Former New York Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier and Barry Trotz are reuniting in Nashville ahead of the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline.
Former New York Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier is on the move again, as he's on his way to Nashville, reuniting with his former head coach and current Predators general manager Barry Trotz.
Nashville has sent the Chicago Blackhawks a fifth-round pick in 2024.
Beauvillier spent five seasons under Barry Trotz on Long Island, scoring 63 goals with 66 assists in 271 games.
With Trotz behind the bench, Beauvillier scored one of the biggest goals in franchise history, beating Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy over the glove in overtime at Nassau Coliseum to force a Game 7 in Tampa back in 2021:
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB9qQT2Rbh0[/embed]
After Trotz left following the 2021-22 season, Beauvillier struggled in his first year under Lane Lambert, with just nine goals and 11 assists in 49 games.
Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello made a tough decision, moving Beauvillier and his $4.15 million cap hit to the Vancouver Canucks, along with top prospect Aatu Räty and a 2023 conditional first-round pick for forward Bo Horvat.
In the final 33 games of the season with Vancouver, Beauvillier scored nine goals with 11 assists.
The start to the 2023-24 season didn't go Beauvillier's way, struggling with two goals and six assists in 22 games while the Canucks were rolling.
Given that Beauvillier is a pending unrestricted free agent, the expectation is that he would be moved.
And that he was, as Vancouver traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 28 for a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Chicago was a team going nowhere this season, and it was expected that Beauvillier would be traded for the second time this season before the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline.
So Beauvillier went from an elite Canucks team to a bottom-feeding Blackhawks team to a Predators team that is currently sitting in the second wild-card spot with 19 games to go.
Trotz knows Beauvillier's game and we shall see if his former forward can make a difference in their push for the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.