Trade candidate Preview: Tom Novak and Yakov Trenin.

 Could Novak and Trenin be trade candidates before the deadline for the Predators. 

Now over the next couple of weeks I am going to be looking at a couple of players who I feel could be legit trade candidates come the March 8th trade deadline, and in today's blog I am looking at two really good forwards on the Nashville Predators who are currently pending UFA's who I could see getting moved by the trade deadline this year.

Now Nashville started this season quite horribly as they were 5-10-0 in their 1st 15 games, but have gone on a 6 game winning streak recently to get back above .500 and are now at 12-12-0 and have crept back into the wildcard race, so I am not as confident as earlier in the season that they will wind up being full on sellers, but we did see the team last year move Granlund, Jeannot, Ekholm and Niederriter at the deadline despite only being 8 points out of a playoff spot with 3 games in hand a week before the deadline, and I do think GM Trotz will try to improve this team as much as he can, so I do think the Preds could at least move their pending UFA's and two likely candidates in my opinion are Trenin and Novak.

Christopher Hanewinckel USA Today Sports

Now for Nashville, Novak has taken a long time to develop but he has become a solid middle six forward for Nashville. Now Novak was a 3rd round pick in the 2015 draft and played in the NCAA until the 18-19 season and then he would play 2 full AHL seasons the next two years including having 32 points in 27 games in 20-21, and ever since then he has been fantastic, 2 years ago he put up 34 points in 42 AHL games and got his first taste of NHL action putting up 1 goal and 7 points in 27 NHL games, then last year he started in the AHL and put up 26 points in 25 games and earned a call up and once called up he was fantastic, as he was basically the best Pred player down the stretch last year getting into 51 games and put up 17 goals and 43 points and was one of the main reasons that the Predators got so close to the playoffs last year, and his start to this year before being injured was fantastic getting 6 goals and 12 points in 14 games and I think if they could re-sign and keep him I think they would as he has fit in well over the last few years, he is not overly old at 17 years old and I think long term he could be the teams 2C, but with Novak in the last year of his deal, I think he could become a trade candidate. 

Now with Nashville in the playoff race I don't think it is a guarantee that the Preds move all of their UFA's, but I do think after what they did last deadline I think they could definitely look to move him, as we have said, he has become a Fantastic scorer and point producer in the NHL and I think a team who is looking for a 3C for the playoffs and is more of a cap strapped team could look at Novak as he is young, would fit in well as a 3C and is only making $.800 Thousand dollars, so for a lot of playoff teams he would be a good player to go after, and I think if Nashville played this right, they could get a 2RD pick or a 3RD pick and decent prospect for Novak should he be dealt, So I am not saying it is a guarantee, but with his cap hit and age, Nashville not being a guaranteed playoff team and not being afraid to move their UFA's as they showed last year, I think Novak does stand a good chance to be dealt, and then you have Trenin. 

Sergei Belski USA Today Sports

Now unlike Novak who has been developing over the past few years, Trenin has been playing a pretty good and consistent bottom six role with the team over the past few years. Trenin started playing in the NHL in 19-20 as he got called up after having 20 goals and 35 points in 32 games with the Preds AHL affiliates, and got into 21 NHL games putting up 2 goals and 6 points, the next year he got into 45 NHL games and had 5 goals and 11 points, then the past two seasons he has really emerged as a solid bottom 6 forward in on line 3 or 4, as 2 years ago he had 17 goals and 24 points in 80 games and then had 12 goals and 24 points in 77 games last year and showed he can be a decent depth player who cane put up 15 goals and near 30 points consistently. 

Now not last offseason but the offseason prior, Trenin was a RFA with Arb rights, and after not agreeing on a contract extension, the two would go to arbitration where Trenin was awarded a 2 year contract with a AAV of $1.7 Million and that deal takes him to UFA status and the contract expires this offseason, and there have been stats that show that deals that are filed in arbitration usually don't keep the player in that organization long-term, so I think there is a very likely scenario that whether it is via a trade before the deadline or leaving as a free agent in the offseason, I feel that Trenin won't be a Pred beyond this year and is one of the reasons I think he gets dealt by the deadline. Now so far this year Trenin has 5 goals and 7 points in 23 games and is on pace for 18 goals and 25 points which would be a career high in both, now he does make a decent amount at $1.7 Million right now and the Predators only have 1 retain salary slot open right now, but if they got his cap hit down to around at least $1.2 Million, I think there would be a lot of interest as he is a solid bottom six forward who can score and brings that physical style of game teams like to have in the playoffs, and after seeing what the Preds got for Jeannot last year makes me think they could get a huge return on him, now I don't think he will command 5 picks and a young D-Men as Jeannot was younger, cheaper and was a RFA, but I do think around the deadline they could get maybe a 2nd or 3rd round pick and decent level prospect in exchange for Trenin, so although I am not sure Nashville will be sellers this year, I do think Trenin is a likely candidate and I could definitely see him be moved. 

So to recap, after being on a recent heater, I am not sure the Predators will indeed be sellers this trade deadline as theyworked their way into the playoffs and are now hovering around the wildcard spot, but after last year not being to far out and moving the players they did, I think they could do the same this year and while I think they could move D-Men Barrie and Carrier as well as possibly goalie Saros, I do believe forwards Novak and Trenin will be names to watch out for at the deadline and i think we could see them be moved, but I would also like to hear your thoughts, does Trenin and Novak get moved by the deadline or do they remain in Nashville, let me know in the comments below.