As if the competition for the Central crown wasn’t tough enough as is, the Nashville Predators made a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs to bolster their Stanley Cup chances. The Preds brought in Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli in exchange for Olli Jokinen, Brendan Leipsic and a first-round pick in the 2015 Draft. Will the Blues respond?
Via the Predators’ official site, the club has made it publicly known that they are getting ready for a deep playoff run.
David Poile: “In preparation for the 2015 playoff run, our goal was to add a veteran defenseman who could play in all situations and a proven forward who could move up and down lineup based on the situation. We were fortunate to do this in the same transaction with players who are in the prime of their careers more than two weeks before the Trade Deadline in order to give them more time to contribute and gel with their teammates.”
The Predators have a 38-12-6 record and 82 points prior to any action on Sunday, February 15th. The Blues have maintained a manageable gap, but the Predators have seemingly matched every win the Blues have posted over the last few weeks. In theory, Nashville’s trade will make the challenge of hunting down the top overall spot that much more difficult.
Nashville’s trade may have eliminated any doubt over whether the Blues would be looking to shake things up prior to the deadline. The Blues have a couple weaknesses they could address – the most glaring being a lacking physical presence on defense and a questionable third pairing on defense – but they easily could have sat back, let the deadline pass and entered the postseason with a very strong team. Now that the Predators have upped the ante, the Blues may be forced to go out and address those problems, particularly on defense.
Doug Armstrong proved through the Ryan Miller trade that he’s willing to make a big move in order to improve the Blues’ chances in the immediate future. Armstrong doesn’t need to make that big of a move this season (nor did he last season, but that’s a different topic), but he should be aware of the questions on defense. You’d have a hard time finding any fans who are comfortable with the team’s size on defense or with Chris Butler and Ian Cole potentially being pivotal figures in a deep playoff series.
There haven’t been too many rumors floated around about the Blues lately, but Nashville’s push to win this season may force the club to be a bit more active.
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