Nashville's GM explains the surprising trade of promising defenseman Spencer Stastney, revealing the team's strategic focus on offensive youth and defensive depth.
NHL fans woke up to the Edmonton Oilers causing some commotion in the market Friday morning.
In addition to a four-player trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where both teams swapped goalies, the Oilers traded a 2027 third-round pick to the Nashville Predators for defenseman Spencer Stastney.
In Stastney's first season as a full-timer on the Predators roster, he has nine points in 30 games and has been performing better than expected. So why did the Predators trade him?
Following the trade, General Manager Barry Trotz spoke to the media at Friday's practice on the trade and what prompted the Predators to execute their first trade of the season.
"When we looked at the value for what we could get for Spencer with Edmonton, we thought it was really fair," Trotz said. "We thought it was a strong value for him. We're in a situation where we're really deep on defense, organizationally, which triggered the move."
Trotz said the team wants to get younger players moved up to the roster, specifically on offense. With Nick Perbix back to full health and Justin Barron close to returning, the defense is back to full strength, and the typical eight defensemen the team carries have created a "blocking" in the Milwaukee pipeline.
The Predators have mixed in a handful of Milwaukee call-ups into the lineup this season, which include Joakim Kemell, Reid Schaefer and Zach L'Heureux, who was called up but didn't play due to injury.
"This gives us a little bit more flexibility going forward and some draft capital going forward as well," Trotz said.
Trotz also explained how the trade worked and subtly addressed the trade rumors swirling around.
"Everybody has heard on every podcast that everybody is phoning around. Edmonton obviously had another deal in the works (with Pittsburgh), so they were looking to a specific type of player, and that was obviously Spencer," Trotz said.
He also said that nothing has changed in the pace of calls the Predators have received from other teams, but added that it's a regular occurrence throughout the season.
It's a competitive pool for who will earn a call-up to Nashville, as a ton of Milwaukee players, more so on the defensive end, have been playing well.
Defenseman Ryan Ufko leads the Admirals in scoring with 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) in 21 games. Center Jake Lucchini follows closely with 21 points (five goals, 16 assists) in 21 games.
On the left wing, Daniel Carr has 16 points (nine goals, seven assists) in 21 games, and center Oasiz Weisblatt, Ozzy's brother, has 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) in 20 games.
The regular names of Kemell and defenseman Tanner Molendyk were also thrown into the conversation of players that could be called up. Milwaukee is also 12-7-1 on the year and fourth in the AHL's Central Division.
There's a deep talent pool, but Trotz said the team wants to get specifically young forwards worked into Nashville's mix.
Both head coach Andrew Brunette and Luke Evangelista had nothing but positive things to say about Stastney following his departure.
"Spencer's been really good for us. He's gone through some things, and I'm really happy he's in a good place," Brunette said.
"It was fun to see him develop."
"It's never fun to wake up to that kind of news," Evangelista said. "I could talk for hours with the kind of person and teammate that he (Stastney) is. He's an unbelievable guy, one of the nicest guys I've ever played with. He's selfless and all the boys in the room love him...He's gonna get a good opportunity, make a push, and we're happy for him. We'll always be cheering for him."