Fantasy Predators

While the trading away of veterans Tomas Vokoun, Scott Hartnell, and Kimmo Timonen signaled a cleaning of the Nashville Predators' house, and reeked of a ' asset sell off', the Preds have quietly done a good job in securing their premium young players to long-term deals.

First, it was David Legwand, who signed for 6 seasons and $27 million. Now? It's Martin Erat, who was rewarded for his fine playmaking skills with a 7-year deal worth $31.5 million. W00t!

"Martin Erat is a perfect example of this organization's philosophy," Poile said. "He came to us as a seventh-round draft pick, and grew steadily into an elite player when given an opportunity to succeed. He has continued to take on more responsibility and is an integral part of our team moving forward. We look forward to his leadership and production for the next seven years."

As fellow FanHouser James Mirtle notes, Erat is getting paid quite handsomely for a guy who puts up a good-but-not-great 55-60 points a season. Given Erat's upside, he *should* be able to do better in the future, and he has the skills to do so.

Next up for the Preds? Ryan Suter and Shea Weber, the two cornerstone defensemen who will both want similar contracts, and one Dan Ellis, who won the #1 goaltender's job after Chris Mason laid a whole basket of eggs.

David Legwand had the blessing and curse of being the first player ever NHL Entry selected by the Nashville Predators, 2nd overall waaaaaaay back in 1998.

Despite the fact that the sale of the Preds is in limbo, and many other contracts were slashed and traded to greatly reduce payroll, the Preds seemingly had no problem coming up with the cash to lock Legwand down to a 6-year/$27mil deal.

"This is the first step moving forward under new ownership and is a sign of commitment, a desire to win and a desire to keep the core of our young team together in Nashville," said GM David Poile in a team statement.

Legwand is tied for second on the team this season in points (21) and assists.

Last season, he posted career-highs in points (63), goals (27) and assists (36), helping the Predators to their best finish in franchise history

$4.5mil per season for Legwand? That seems pricey, especially for someone know to have been a career underachiever.

Well, under the radar of most hockey fans, including myself, Legwand has greatly improved and developed over the past season-and-a-half, and has put up 84 points in his last 104 games.

From 1999 to mid-2006, Legwand was basically a guy with a lot of tools, but no toolbox to put them in. Putting up about a point every two games, Legwand was far from the franchise player that he was drafted to be, and was basically ye olde average player. Then, last season, Legwand finally found the spark and made the leap to being an impact player offensively, as well as a dependable defensive presence.

Legwand isn't a star by any stretch of the imagination, but he is important to the Nashville franchise, and his production merits a long-term deal of this nature. Let's not forget that Legwand is only 27 years of age, and still has many productive years ahead of him. Perhaps, he'll bring his game to another level and get to where he can reach the 70-point plateau.

After the Nashville Predators dumped Tomas Vokoun to the Florida Panthers in a surprising trade, they took steps to ensure that their new #1, Chris Mason, wasn't about to flee from the fire sale burning down the town.

The Nashville Predators have signed goaltender Chris Mason to a US$6-million, two-year contract extension.

Mason would have been an unrestricted free agent after next season. He will earn $3 million a year in the new deal after making $1.25 million next season.

Chris Mason has put up some exceptional numbers the past few seasons when given the chance, with a sweet 92.1SV% in 84 career NHL games as the Preds backup keeper. Surely, this is a guy deserving of a shot as a #1.

However, as commenter Eric Purdy mentioned previously, Mason's numbers last season were poor against the better teams in the league.

Against playoff teams: 4W-7L-2T 3.21GAA 89.7SV%
Against non-playoff teams: 20W-4L-2T 1.98GAA 93.8SV%

Of course, all goalies will fare better against poorer competition, but that kind of discrepancy is a bit of an eye-opener.

For fantasy players, Mason can represent a super steal, but also blow up right in your face. With all of the changes that have happened to the Preds, the talent in front of Mason won't be as good as it was last season. This can mean a lack of wins and a lower SV% than you'd expect, given his previous numbers.

The exodus from Nashville continued with Paul Kariya saying 'Sayonara' to the Country Music capital. His destination? The division 'rival' St. Louis Blues.

The Blues??? Big free agents want to sign with the Blues?

"We are excited to announce we have signed a world class hockey player as well as a first class person," said Davidson. "Paul gives us instant scoring up front as well as bringing an entertaining brand of hockey to the St. Louis Blues."

The terms of the deal are reported to be $6mil/season for three seasons. Given Kariya's productivity, and the insanity of the market, this isn't an awful price. Gomez, a player with similar production, is getting a million more per season with the Ranger$.

I'm just astonished that a big name free agent would actually want to sign with the Blues. The team is so far out of the playoff picture, and isn't nearly as much as a contender as a guy like Kariya would normally go to.

Yes, we saw guys like Weight and Tkachuk re-sign with the club, but they obviously had non-financial reasons for doing so.

Kariya? He saw nothing but money, and will have lots of time to golf every April.

Still, as a Blues fan myself, I like this signing. The club needs scoring in the worst way, especially when Tkachuk and Weight aren't on the ice. Kariya has great speed, and Andy Murray is the type that loves to utilize speed.

On the heels of the Predators/Flyers side deal, where the Preds lost Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen, another prime time player was dealt away from the Nashville Predators: Tomas Vokoun.

The deal saw the Panthers get Vokoun for a first round pick and two second round picks.

Read between the lines ...

"We saw Chris Mason emerge as a No. 1 goaltender in 2006-07 and with full confidence in Chris and Pekka Rinne, we felt as if we could make this move," said Predators general manager David Poile. "Mason won 24 games for us this past season, starting 21 in a row at one point, and finished with the second-highest save percentage in the NHL.

"In addition, this trade will help restock our organizational assets and affords our team more payroll flexibility. We now have two first-round picks in 2008, which is projected to be a strong entry draft.

OK, since when does a club like the Nashville Predators need to re-stock on assets? They have lots of great young talent and prospects in their organization, so the need to deal away a prime #1 goaltender for nothing but draft picks is silly.

Now, Chris Mason has been pretty good the past two seasons in his backup role.

Chris Mason - 92.5SV% in 2007, 91.3SV% in 2006
Tomas Vokoun - 92.0SV% in 2007, 91.9SV% in 2006

While Mason has been just as good (in half as many games, mind you), this kind of move was purely financial for the Predators.

By dealing Vokoun to the Panthers, the Preds shave off his 4-year, 5.7mil-a-season contract while getting very little in return but prospects.

Yes, Mason could probably do the job for much cheaper, but this move wouldn't be made if the Preds weren't for sale. As bullish as I am about Mason and his ability to do the job, I know that the Preds would have received an actual player in return if they weren't in 'fire-sale' mode.

As for the Panthers, this is a brilliant move for them. Goaltending was their weakest position, and now they got a great #1 goaltender. So long, Ed Belfour!