Poile, Preds Take Care of Priorities as Free Agency Opens

As far as David Poile was concerned, there were two priorities Wednesday as the NHL's free agency signing period opened up - sign a goaltender and bring Mikael Granlund back on with the Predators.
Just a few hours into the frenzy, Nashville's general manager had accomplished both tasks and then some.
Poile's most impactful move of the day was inking Granlund to a four-year, $20 million contract as the market opened, and he followed that transaction up by adding experienced netminder David Rittich with a one-year, $1.25 million deal to the roster.
Arguably Nashville's best and most impactful forward last season, Granlund and the Preds knew a perfect fit remained, and finding a partner in net for Juuse Saros following Pekka Rinne's retirement has been solved, too.

"[The start of free agency] is never quite the same," Poile said Wednesday afternoon following the signings. "Every team has a wish list, and I guess you say a little bit of a strategy. Our strategy revolved around mostly two things. One, we needed to get a second goalie… and we're happy with signing Rittich. The second thing, which in my mind was equally, if not more important, was signing Granlund back… The overriding factor was how much we wanted him, and I think we conveyed that. I think all things being equal, at the end of day, he certainly wanted to play here because, as we both acknowledged, [this is a] really good fit."
In total, Poile and the Preds signed seven players to new deals on Wednesday, and the afternoon began by bringing forwards Anthony Richard (one-year, two-way contract) and Michael McCarron (two-year, two-way contract) back to Nashville.
Then, the Preds became the first NHL club to sign a player taken in last weekend's NHL Draft when they came to terms with forward Zachary L'Heureux. The 27th overall pick in the Draft, L'Heureux signed a three-year, entry-level deal, and Poile expects the prospect to arrive in Nashville soon for Development Camp in August, and then again for Rookie Camp in mid-September.
The Preds then added defenseman Matt Tennyson with a two-year, two-way contract, and forward Matt Luff was brought on via a one-year, two-way deal. Poile envisions both the 31-year-old Tennyson, who has spent time most recently in the New Jersey organization, and the 24-year-old Luff, who has been with the Los Angeles Kings and their affiliates throughout his career, will compete for roster spots in Nashville during the upcoming campaign.
However, the deals for Granlund and Rittich are likely to have the most notable impacts in the immediate future, and bringing No. 64 back into the fold made sense for a number of reasons.
"In some of the changes that we're making to go to a little bit younger team and put in some of our younger players, it's really important to have the right people surround them, and I think Granny is one of the right people," Poile said. "He's the kind of guy who plays from the first minute to the 60th minute, his game is as consistent as any player that we have on our team, I think his conditioning is great, he takes care of himself and I think he's a great role model for all of our younger players. He's going to keep us in that competitive mode, and I think he's going to be a great mentor and leader, if you will, to some of these younger players. We're really happy to get that contract done, and done for four years. It really fits into a lot of what we're doing."

In Rittich, the Preds add a goaltender who was an NHL All-Star in 2020 with Calgary and is capable of filling a backup role or taking on more games if needed. The 28-year-old stands 6-foot-3 and owns a career record of 64-40-16 with a 2.82 goals-against average, .907 save percentage and four shutouts.
The numbers are there, but perhaps more importantly, the Preds believe Rittich and Saros will combine to form a formidable tandem in the blue paint and form a positive relationship while doing so.
"Rittich is ready to enter the prime of his career," Poile said. "His work ethic is really good, he plays with a lot of energy, and you can see that in any games that you watched him play. He's an emotional guy, we heard a lot about his character in terms of being very, very upbeat, a guy that's first out on ice for practice, supports his teammates really well, so I think he'd be a great complement to Juice and a guy that, if need be, can actually play a lot of games because he's been a number one goalie.
"We called people that knew [Rittich] very, very well, and everybody knew why we were calling in terms of the fit and the personality and what have you. Everybody knows how great of a relationship Pekka and Juice had. We're not replacing Pekka on the ice, or as a person, but we think we have a good fit here on the personalities and the support of each other. I've just heard only good things about him, and they say his compete and his support of his teammates and support of the goalie that's playing, all of the things that are going to be important in a relationship with a goalie tandem, I believe we got the right person to complement us in that area."
Poile has been through enough free-agent frenzies as a general manager to know this day is impossible to predict and always includes a surprise or two, but by the time the Preds wrapped up their business on Wednesday, they were satisfied with the players - and people - they had brought on board.
The work will continue from here; Nashville extended qualifying offers to eight restricted free agents on Monday, and while three of them - Richard, forward Mathieu Olivier and defenseman Jeremy Davies have now signed - players like Saros, Eeli Tolvanen and Dante Fabbro are in need of new contracts.
Those discussions will be had, as will eventual conversations with forward Filip Forsberg and defenseman Mattias Ekholm, both of whom have one year remaining on their respective contracts but are now eligible to sign new deals.
"In talking to them at this point, they certainly want to be here," Poile said of Forsberg and Ekholm. "We have some more players we have to get signed, hopefully shortly, but that's a work in progress like it always is. But we'll get to Ekky and Fil before not too long."
The busiest two weeks of the offseason are beginning to wind down, but there is still time for Poile and the Preds to solidify the roster in the weeks ahead. After all, puck drop is only 77 days away.