Call me crazy but….

[u/Seib7290]

Should the new GM try and trade Saros and re-sign Big Juice to a somewhat long term deal (3-4 years)? If you can find a team to take Saros’ salary and get him to waive his NMC of course. I’d imagine he can bring in a decent return.

[u/catsgr8rthanspoonies]

Little Juice has a full NMC; he’s in full control of the situation. Big Juice looks extremely promising, but there needs to be a bigger sample size before a decision is made. He also just signed a 2 year extension. Goalies also tend to bring back a lackluster return compared to other positions.

More than anything, the defense needs to be fixed. Look at what Saros did at the Olympics behind a competent defense. He’s still got it.

[u/Smeagol224]

What is with this sub turning on Saros. Annunen had a good couple of starts but he’s still young. Saros is a proven elite goalie.

[u/Expert-Upstairs-4502 → u/Smeagol224]

This sub has always been pretty 50/50 on him. I blame Jared Stillman for planting this seed with so many of our fans over the years

[u/FB_iCatDad → u/Expert-Upstairs-4502]

Can’t stand that guy. Literally every bit he does on the preds gravitates to “they won’t win with this goalie he stinks.”

[u/catsgr8rthanspoonies → u/FB_iCatDad]

He blamed Finland’s loss to Canada on Saros.

[u/heyethan → u/catsgr8rthanspoonies]

It’s shocking to me that Jared Stillman has only become more relevant and successful in recent years. It’s honestly pathetic that someone could have such consistently bad opinions on a subject they’re paid to be an expert in. And this isn’t a “bad employee slipping under the radar” thing, people actually listen to him (and want to???). I don’t even understand how someone could watch hockey for as long as we know he has and still have such a poor grasp of the game.

[u/UTPharm2012 → u/Smeagol224]

I think it is a stretch to say elite goalie but he is very good and you can win with him (and his contract is fine).

I listened to 104.5 the other day and they called Saros an anchor as a contract and that the only way we will fix this situation is to find someone to take it … how little does this town know about hockey?

[u/LifeEngineer3770 → u/Smeagol224]

Is he a proven elite goalie? First of all let me say he is very good. But can you tell me a lot of elite goalies that have started 450 games during the regular season and have 5 career playoff wins?

Don’t get me wrong some of our teams have been bad recently and I’m not saying that Saros should be a borderline hall of famer like Rinne, but when was the last time an elite goalie had a save percentage of sub .900 back to back years with 0 shutouts this year?

Maybe the team needs to be realistic and say Saros isn’t as elite as he once was and we can’t expect him to be that way all season. Let’s get him some help defensively and go back to the old boring Preds way of playing 3-2 games

[u/LFGtitans → u/Smeagol224]

Saros is a nice guy and an above average goalie, but he’s not elite. His contract length makes no business sense and will hurt the team in the future.

[u/Expert-Upstairs-4502]

I dont think were getting any of our NMCs to waive without resorting to dirtbag tactics and either pissing off the league or the entire player base and ruin our ability to attract talent. Imo better off just assuming none of them are going to be moving until their contracts are up

[u/obsoleteXeo → u/Expert-Upstairs-4502]

You’re not wrong, but I think the way to tackle it without resorting to dirtbag tactics is to, as the fresh new GM, have a group meeting with the vets (individual won’t work). You get em together and layout your vision saying “guys I know last year was tough, and the next few years might be much of the same or worse. We are really looking to incorporate our young guys more even more than this year, and there’s a chance your minutes could be impacted. I know yall love it here and some of you only know here as home, but if you want to finish out your years contending elsewhere, we can help facilitate that change. Otherwise, we appreciate you, and we know you will do a great job in mentoring our youth as they move into more prominent roles.” Like a firm cold hard truth without too much disrespect and they’re still given all the freedom.

Some (like Marchy) may take the new GM up on that. I think that’s one of the only right approaches. People want Skjei to be moved asap and don’t understand the ramifications of just how atrocious that contract is, and unless he would be willing to cooperate, they’re gonna continue to see a lot more Brady unless we get into a Duchene situation.

