Conference Rival Grows Weaker

While it has been rumored that Nashville would likely lose two or even three of their key unrestricted free-agents this summer, that rumor became fact Monday as they sent the rights to Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen up to the Eastern Conference and the Philadelphia Flyers. In return, The Predators received their own first-round draft pick back (sent to the Flyers in the Peter Forsberg deal).

The Flyers wasted no time in announcing both players were signed to incredible 6-year deals. Timonen, former Nashville Captain and one of the better defensemen in the league will bank 37.8 million for a cap hit of 6.3 million per year. Hartnell, a hard-nosed winger who has developed into a 25-goal scorer since making the Preds’ roster at 18 years old will take home 25.2 million (a cap hit of 4.2 million per year).

While it looks like Predators’ GM David Poile may have lost out on the deal, you have to consider the fact that there are many teams who would be in the running had Kimmo and Hartnell hit the market who would easily outbid what Nashville can afford (especially faced with ownership uncertainty; the team may be moved from Nashville as early as next season). Knowing that, this was a matter of getting something from nothing. Nothing more, nothing less.

For the Flyers who had lots of cap space, the first-rounder was a small price to pay to acquire two players they sought before giving any other team a chance to bid. It also demonstrates the ownership’s drive to not dwell at the bottom of the league for another season.

Former Ducks’ player Paul Kariya will test the open market on July 1st and it’s possible he will want to move to a more solid contender. If that happens and the Preds fail to attract any replacements, 2008 will likely see Nashville drop from a top Western Conference team back towards a rebuilding club fighting for a playoff berth.