give up a young and promising player like Kurashev in the deal, but being conservative on the trade front has burned us a few times, and if we want to be serious about contending we have to bite the bullet and make these sorts of deals. After years of trying to acquire Cam Atkinson we finally pulled it off and we couldn’t be more thrilled. We are really excited to add his scoring prowess and high character to our top 6. With too many passers on our team, it was critical of us to acquire a more ‘shoot first’ mentality of a player. He feasted on us every time we played him when he was in Dallas, and he's been a scoring machine in the EHE, we're hoping he can replicate that with us wearing our colors.”
With the Preds trading their original 2nd and 4th round picks, it just left them with picks 42, 94, and 145.
42ND OVERALL – GLEB TRIKOZOV (LW) (MHL, Omskie Yastreby)
"A true boom or bust, the next Kirill Kaprizov, perhaps? The Predators can only hope. He led his junior team in the MHL in scoring while playing 20 less games than most of his teammates, which we found to be very impressive. He’s got really good vision and the way that he sees plays developing is really effective. He pre-scans before scooping a loose puck and finds his target in the slot. Or he sees a cross-seam pass between the goalie and defender and executes it to perfection. His offensive instincts are elite and plays at a very fast pace where he is constantly dangerous in the offensive zone. Trikozov is powerful and accurate with his wrist shot, snapshot, slap shot and one-timer. He finds the soft spots in the defence and gets himself in a good position to take a pass and fire off his shot. We’re hopeful it will transition to the North American game and that he’s able to come over from Russia one day because if he does I think we will have something really special here in Nashville if so."
94TH OVERALL – TYLER BRENNAN (G) (WHL, Prince George Cougars)
"At just under six-foot-four, Brennan has the type of ideal size that NHL teams are looking for with a modern goalie prospect. Add to that excellent skating skills and he is able to take up a lot of the net. Brennan gets out to the top of the crease, cutting down his angles and giving shooters little of the net to shoot at. Technically sound, his angles are almost always spot on, and he is square to the puck. This is helped by his strong skating and edge work. Brennan tracks the puck well and moves side-to-side quickly, making saves on cross-ice passes. He also can get back up quickly, avoiding being deked by opponents. His numbers in the WHL may appear a little on the lower side of things, but let it not fool you, he played for a very bad and rebuilding Prince George Cougars team who just narrowly made the playoffs, but despite being swept by the Winterhawks, Brennan was still able to post a .954% save percentage during that series (I was there in person to witness it, he was awesome.) As someone who currently resides in Prince George, BC, I am absolutely stoked to follow this kid now that the Predators own his EHE rights."
145TH OVERALL – GEORGE FEGARAS (D) (OJHL, North York Rangers)
"Fegaras was originally near the very top of our 3rd round draft board, just a spot below Tyler Brennan, actually. When the 5th round came around, admittedly I had kind of put his name on the back burner and compartmentalized it because I just assumed he was taken. Then upon reviewing our options at this pick, it dawned on me that I didn’t actually recall seeing his name anywhere. To my amazement he was still available at 145, a player we almost took at 94. It immediately became a no brainer to select him here.
We really love this kids ceiling, although I acknowledge a lot of things have to go right for him to get there. I think a lot of teams shy away from these Junior-A leagues, but I think we are starting to see more successful players develop from them. They are not at all far off from the WHL, OHL, QMJHL, USHL, etc in terms of skill. These kids are all in the same age group across all these leagues, and even though Fegaras played in the OJHL last season, he put up elite offensive numbers as a defenseman, and was actually 3rd in league scoring. We think he has the right fundamentals and enough offensive IQ to be successful with the right situation and coaching. When we saw he was committed to the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL next season and committed to Cornell University in the NCAA the following year, we felt he is on the right trajectory to really hone his raw offensive skills and could be a diamond in the rough. We’re excited to see his growth over the years and see if the long journey he has ahead of him pays off."
With the conclusion of the draft, and the Predators adding Cam Atkinson and Sean Monahan to the team, the Preds now set their sights on the next major domino of the off-season: Free Agency. Sources close the Predators say that despite their recent acquisitions, the Predators will still look to be active and aggressive as they look to further facelift the team.
You're probably the only GM anywhere who would be this excited to add Sean Monahan at this stage of his career and I think that's awesome.
Starting Where It Began
Preds' reenergize with familiar faces and picks as they look to facelift the roster.
Great job Eric. Love the Roster adds. Big fan of the Gleb Trikozov selection. He would have been in my top 32.
Starting Where It Began
Preds' reenergize with familiar faces and picks as they look to facelift the roster.