The trade bringing in defenseman Denis Grebeshkov from Edmonton was NOT a pre-cursor to trading Dan Hamhuis.
The Nashville Predators have decided not to trade Hamhuis at the NHL trade deadline, in favor of keeping him and boasting what might be the best blueline in the league headed into the stretch run and ultimately, the postseason.
On Monday afternoon, General Manager David Poile sent a second round pick to the Edmonton Oilers for Grebeshkov, opening the door to trade Hamhuis without forcing the Preds to recall a Jonathan Blum, a Teemu Laakso or even giving a full-time job to Alexander Sulzer, thereby handing a pivotal defensive role to a prospect who’s not ready for NHL duty.
Now, it appears rookie Cody Franson will be the odd-man out as Nashville sports an amazing defense with names like Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Hamhuis, Kevin Klein, Grebeshkov and Francis Bouillon.
The problem in Music City has never been the blueline, however. The problem is offense. Nashville needs a scoring winger in order to compete in the playoffs. Otherwise, they’re marching into the postseason with the “same ‘ol same ‘ol” mentality.
The Tennessean’s John Glennon tweeted earlier that the Preds may have made a trade so those details will come shortly.
Hamhuis’s name has been talked about in trade rumors for months now due to his impending free agency on July 1. The 27 year old is considered a highly coveted player for a team in need of a top-3 defenseman. And, quite honestly, he might even be a top-2 defenseman with a change of scenery. Hamhuis has been much-maligned the past couple season here in Nashville and it hasn’t exactly motivated him to play better.
His talent has also been lost in the shuffle in Tennessee. Weber and Suter are the faces of the Predators blueline and Hamhuis has been in the shadow of those two all-world talents. As a result, he’s almost exclusively been paired with Klein and, together, they’ve been awful at times. Seperated they were much better but, because the coaching staff has refused to split them up, Hammer and Klein continue to suffer.