Preds Trade Santorelli to Florida For Draft Picks
Thursday, 08.05.2010 / 12:57 PM
/ News
By Press Release
- Nashville Predators
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PrintNASHVILLE PREDATORS ACQUIRE A CONDITIONAL FIFTH-ROUND PICK FROM FLORIDA
Nashville, Tenn. (August 5, 2010) – Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has acquired a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2011 Entry Draft in exchange for restricted free agent forward Michael Santorelli.
The Predators now have nine selections in next summer’s Entry Draft at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. In addition to Florida’s pick, and seven picks of its own, Nashville acquired a second-round pick from New Jersey in June.
Santorelli was a sixth-round choice of the Predators (178th overall) in the 2004 Draft.
| INSTANT ANALYSIS |
| This trade speaks much more to the impressive depth the Preds have stockpiled at the forward position than it does to Mike Santorelli. Even after this move, the Preds still have 18 forwards on roster who skated at least 20 games in the NHL last season, plus two forwards coming over from Europe after standout seasons in leagues over there. And that's just at the NHL level. Tom Callahan detailed the situation more in his blog entry from earlier this week. With only 13 or 14 forward spots available at the NHL level, that pushes some quality forwards back to the AHL. And then add in prospects like Gabriel Bourque, Ryan Flynn, Blake Geoffrion, and Ryan Thang -- each projected to play in his first pro season in '10-11 -- to the mix and the AHL forward pool looks pretty crowded. Just looking at the numbers, someone needed to be moved. Getting value back now helps clarify the Preds and Milwaukee Admirals situations in the short term and the additional draft pick give the team flexibility around the trade deadline (keep in mind a fourth round pick was worth a valuable depth piece like Dustin Boyd at last year's deadline). --Jay Levin, NashvillePredators.com |
