The Predators are writing a whole new definition for the word “reset”. They landed multiple big names early on in free agency, with Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei. 

Last year’s free agent signings there were viewed skeptically at the start, with Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist coming in to insulate the young players. They had fantastic seasons, and Andrew Brunette has done an excellent job getting the most out of almost everyone at his disposal. That bodes well for Stamkos and Marchessault even as they pass through their mid-30s. 

What the Predators are getting:

The Preds bolstered their second line with Stamkos who has two 40-goal seasons in the list three years, and Marchessault who has averaged over 30 goals and 60 points those same list three seasons. Both should be able to maintain those numbers for the next year or two.

Stamkos’ value will dip a bit as he loses his vaunted spot on the Lightning power play, but overall the biggest change around those two players is the boost in value they give to whomever they play with. It could be any of Colton Sissons, Cody Glass, Jusso Parssinen, or even someone not currently on the roster. Most likely though is it will be Tommy Novak, who has paced for over 50 points in back to back seasons. If he does get the bump up from 14 to 16 minutes per game then that could be a big jump to full fantasy relevance. On the flip side, Nyquist might be in line to be bumped down to the second power play unit. That could shave 10 points off his scoring total for next year.

Brady Skjei is only 30 at the moment, so the first few years will be reasonable, but it’s very possible that as a bigger defenceman he falls off in the latter years. He replaces Ryan McDonagh‘s minutes, as well as taking the Tyson Barrie/Dante Fabbro spot on the second power play. His higher peripherals should play well in Nashville as well after they supported Jeremy Lauzon and Luke Schenn to big bangers seasons last year. Despite that, expect the offensive output to drop a little from his career year in Carolina.

That wasn’t all though, as Scott Wedgewood was also brought in as a cheaper backup than Kevin Lankinen has been, and he can put up similar numbers playing 20-25 games behind Juuse Saros, which means less volume for Wedgewood. The two-year deal at $1.5M per year is tradeable or manageable to put in the minors if they really want to call Yaroslav Askarov up, but more likely this points to him being given more time to develop in the minors and to be dangled as a trade chip. 

Alex Carrier was rumored Sunday to have a new contract in place, but it’s possible the Skjei deal has priced him out of Nashville

Players this helps:

Tommy Novak

Brady Skjei

Gustav Nyquist

Players this hurts:

Steven Stamkos

Juuso Parssinen, Philip Tomasino, Cody Glass, Luke Evangelista

Dante Fabbro