Just 3 weeks into new Preds GM Mathew Peltier's tenure, Nashville is a mixed bag of possible playoff contention along with concerns for the future.
Just three weeks into Mathew Peltier taking over the Predators, we have seen some action. Peltier has watched and monitored his team's success and has seen some concerns and some positive vibes.
Peltier made his first move a little over ten days ago and here's is how it looks so far.
Torey Krug and Anders Bjork were dealt to Minnesota, which brought in Tony DeAngelo and Tristan Jarry, along with 6th and 7th round picks in this year's draft.
Another deal in which he has shaken the deck, saw pending UFA Jaroslav Halak and 24-year-old Colin White head to the Sabers. This deal has been heard to have been in the works or in the conversation for the last week or so, but these two teams finally made a move. This move allows the preds to have more depth in the crease in Cam Talbot and will also allow for two solid young players in Alex Steeves and Pavel Gogolev.
Peltier sees something in these moves and this could be a move the propels this team into a playoff spot. Peltier may have some other GMs in the league questioning if he is rebuilding or if he is planning on a push, but this GM will always keep them guessing.
Our Farhan Lalgy caught up with Peltier getting ready to board the plane home at JFK International Airport earlier this evening.
Lalgy: Mat, thank you for taking the time to talk with us and shed some light on the situation within your organization.
Peltier: Not a problem at all Farhan, it's really not rocket science. I knew when taking over this team that we would get in the door and see what we had. We really feel that our crease was a problem and we needed to exploit that. We brought in Jarry and he's played great in his first win of the year and a huge win for the team.
We knew Halak would be a healthy scratch and he has known that Buffalo's has been calling regarding him for the last week or so. So we gave him the heads up as we feel he should be a part of the conversation, being a veteran and knowing where we are trying to take this team is huge for him to be a part of the process. We thank him for all he has done and his understanding during this process.
We brought Talbot in and he will fit right in with us. He will mentor both Jarry and Igor Shesterkin, and we will run with 3 goalies for now. All three are proven and we feel this will work for us.
We also picked up two players in the deal today, Gogolev and Steeves, both great players, but we lost White in the deal which was a tough one for sure. He was the captain on the farm and he will be missed.
Talbot made his debut on Thursday in a 6-3 loss to Calgary.
With TSN, live from JFK this evening, this is Farhan Lalgy reporting.