The Nashville Predators made a fascinating trade with the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, acquiring a player they may lose in a week.
The Predators announced that longtime center Ryan Johansen had been traded to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for veteran forward Alex Galchenyuk.
At first glance, that just seems like a player-for-player swap between a team trying to get back to playoff contention (Nashville) and a team trying to win another Stanley Cup (Colorado).
However, the deal becomes a bit confusing once you realize that Galchenyuk’s contract expires on July 1, the start of NHL free agency.
What gives? Why would Nashville trade a veteran starter like Johansen for the rights to a player that might not sign with the Predators?
As the old saying goes, follow the money.
Incoming General Manager Barry Trotz announced today that the team has acquired forward Alex Galchenyuk from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for forward Ryan Johansen.https://t.co/qWm418ziVK
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) June 24, 2023
The Predators are entering a new era under Barry Trotz, the team’s former coach who is now its general manager.
Trotz’s first big move of his tenure looks like it’s a very peculiar salary dump, one that still sees the Predators taking on half of Johansen’s contract for the next two seasons. It’ll save Nashville $8 million over the next two years while Colorado pays the other $8 million.
Nashville will retain 50 percent of Johansen's contract, which has two years ($8 million annual average value) remaining. So it’s $4 million for each Colorado and Nashville. A cap savings for the Preds and a $4 million per addition for the Avs. https://t.co/VGN59YTqNo
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) June 24, 2023
Teams rarely just trade a player to a team without any return, as that would just be a gift. From 2013-19, Galchenyuk scored double-digit goals a season before tapering off during the 2019-20 season.
Galchenyuk only played in 11 games for the Avalanche in 2022-23 with no goals or points to show for it. However, he did score 16 goals in 42 regular season games for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles last season.
If the Predators want to re-sign Galchenyuk, they’ll have first dibs as they hold his rights for the next week. However, if they let him walk, this is the rare case where a team traded a player to dump his salary without anything in return but salary cap space. It’d basically just be a very elaborate release.
There has to be some sort of return on an NHL trade, and a player’s rights for one week’s time does technically count.
Could the Predators have at least gotten a prospect? It’s fair to wonder. Could Galchenyuk wind up signing with Nashville and working on his comeback effort? It’s very possible.
At the very least, Galchenyuk walking just means the Preds saved some cap space and got Johansen to a contender with the trade. It could be a show of goodwill for a veteran player like Johansen that could reverberate positively in the locker room for other Nashville players as Trotz gets going in his new role.
For now, this is the most curious of NHL trades, one that nets the Avalanche a reliable offensive veteran and the Preds some salary cap space for possible moves in the future… and a player that might be gone in a week.
