The NHL 15: Do the Predators have regrets with Juuse Saros contract?

General manager Barry Trotz may have fumbled another big move.

Before each NHL season I look at 15 players that I think are the most intriguing players in the NHL. Not necessarily the best players (though, sometimes they are), but players that offer some sort of intrigue, a big storyline or figure to be a major X-factor for the season. This is The NHL 15. We continue today with Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros, who really needs a big year.

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In his brief time as general manager of the Nashville Predators, Barry Trotz has had a knack for making big, bold moves. Have those moves always worked? No. Not at all. His big summer of 2024 spending that resulted in the additions of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei backfired spectacularly. Those three big-money contracts were supposed to turn a playoff team into a Stanley Cup contender (I bought the hype, I admit) and keep their championship window or open. Or perhaps even re-open it. It did not work out that way at all, and the Predators instead finished with one of the league’s worst records, have a bunch of questionable-to-bad contracts on the roster and seem to be a team stuck in the NHL’s no-man’s land.

They’re not a contender. They’re not clearly rebuilding. They’re just …. here.

One of the other big moves made in the summer of 2024 was the decision to re-sign long-time starting goalie Juuse Saros to an eight-year, $61.92 million contract extension that comes with a $7.74 million salary cap hit.

That extension also coincided with the Predators trading Yaroslav Askarov, one of the top goalie prospects in hockey, to the San Jose Sharks for a package centered around a first-round pick.

At the time, you could have put together a reasonable argument to defend all of it.

Saros had been Nashville’s starting goalie — and a pretty damn good one — for years, and the Predators were still hopeful that their window for contention was still wide open. Goalie prospects can be wildly unpredictable and difficult to project, so they cashed in on his trade value and kept the proven goalie.

Just one year later I wonder if the Predators are having some regret on that series of moves.

Or if nothing else, at least some regret on the contract for Saros.

Let’s talk about it.