David Poile has seen more Trade Deadlines than any other NHL general manager, and on this occasion, he elected to keep his club intact – with an addition or two.
Nashville’s GM addressed the media on Monday afternoon after the 2 p.m. CT deadline had passed with a few small deals to discuss, including the acquisition of defenseman Jeremy Lauzon from Seattle, blueliner Alex Biega coming from Toronto and a minor trade that saw forward Brayden Burke join the organization from Los Angeles.
Sure, there were big-name players available, but Poile and the Preds have enjoyed plenty of success to this juncture of the season, and the appetite to continue with this group was greater than any other option.
“Our only goal this year was to make the playoffs, and that is still our only goal – to make the playoffs,” Poile said following the deadline. “When you get to this time of year, there’s always a lot of speculation about what a team might or might not do headed into the Trade Deadline. But, as you know by now, we are very happy with our team, very happy with their competitiveness, the chemistry that we have on our team and the way they play for everybody. In simple terms, I love our identity with our team. So, having said that, our [management] group was not really looking to be too disruptive to our team…and [we wanted to] reward this group for getting us to this point and let them carry the ball to go forward.”
That strategy also meant keeping one of Nashville’s best players on the roster.
Poile addressed the status of Filip Forsberg – his top forward – who is set to become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end and expressed a continued desire to keep the Swede in a Predators uniform now and in the future.
“We have had continual and constant dialogue with Filip and his agent,” Poile said. “I met with Filip for a long time last week, and we went over a lot of things, not just the contract part of it, but just all things that happened in his career here – mostly his improvement and a few laughs on some of the things that he’s done and some of the successes that he’s had. I made sure from my standpoint that the fit was still really good here for him on the ice, off the ice, loves Nashville, all those things, etc. – and everything checks the box. The one thing that we still have to do is work on a contract, but I want to make it clear to everybody that we love having Filip as a part of our team, and we agree that Filip loves being part of our team and wants to be in Nashville.
“I wouldn’t want anybody to think any less of our desire to retain him as a member of the Nashville Predators for the next several seasons because we haven’t announced a new contract for him today. We’re going to continue to work quietly with Filip and his representatives towards the contract that pays him equitably while giving the organization the flexibility to build and maintain a roster to compete for the Stanley Cup. In the short term, we’ve all agreed to place our focus on the task at hand, and that’s going back to what I said earlier and solidifying a spot in the ’22 playoffs and then competing for the Stanley Cup. I continue to believe – and I believe Filip feels the same way – that he will be a part of the Predators for a long time.”
Video: Preds GM David Poile talks Forsberg, Trade Deadline
Poile also wants Lauzon to be part of the club moving forward and discussed the plan to keep the 24-year-old blueliner in the picture for more than just the next month-and-a-half for the postseason push.
Acquired late Sunday night from Seattle, Lauzon had six points (1g-5a) in 53 games with the Kraken this season after being chosen from Boston in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. The 6-foot-1, 204-pound defenseman led the Kraken and is fifth among NHL defensemen in hits with 180, and he also ranked sixth on Seattle in blocked shots with 49, five shy of a career high.
A left-handed shot, Lauzon averaged the second-most shorthanded ice time among Kraken blueliners at…
Read More: Preds GM Poile Talks Forsberg, Lauzon as Trade Deadline Concludes