On The Prowl Ahead

With the 2017-2018 EHE well underway, most GMs hang up their phones from the off-season wheeling and dealing, send their scouts overseas, and begin the long grind of the regular season. However, the drop of the puck did not stop the Predators from continuining to make changes to their roster. "You're not doing your job well if you're not constantly talking to other GMs and looking for ways to improve the future of your hockey club." Wolf said during his first media availability of the 2017-2018 season. 

On Wednesday night, before their game against the Buffalo Sabres, it was announced by GM Eric Wolf that the Nashville Predators had acquired Noah Juulsen from the Calgary Flames, and in exchange the Predators gave up Daniel Sprong. After earning a 3-1 victory win against the Sabres, Wolf made himself available to media after the game before the flight left for their next game on the road against Colorado. 

"It is not particularly a time I like to make deals, while the season is going on, but my long term goal here is to build a long term future for this franchise." Wolf told reporters. Which he is likely hinting at the fact the Predators, a team who EHE analysts have pegged as a dark horse to contend for the cup, is selling off players like Seidenberg and re-tooling their pipeline of prospects on the fly.

A day before the season began, in an unexpected trade, the Predators acquired Ivan Barbashev from the New Jersey Devils for a 2nd round pick. "During the 2015 super draft, we had Barbashev really high on our draft list, but the Devils selected him. Just because we lost out on a prospect at the draft, doesn't mean he leaves our radar. We like to circle back on those players we had high on our list and see if we can maybe bring them to Nashville. We did something similar with Julien Gauthier. Players we like, we try to get them on our side. We're happy Barbashev is in our system now and that he's a lot further along in reaching the EHE than that 2nd round pick would've been. We want also want to provide our farm team with talented players as well and build a positive enviroment in San Antonio, so that was a factor in the deal as well." Klim Kostin, whom the Predators drafted in the first round this past off-season, is really good friends of Ivan Barbashev. Some wonder if that had anything to do with the acquisiton of Barbashev, considering there weren't any Russians on the team as of yet besides Kostin. 

Ivan Barbashev will be relied on this season with the Predators' farm affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage. The Rampage, a team lacking with star power will look to Barbashev to lead them to a return to the post-season.

"To have long term success in this league, you gotta draft and develop. It is super important in a league like the EHE, to have club controlled assets in terms of young players on RFAs. Seidenberg was a casualty of being a UFA at the end of the season, and as much as we appreciate everything he's done for this organization, you can't turn down a couple of picks for him."

GM Eric Wolf, who is also a native of Germany, sent his fellow countrymen to his biggest rival, the Minnesota Wild, for a 3rd round draft pick and a 4th round draft pick in 2018.

The Predators have been a little under scrutiny by other GMs in the league, a team who's blueline and goaltending has been suspect to criticism for being mediocre. So why deal their best rated defenseman in Seidenberg for futures? "Do I want to make a deep push for the playoffs this season, or acquire more future assets so I can build a perennial contender for many years?" Wolf said. "However" he continued, "Building our blueline is now the focal point of what I am set out to address. I am happy with our current core of forwards and our abundance of forward prospects, but now I want to shift my focus on building the blueline. With only Krug and Severson under contract and the only EHE ready defensemen, I want to get the ball rolling on building our blueline, and it starts with this under the radar swap for Noah Juulsen." 

Juulsen was selected by the Winnipeg Jets 42nd overall in the EHE superdraft, but has since been dealt 3 times. He was dealt by Winnipeg to Boston on July 31st - 2017, but then dealt only six days later on August 6th - 2017 to the Calgary Flames. Now with the Predators, it appears his acquisition signifies the rebuild of the Predators blueline and is in Nashville's long term plans.

"Our core is still quite young, and I believe the talent level of those core players are still in the primes, and will be for many more years. Going a draft and developing route, and acquiring younger assets just makes more sense for us. I don't feel like there is a clock ticking or a window closing. If we continue to build, I really feel like we can create something special with the players we have already leading this team. Our shift focuses to our blueline now, and I want the fans of Nashville to know our top priority now is to solidify the future of our defense so we are more complete as a team moving forward." 

Although the mentality may be to build for the future in Nashville, don't let that fool you with a team already boasting the likes of forwards like Crosby, McDavid, Hall, Skinner, and Ryan. The Predators will aim to be competitive now, while slowly building the building blocks to be a perennial force for many years to come.