Who else could the Nashville Predators trade before the deadline? Here's three candidates

Yahoo

03-03-2025

Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz is ready to move on from this disappointing season and build for the future.
And given the surprising return for Gustav Nyquist − the Predators received a second-round pick from the Minnesota Wild for the 35-year-old forward − Trotz should sell off as many assets as he can.
Nashville (21-32-7, 49 points) is in seventh place in the Central Division and 16 points out of the final wild card position. According to Money Puck, they have a 10.2% chance of earning the No. 1 overall pick, slightly worse odds than the Chicago Blackhawks (15.7%) and San Jose Sharks (23.1%).
The Predators have 10 picks in the 2025 draft, including three in the first round, and four second-round picks over the next two drafts. With Trotz looking to add even more draft capital, here's who the Predators could trade away before Friday's deadline.
The Predators already have three defensemen on injured reserve in Roman Josi, Jeremy Lauzon and Adam Wilsby, so they can ill afford to lose one more. But they should capitalize on rumored interest in Luke Schenn, who has been a consistent presence on their back end all season.
D-MAN VICTIMIZED: New York Rangers' Matt Rempe the latest to victimize a Nashville Predators defenseman
Schenn ranks third in the NHL with 224 hits while playing 15:32 minutes per night. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound defenseman won two Stanley Cups with Tampa (2020, 2021) and is exactly what many teams look for at the deadline: physicality, veteran presence and a winning mentality.
Schenn is owed $2.75 million in 2025-26, which may turn some teams away, but moving Schenn when there's interest would serve Trotz's plan to rebuild on the fly.
Similar to Schenn, McCarron has qualities that may interest a playoff-bound team. He's big, physical and plays a decent two-way game at the center position, including winning 54.8% of his face-offs. He lacks the speed and skill to get much done at the offensive end, but his 6-foot-6, 230-pound frame would be a nice depth addition for a team looking to add some beef.
In 211 games for the Predators, McCarron has 24 goals and 24 assists while averaging 11:55 minutes per night as a fourth-line center. He had a career-high 12 goals and 10 assists in 2023-24, during which he signed a two-year extension with Nashville.
McCarron is under contract through 2025-26, but his bargain bin $900,000 cap hit is manageable.
Since being drafted in the second round in 2012, Colton Sissons has been in the Predators' lineup for 11 seasons. An excellent defensive center, Sissons has 92 goals and 116 assists in 657 career games and a 53.7% career face-off winning percentage, which ranks among the best in the league over the past decade.
A career-high 15 goals and 20 assists in 2023-24 had many expecting a big year, but Sissons struggled to start the season − he had two goals and zero assists in his first 33 games.
He's turned it around somewhat, scoring five goals and 12 assists in his past 26 games and his low cap hit — he's owed $2.8 million through 2025-26 — could help the cause.
Moving on from Sissons would be painful for the organization. He was a key role player during the team's recent success, including scoring a hat trick in Game 6 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals to send the team to its first-ever Stanley Cup Final.
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at [e-mail]. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Here's who the Nashville Predators could trade before the deadline