Nashville is rebuilding and looking to bring in veteran leaders and experience, he's a former captain and stanley cup champ. I think this signing has decent value on the ice, but even more value in establishing professionalism with this young team.

I think the idea is a culture change without rebuilding. O Reilly is a leader that can teach younger players while still being an effective player in his own right. The rumors are that duchene and Johansen were less than stellar teammates. I might be giving trotz too much credit though.

Preds recent center contracts:

Ryan Johansen: 8x8- traded at 50% retained for no return
Kyle Turris: 7x6- bought out after 3 years
Matt Duchene: 7x8- bought out after 4 years
Ryan O'Reilly: 4x4.5....

Edit: Turris was 6x6, bought out after 2. Point stands

Fair idea. Johansen never struck me as a high character locker room guy.

Good point! Also…your pfp has me in tears 😂

Trots is either a genius or under the influence

But this is exactly what most people thought RoR would get.

It's definitely the 2nd part.

The team is still competitve. Up front, Forsberg, Glass, Novak, Sissons and Tomasino all look pretty solid. On the back end and in net is where we look better than a lot of team. Saros-Lankinen tandem is great and then with Josi and McDonagh leading our D-core, I like our chances to remain competitve and hopefully put up a good fight for a playoff race. 1C and 1 RW is looking extremely questionable though.

Duchene: likely
Johansen: I disagree, players and coaches have credited him with being a good mentor, and he's usually top 5 in NHLPA polls for best locker room guy. His on ice play style is likely what was the issue, it just doesn't fit.

He only scored 40 points last year and he's north of 30, so injuries are going to become more and more of a problem. I'm not sure I like this one.

Haha puljujarvi is a human meme

O'Reilly signing in Nashville is a good move. He provides a presence and depth at center, can score goals, and can help develop an identity for the Predators.