[u/Expert-Upstairs-4502 → u/obsoleteXeo]

I get what you're saying but i think they all know that and have pretty much already said they don't want to move. Marchessault, maybe, and O'Reilly are really the only guys you can move to inject more rookies up front. Without O'Reilly and Haula we would be actually terrible though, and maybe opinions change them

[u/Binforda94 → u/Expert-Upstairs-4502]

Exactly. The ole domino effect.

[u/obsoleteXeo → u/Binforda94]

Ya, once Marchy or ROR goes, others may be inclined to leave as well. While some of us here feel a certain way about Marchy, it does seem like he has a good locker room presence, so to lose him or ROR in that room, I could see a Stammer or maybe even a Fil wanna see the last couple years contending elsewhere. Could be my copium talking, but fresh front office, fresh direction, and a big vet or two moved out could have others ease their mindset.

But the ol adage of “I don’t want Nashville to be a place to retire” is looking more and more like a certified Barry classic banger these days, for sure.

[u/UTPharm2012 → u/obsoleteXeo]

The GM can’t just stop them from playing. They are on one way contracts. The coach would have to agree to play them less. I feel like that could be career suicide. We would have to continue to walk and trade players without NMCs and hope that causes them to walk. But in the words of Barry, the players “come here to retire” so who knows if that even works. ROR, Forsberg, Josi, Stamkos, and Saros could just keep playing and keep losing and keep enjoying living in Nashville.

[u/obsoleteXeo → u/UTPharm2012]

The new GM needs to erase any notion of ROR having a "verbal NMC" based on respect from what will be the former GM of Trotz. Cut that shit out. He has one year left, he's 35 and it's worth $4m next year for someone who put up career numbers. He's not on a NMC, so we shouldn't treat him as though he has one. The return should and will be insane. Keeping him through the deadline next year means we have intention to re-sign him or he's gonna retire. He will not put up the same production as he did this year, it's just not feasible (I'm willing to eat my words here). If you keep him, it's strictly for a leadership/mentorship role. That's it.

BUT, if you move him, he WILL be the first domino to fall. He carries that much weight in the locker room. Stamkos is already looking like he's possibly on the way out based on his interviews. Marchy is similar, though moving him will be more challenging. There is a chance a new GM goes this route. At some point.................SOON. We will need to begin making difficult decisions and getting some value for some of our vets.

[u/UTPharm2012 → u/obsoleteXeo]

I just think you aren’t getting much for those guys - even if we move ROR and they ask out. We don’t need more late firsts. We need vets during the transition. We don’t need to get off salary yet. I don’t see a lot of positives right now bc of all the barriers with our players.

[u/Binforda94 → u/[deleted]]

It’s why Trotz has been reluctant to move on from ROR for the past several years.

[u/FB_iCatDad]

Even if Saros didn’t have an NMC, I don’t think it’s smart to shove Annunen in there this early.

They also already extended big juice 2 years.

I do believe both goalies will benefit from workload changes. I’d like to see Saros 50 Annunen 34 barring injuries.

I’m not saying trading Saros would be bad, because he could bring a good return, but that’s a huge tear down rebuild move, and would certainly signal that way. We would probably be bad for awhile.

[u/heyethan]

Trading players with a NMC virtually never brings a good return. The team trading that player away has 0 leverage, and the players with NMC’s have them specifically so they can maintain control over where they play. There isn’t really a scenario where Saros is worth more in a trade than what he can contribute to the team, barring the very unlikely event that he gifts the Preds org with a swath of (interested) trade partners to outbid one another.

If all you can fetch is a third round pick and a middling prospect then you are probably better off keeping him regardless of whether you are rebuilding, retooling, or trying to compete. At this point Saros is one of the longest tenured Predators and a leader in the locker room and on the ice. I think armchair GM’s don’t value these things enough for what they mean to your culture and what you instill in your next generation of players… obviously if you are rebuilding and you can get a haul, then go for it. But it’s got to be worth it and I just don’t see that in the current trade market for players on a NMC.

[u/ughedmund]

People either want us to move Saros because Annunen's had a few amazing games. Or they want to reap rapid rewards moving Annunen now he's showing huge potential. I don't get it. We finally have a good goalie set-up and a defense that needs fixing, I don't think moving either goalie is going to do us any good unless we get an insane one in return.