While the Montreal Canadiens made a surprise appearance in the playoffs, the Nashville Predators made a surprise appearance at the bottom of the standings after making a big splash in free agency last offseason.

Barry Trotz was among the most active GMs on the free agent market and signed three big names: Steven Stamkos (four years at $8 M per), Jonathan Marchessault (five years at $5.5 M per), and defenseman Brady Skjei (seven years at $7M per). With that many changes, an adaptation period was unavoidable, but it’s not an adaptation period when it lasts all season.

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In November, Trotz said that if the Predators didn’t get going, he would be forced to enter a rebuild plan, and they never did. Will he do that this Summer? Can they realistically do it? The contracts awarded to the three above-mentioned free agents last offseason, on top of being very expensive, all came with full no-movement clauses, so none of these players can be moved without their agreement.

We know that Kent Hughes tried to sign Marchessault last offseason; the player told the media himself that the term was a sticking point. Hughes wasn’t willing to go for five years, and Marchesseault added that at 33 years old, he wasn’t necessarily looking for a rebuilding team.

Now, at 34 years old and coming off a season in which he put up just 56 points, down from 69, it would be surprising if the Canadiens’ GM was even to entertain the idea of bringing the right winger on.

Is there anything in the Predators roster that could get Hughes to pick up the phone to call Trotz like he did when he sent Justin Barron over to obtain Alexandre Carrier? Could Ryan O’Reilly be an interesting option? He has plenty of leadership, but is also 34 years old and only has two years left on his current contract with a $4.5 M cap hit.

He could be an interesting stop-gap solution at second-line center and provide good veteran leadership, as David Savard did. Still, he probably wouldn’t stick around long enough for Michael Hage to be ready to come on. I doubt Hughes would offer enough for two years of O’Reilly to tempt Trotz into making a deal.

In other words, even if the Preds were to decide to undergo a rebuild, the players they’d be looking to move are too old to fit into the Canadiens’ window of opportunity, which will likely not open for another couple of years.

Photo credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

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