The Nashville Predators are locked in on center Jack Drury, signing the free agent to a 5-year, $22.5 million contract with an annual cap hit of $4.5 million, according to Puckpedia. 

It's the first signing of Chris MacFarland's tenure at Predators general manager 

On June 24, Nashville traded forwards Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L'Heureux to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Drury, forward Chase Bradley and a 2029 third-round draft pick.

Bradley remains a restricted free agent. This was the second trade that MacFarland had made as Predators general manager, and it was with his former team.  

This past season with the Avalanche, Drury played in all 82 games, scoring 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points and logged 31 penalty minutes. In the playoffs, he played in 13 games, recording three goals and two assists for five points. 

"Jack (Drury) is a guy that is not a 25-goal, 60-point guy, but he is elite defensively," MacFarland said ahead of the NHL Draft. "That ability for a coach to throw out a center against the other teams' top players and feel comfortable doing so on the road is massive. Then what Jack does off the ice and what he'll do for the young players. I believe it is really, really important long term." 

With the signing, the Predators have around $19.87 million left in cap space ahead of the start of the free agency period on July 1. 

Nashville as three unrestricted free agents in Erik Haula, Tyson Jost and Kevin Gravel, and one restricted free agent, Justin Barron.