On Wednesday, October 7th the Nashville Predators announced that they are buying out forward Kyle Turris and defenceman Steven Santini. Though, this comes immediately after it was announced that the team had traded Nick Bonino and draft picks for Luke Kunin.
Kyle Turris and Steven Santini Bought Out By Nashville Predators
Kyle Turris (NSH) and Steven Santini (NSH) are on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a buyout.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 7, 2020
Kyle Turris was initially acquired from the Ottawa Senators in 2017 as a part of a three-way trade that sent Matt Duchene from Colorado to Ottawa and the Senators 2019 first-round pick back. Turris immediately signed a six-year extension at six million dollars with the Predators. However, he only played out two years of the contract, so he is being bought out with four years remaining. The Predators will maintain a cap hit of $2,000,000 for the next eight years. This, however, does free up $4,000,000 this season for the Predators.
Steven Santini was acquired from the New Jersey Devils as a part of the PK Subban trade. Santini had one year left on his contract with a cap hit of $1,416,667. Santini only played two games for the Predators this year, though. He spent the rest of his time in the AHL with Milwaukee. The Predators will keep a negligible amount of money on the books for Santini. According to CapFriendly, the team will keep $41,667 on the books for 2020-21 and $275,000 for 2021-22.
What This Means For The Future
Between the two buyouts and the Bonino trade, it seems like Nashville is trying to shake everything up and bounce back this season. After losing to the Coyotes in the play-in round this post-season the Predators have seemingly evaluated what needed to be cut from their team. They have the current Norris winner on their roster. They should be looking to take advantage of their top players’ prime years.
Kyle Turris, however, is now a UFA and will be looking for a new team this off-season. He will likely be getting a “prove-it” contract because of the poor performance in Nashville. He will likely be looking at a one year deal with a low cap hit, and look to regain some of his old status as a solid player in the NHL. Turris has not been a good player recently. However, that doesn’t mean he can’t regain that level of performance he once had in Ottawa.
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