Chris MacFarland has made 9 trades since joining the Nashville Predators this summer. The new President of Hockey Operations and General Manager is aiming to add a puck-moving defenseman soon.
Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman said as much on the latest edition of 32 Thoughts that was released on Thursday morning.
Recent Stanley Cup champion defenseman Alexander Nikishin was the name mentioned specifically by Friedman.
“Nikishin, by the way, I’ve heard Nashville was kicking around there too,” Friedman said.
Nashville just acquired a conditional 2028 first-round pick and 2028 second-round pick from the New Jersey Devils. Seems like MacFarland isn’t going to wait long to pull the trigger on his tenth trade since coming to the Predators.
“This arms us with the high draft pick that is going to be potentially attractive in a lot of different ways. When that will be, we don’t know. High picks are liquid, and we’ll be curious to see how and what that looks like,” MacFarland said after the Evangelista trade.
What Nikishin’s next deal looks like
The landscape of contracts is looking different after seeing players like Cale Makar and Zeev Buium sign this summer.
While they are extensions, it will still influence someone like Nikishin, who is coming off 33 points in 81 games last season.
“Nikishin, same deal. He already wanted a big number. How does he feel about what Buium did? I do think for defensemen the calculus has been changed, not even so much by the Makar deal but the Buium deal,” Friedman said.
Buium’s extension was for 8 years at $75.04 million. His average annual salary comes out to $9.3 million, and grabs the eighth year before the new CBA comes into play on September 16.
Should Nikishin want a new deal for the same length, then a trade to Nashville or anywhere else would be wise to happen before the rule changes.
According to AFP Analytics, they’re projecting that Nikishin warrants a 6- or 2-year deal. The annual cap hit is projected to be $6.4 million and 3.7 million, respectively.
Nikishin’s fit in Nashville
The Predators do have $9.6 million in cap space entering training camp and have assets to make a deal.
In short, he fits in their timeline, and they don’t have any prime defenceman in that age group, coupled with captain Roman Josi being on the back nine of his career.
Nikishin is a left-shot 24-year-old defenseman, and the Predators are trying to establish a new vision this season. MacFarland even mentioned adding a puck-moving defenseman earlier this summer.
“In all seriousness, if we’re going to improve the team, we’re going to try to do it. The backend is where we want to find a little bit more puck skill, a little more transition as part of our game,” MacFarland said on July 2.
As the Stanley Cup champion got into a groove with the Hurricanes, he became what MacFarland is describing. It would be hard not to ‘kick the tires’ on the availability of Nikishin, as Friedman said.
Now the defenseman is due to wait a little bit longer to see where his NHL career will continue.
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Nashville Interested in adding Nikishin on Defense