Mike Fisher to Nashville

Fantasy Impact: The Ottawa Senators have traded centerman Mike Fisher to the Nashville Predators for a first-round draft pick in 2011 plus a conditional draft pick.

The Senators get: a chance to look at some of the kids, such as Bobby Butler and Jim O’Brien, while at the same time landing a pick that should sit around 20th in this season’s draft. They shed $4.2 million in caps space for the next two seasons as well – and who knows how important that could be in 2013?

The Predators get: a hardworking second-line center who can give you 55 points, but may have 65-point potential in the right situation. He helps out on both special teams and is the prototypical Nashville player. He’s a mild upgrade to David Legwand and a bigger upgrade to Marcel Goc, but is cut from the same cloth.

Fantasy Players Impacted: Nashville doesn’t expect Matthew Lombardi back soon and Cal O’Reilly is out for the season. So with that in mind, they now have Fisher as their top center, followed by Legwand and Goc. Jerred Smithson and Nick Spaling are their other options. They’ll try Fisher on the Martin Erat/Sergei Kostitsyn line, which is a hot line to begin with, so Fisher should have an immediate impact offensively. Legwand would center Patric Hornqvist and Steve Sullivan. Goch, Marek Svatos and Colin Wilson form a third scoring line, with J.P. Dumont left out in the cold (again).

In Ottawa, Chris Kelly – on pace for 33 points – could step things up enough to get to 38 points, which would tie his career high. The team has already recalled Bobby Butler from the AHL, and he should find a permanent NHL home now that a spot has been cleared. I don’t expect either to be worth picking up, though. The onus is on Jason Spezza to produce offense and now that he has no secondary support, we’ll see how he responds.

Fantasy Players this helps, in order:
1. Fisher

2. Erat

3. Kostitsyn

4. Kelly

5. Butler (yes, I know he is a winger)