The Predators “shocked the NHL” when the free agency window opened yesterday, getting three of the top free agents on the market and “committing more than” $111M on four new players, according to Alex Daugherty of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. Predators GM Barry Trotz negotiated deals for F Steven Stamkos, F Jonathan Marchessault, and D Brady Skjei in the “biggest -- and most expensive -- free agent signing class in Predators history.” G Juuse Saros also agreed to an eight-year $61.92M extension yesterday. With these moves, the team “showed it is ready to take the next step in competing for the Stanley Cup.” Trotz said, "It's a statement, I think, for the rest of the league. That these players will come to Nashville” (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 7/1). The CP reported the Predators at $111.5M became the “first team to surpass” $100M committed to new players in free agency since the Panthers five years ago started “building toward the championship they won last week” (CP, 7/1). THE HOCKEY NEWS’ Michael Traikos wrote the Predators “continue to surprise a lot of hockey fans with the direction they are taking.” In a “crowded and competitive” Central Division, suddenly the Predators “looks to be just as dangerous as Dallas, Winnipeg and Colorado” -- the top three teams (THE HOCKEY NEWS, 7/1).
NO BETTER PLACE: THE ATHLETIC’s Eric Duhatschek wrote when the Lightning made the decision to move on from Stamkos, there was “almost no better landing spot for him than Nashville.” Beyond filling a need, it is a “player-friendly organization,” with Trotz running the show as GM and coach Andrew Brunette “willing to let offensive players play.” Stamkos just “feels like a fit in Nashville -- for the culture and the market.” Financially, that is a “difficult thing to put a price on because it goes beyond pure statistical numbers.” But Stamkos “brings a championship legacy to Nashville,” a franchise still searching for its first Stanley Cup and will “help set an example for the younger forward prospects coming through the organization” (THE ATHLETIC, 7/1).
END OF AN ERA: In Tampa, Eduardo Encina noted Stamkos has been the “face of the Lightning franchise since he was anointed the savior of the organization as an 18-year-old No. 1 draft pick.” On the ice, he was an “elite scorer;” in the locker room, he was a “consummate leader.” He visited hospitals, he presented checks to the Ronald McDonald House, he gave a generation of Lightning fans a “superstar they were proud to call their own.” Lighting GM Julien BriseBois “had tried, and failed,” in the past to keep “home-grown players” like LW Alex Killorn and LW Ondrej Palat. In Stamkos’ case, BriseBois “found the money to make it work, but didn’t budge from his initial offer and ultimately looked elsewhere to improve the team” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 7/1).
BETTER GET IT RIGHT: In Tampa, John Romano wrote the Lightning “had better be right.” BriseBois “had better hope this works.” This was an “unsympathetic decision based strictly on value versus compensation.” BriseBois may be “taking a savage beating on social media from Lightning fans, but his philosophy was sound.” He “did not get blinded by emotion, and he did not get frightened by the criticism.” He took a “huge risk, but it was supported by logic” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 7/1).
