In the months since the Nashville Predators chalk sandwich of a season was mercifully euthanized by the Dallas Stars, general manager David Poile has been very upfront about this being a summer of change.
As has been the case for seemingly the team's entire existence, the team is deep on the blueline, with Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, Mattias Ekholm and P.K. Subban forming what is arguably the league's best defensive foursome. Former first-round pick Dante Fabbro never looked out of place in his short stint with the team at the end of the 2018-19 season and during the playoffs was, at times, the best defender. The surfeit of defensemen made it all but inevitable one of the Big Four would go. Josi is due for a new contract at the end of the 2019-20 campaign, meaning the Preds can officially ink an extension after July 1. Though he's due a hefty pay raise, it's all but inconceivable Poile would trade his captain (though he's done it before ... twice) and Pride parade grand marshal. Josi's partner, Ryan Ellis, signed his extension last summer and though he had a disappointing year, he's the kind of homegrown player Poile loves. Mattias Ekholm finally got the attention he deserved this season and is an Aldi-level bargain at $3.75 million through 2022.
So that left P.K. Subban, Ekholm's ebullient partner whose silky skating, thunderous shot and deft passing made him a superstar as much as his laudable charity work, thrilling showmanship and affable personality (as well as his Crosby-trolling antics, which should make him a favorite in any city that doesn't insist on putting coleslaw and french fries on everything).
If all that was the handwriting on the wall, his $9 million cap hit was the flashing neon sign, particularly with an expansion draft to stock the cabinet of the Seattle team looming and the worry you might end up losing Subban for nothing.
Indeed, just before the second round of this weekend's NHL Draft began Saturday, Poile sent Subban to New Jersey in exchange for defensemen Steve Santini and Jeremy Davies and two second round picks. (As is often the case with Poile, once he started trading, he got into his cups and couldn't stop; after acquiring the Devils' second-rounder, he traded it to Philadelphia for two more picks).
So what do the Predators get, besides opportunities for me to make a lot of Pat Conroy/Robert Duvall jokes? In the immortal words of Nashville sports legend Randy Moss, "straight cash, homey."
CapFriendly says the trade saves the Preds more than $7.5 million in the short-term and the short term comes July 1 when free agency opens and inevitable Predator Matt Duchene hits the market, along with other intriguing forwards like Anders Lee and Artemi Panarin.
And if Subban was destined to be your team's No. 3 or 4 defender, why spend $9 million on that position when you could spend a little more than a tenth of it for Fabbro?
Subban, though, leaves the team better than he found it, with consecutive Central Division titles and a Stanley Cup run all coming during his three-year tenure in gold. And we can always remember the good times, like his goal on debut, his fun handshakes, his hats, his excellent charity videos and his singing, such as it was.
And we can judge the return when we see what Poile does with his windfall.
