Really? Young defensive depth? You mean Jonathon Blum who is an absolute pilon? Or Ryan Ellis who is constantly being sent down? I will give you that Bartley has played OK...but Ekholm is here only because they had no other choice. If they had such great depth...Hal Gill would and Blum would not be on the ice right now.

The fact is...one top end forward is going to do very little for this team's issues. Seth Jones would help shore up the D and would help move the puck. He is also NHL ready which is very rare for a Dman coming into the NHL. He would have a much larger impact that one good forward.

Also, if you know anything about Poile...is that he LOVES to draft blueliners. IF he can get a forward in FA and has a shot at Jones...I would bet a large amount that he goes with Jones.
- PoileRulezzzYo

Agreed. If a stud defenceman falls into their laps at the draft, then the Preds need to take him. Outside of Weber, Josi, and Klein, nobody else on D is NHL caliber. Blum and Ellis have been disappointments.

Agreed. If a stud defenceman falls into their laps at the draft, then the Preds need to take him. Outside of Weber, Josi, and Klein, nobody else on D is NHL caliber. Blum and Ellis have been disappointments.
- sigep predfan

Yeah...and I like Josi...but he is still not a top pairing guy. I think he will be...but he has another year or two until he is a legit #2 guy.

First of all, Jon Blum is only a -1 on a team that is getting outscored more so than almost every other team in the NHL. Second of all, Ryan Ellis is only in his second season in the NHL and so it is not surprising that he is still being shipped back and forth between Milwaukee and Nashville. Third of all, Matthias Ekholm has shown great progress since being sent down to the AHL (he does need to improve but he is showing up well for being a fourth round draft pick.) Fourth of all, last year Nashville did not draft a defenseman last year until their sixth pick.
Ryan Ellis is in no way a nobody. Everyone on the NHL Network had him picked to have a big year in the NHL.
My point is that calling the young defense we have "nobodies" is incorrect.
Not mentioned before is Victor Bartley who, if you have been watching any games, everyone has been very impressed with.
What I was saying before is that we have enough young defenseman that have tons of potential. It is time for Nashville to go after some forwards.

First of all, Jon Blum is only a -1 on a team that is getting outscored more so than almost every other team in the NHL. Second of all, Ryan Ellis is only in his second season in the NHL and so it is not surprising that he is still being shipped back and forth between Milwaukee and Nashville. Third of all, Matthias Ekholm has shown great progress since being sent down to the AHL (he does need to improve but he is showing up well for being a fourth round draft pick.) Fourth of all, last year Nashville did not draft a defenseman last year until their sixth pick.
Ryan Ellis is in no way a nobody. Everyone on the NHL Network had him picked to have a big year in the NHL.
My point is that calling the young defense we have "nobodies" is incorrect.
Not mentioned before is Victor Bartley who, if you have been watching any games, everyone has been very impressed with.
What I was saying before is that we have enough young defenseman that have tons of potential. It is time for Nashville to go after some forwards.
- Bryant44

There it is!

Oilers looking for D this summer.Any potential trades with Nashville?

First of all, Jon Blum is only a -1 on a team that is getting outscored more so than almost every other team in the NHL. Second of all, Ryan Ellis is only in his second season in the NHL and so it is not surprising that he is still being shipped back and forth between Milwaukee and Nashville. Third of all, Matthias Ekholm has shown great progress since being sent down to the AHL (he does need to improve but he is showing up well for being a fourth round draft pick.) Fourth of all, last year Nashville did not draft a defenseman last year until their sixth pick.
Ryan Ellis is in no way a nobody. Everyone on the NHL Network had him picked to have a big year in the NHL.
My point is that calling the young defense we have "nobodies" is incorrect.
Not mentioned before is Victor Bartley who, if you have been watching any games, everyone has been very impressed with.
What I was saying before is that we have enough young defenseman that have tons of potential. It is time for Nashville to go after some forwards.
- Bryant44

Blum and Shea Weber are both at a -1...so that must mean Blum is good. Stop using that stat to judge a player. Instead, use the eyeball test and actually watch him. He is garbage and doesn't contribute on either side of the ice. He is never paired against the other teams best players...because he sucks.

Ellis was drafted 11th overall nearly 4 years ago and has made very little improvement in becoming an everyday NHL Dman. Not saying it cannot happen, but at this point he should have made some decent strides. Instead...he is sitting in Milwaukee when he could be getting valuable time here...how does that make any sense? It tells you he isn't ready for this level.

How anyone could say that Ekholm has made progress is laughable. The guy just played his first game this season and it was purely an emergency situation. So you can stop with that craziness.

Bartley has played well...but so did Blum when he first came up. He could be good...or a flash in the pan.

Poile builds from the back up...forever and always. And again...one forward doesn't turn our offense into anything dangerous. The offense will have to come from FA and the pickings are slim.

But do we really need a Seth Jones when we have Shea Weber and Roman Josi, who has proven himself, this year and last year, on our first line. At this point, I am inclined to say no. Even if Blum and Ellis don't turn out to be a top defensive line pairing, they are still quality NHL prospects who I would be happy to have on the second or third line on defense.
Not said in all of this is the fact that we will most likely not get the first overall draft pick anyway so this might be a pointless argument.
Either way, I think our future on our side of the blue line looks bright.

Poile builds from the back up...forever and always. And again...one forward doesn't turn our offense into anything dangerous. The offense will have to come from FA and the pickings are slim.
- PoileRulezzzYo

I would like to point out the potential buyouts this summer. I would also like to say that I am not suggesting that by one draft pick our offense will become infinitely better, I am saying that due to the amount of potential our defense has, I'd rather see us try to get some more offensive potential to fill out our top lines in the future because, quite honestly, we could use all the help we can get in that regard.