Devils steal P.K. Subban from Predators in shocking NHL trade
The New Jersey Devils have acquired P.K. Subban from the Nashville Predators in an absolute highway robbery, completing a massive weekend for the Devils.
The New Jersey Devils have acquired defenseman P.K. Subban from the Nashville Predators in exchange for Steven Santini, Jeremy Davies, and two second round picks (No. 34 in 2019 and 2020).
After being acquired by the Nashville Predators from the Montreal Canadiens in the summer of 2016, Subban has been a part of one of the best bluelines in the NHL in Nashville. However, The 30-year-old tallied 31 points in 63 games last year with Nashville, his lowest point total in season over his 10-year career. After a disappointing first round exit, they needed to shake things up and clear salary cap space.
“We appreciate P.K.’s contribution to the Predators and the Nashville community over the past three seasons, which have seen our organization have unprecedented success,” Nashville President/GM David Poile said in a press release. “He was an integral part of our run to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, the 2018 Presidents’ Trophy and back-to-back Central Division titles. His work off the ice speaks for itself – he was an impactful member of our community, especially through the groundbreaking Blueline Buddies initiative.
“We had to make a business decision. With an aim at strengthening our forward corps this offseason, and the continued strength of our defensive group, we felt it was necessary to clear up salary cap space this way.”
https://twitter.com/PKSubban1/status/1142523850816675841
This trade is an absolute highway robbery committed by the Devils against the Predators because that is an astoundingly for the Devils to pay to acquire an indisputable superstar like Subban. When the trade was first announced, fan speculation was that the Predators would at least be getting one the Devils highly touted prospects.
Surely there had to be a better offer for the Predators, but they likely were asked to retain salary on Subban. But if that’s what you get in return without doing so, you should consider retaining, that kind of asset return is unacceptable.
It’s probably also safe to say the Devils are the undisputed winners of this draft weekend. They acquired Jack Hughes on Friday with the first overall pick and now acquired the number one defenseman that they have been searching for forever in Subban. Even after this trade, the Devils still have $27 million in cap space left to work with to sign the rest of the RFAs and be in play during free agency.
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The Predators did not retain any of Subban’s $9M cap hit, clearing about $7,583,334 in cap space to presumably go after some big names in free agency. Matt Duchene has been linked to them for years now and could be exactly what they need for next season. However, getting a big name free agent is the bare minimum they can do, otherwise, this trade is a complete failure.