Nino Niederreiter to the Nashville Predators doesn't have the sex appeal as Johnny Hockey to the Columbus Blue Jackets or Claude Giroux to the Ottawa Senators.
But recruiting Niederreiter for $8 million over two seasons is one of the better value signings.
Niederreiter, 29, has six 20-plus goal seasons on his resume, including the last two seasons with Carolina. The 220-pound winger totaled 44 goals over the past two seasons, one of those seasons shortened to 56 games because of COVID-19.
Based on term, salary and production, you can argue this is a less risky signing than the Seattle Kraken paying $5.5 million per season over five years to land Andre Burakovsky. He turns 28 during the 2022-23 season and has scored 20 goals only twice.
Nashville GM David Poile has had a good offseason. He took a major risk by not getting Filip Forsberg signed by the NHL trade deadline. He did that another time and Ryan Suter left town and signed with the Minnesota Wild. This decision could have gone badly. But give Poile credit for knowing his player. Forsberg wanted to stay in Nashville. Poile negotiated a deal for an $8.5 million salary cap hit. That's lower than anticipated. But to get that, Poile had to give Forsberg $10 million in each of the first four seasons.
The addition of Ryan McDonagh will also make the Predators stronger defensively, giving them the kind of shutdown defenseman that helps you win 2-1 games now and then.
But the truth is that the Nashville changes, as important as they are, probably didn't dramatically change Nashville's outlook. The Predators are still the fourth- or fifth-best team in the Central Division.
Like several teams around the league, the Predators are in a period when they are maybe good enough to make the playoffs, but not quite good enough to make a lengthy postseason run. It's difficult to break out of the rut, because you don't draft early enough in the first round to land a fresh star. Being in a flat cap era also doesn't help. Nashville's hope for improvement next season rests on younger players, like a Philip Tomasino, rising above expectations and veterans having career seasons.
Offseason notebook
1. When the San Jose Sharks finalize a contract with David Quinn, he will be the 10th NHL coaching hire this offseason. Of the 10 teams that hired a new coach, opted for coaches with NHL head coaching experience. The Sharks (Quinn), Boston Bruins (Jim Montgomery), Florida Panthers (Paul Maurice), Dallas Stars (Pete DeBoer), Vegas Golden Knights (Bruce Cassidy), Philadelphia Flyers (John Tortorella) and Winnipeg Jets (Rick Bowness). The New York Islanders (Lane Lambert), Detroit Red Wings (Derek Lalonde) and Chicago Blackhawks (Todd Richardson) took NHL assistant coaches without previous NHL head coaching. It's hard for NHL general managers to break old habits.
2. The Red Wings are a rebuilding team, but Steve Yzerman doesn't make it easy for rookies to make his roster. After his free agent spending spree, Yzerman has 26 players with NHL experience signed. That includes Joe Veleno who is still waiver exempt. Rookie defenseman Simon Edvinsson is expected to make the Detroit defense. And if someone like Elmer Soderblom makes the team, Yzerman said he will find a way to keep him. He says that would be a good problem to have.
3. If a team struggles coming out of the gate in 2022-23, don't forget coach Barry Trotz is still out there without a job.
4. Frankly, the Seattle Kraken are more like the expansion teams of yesteryear. The roster looks like patchwork. But GM Ron Francis has to sleep well knowing he has Matty Beniers and Shane Wright as his top two centers over the next decade. The Kraken got lucky at this year's draft.
5. One significant issue in moving Matthew Tkachuk is that almost all of the teams he wants to go to don't have the salary cap room for him.
6. If the St. Louis Blues can make a deal for Tkachuk, will we see Vladimir Tarasenko end up with the New York Islanders? New York Islanders Hockey Now explained recently why it could make sense.
7. On this date, July 22, 19 years ago, Mike Sillinger was on three different teams in a span of a couple of hours. The Columbus Blue Jackets traded him to the Dallas Stars in a deal for Darryl Sydor. The Stars then traded him to the Arizona Coyotes for Teppo Numminen. Sillinger played for 12 different NHL teams in his career, and that doesn't include his minutes-long career with the Dallas Stars. Sillinger turned 51 last month. His son, Cole, is playing for the Blue Jackets, his first NHL team.
8. The most accomplished NHLer with a July 22 birthday is slick puck-moving defenseman Sergei Zubov. The Dallas Stars retired his No. 56 last season. He played his last 12 seasons in Dallas. He turned 52 today.
9. The consensus is that Patrick Kane will eventually end up with the Rangers as a rental, but I wouldn't rule out the Colorado Avalanche or Edmonton Oilers. Imagine Kane and Connor McDavid together or Nathan MacKinnon and Kane.
10. With Johnny Gaudreau gone and Matthew Tkachuk leaving soon, how competitive are the Flames going to be? We won't have any idea until we see what the Tkachuk trade return includes. The Flames have major decisions ahead. Do they insist on help now or do they want prospects and draft picks? Probably both is the answer. They need a prospect with a chance of being a star, plus a first-round pick and someone who helps now. Older Calgary when the Joe Nieuwendyk deal yielded a Jarome Iginla return. They need to have that happen again. The Flames will likely have to take back a bigger contract to make this deal work on the salary cap.