Turris buyout among options for Predators, who look to get younger

Kyle Turris could have the final four seasons of his six-year contract bought out by the Nashville Predators, who are looking to give their younger players a chance to make the lineup.

Turris was in the final season of a five-year contract when the Predators acquired the center in a trade from the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 5, 2017, and signed him that day to a six-year, $36 million contract ($6 million average annual value) that began with the 2018-19 season.
"We've had conversations with Kyle and his agent," Predators general manager David Poile said. "I think there has been a change in terms of Kyle's play under [former Predators coach Peter Laviolette] and now our current coach, John Hynes. It's all a question mark of: Can he get his game back?"
Turris scored 42 points (13 goals, 29 assists) in 65 games in 2017-18 after the trade, but the 31-year-old has struggled the past two seasons, with 54 points (16 goals, 38 assists) in 117 games.
Turris, who scored 31 points (nine goals, 22 assists) in 62 games this season, did not have a point in Nashville's four-game loss to the Arizona Coyotes in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
"When we made the trade for Kyle ... [he] was a terrific player and he really gave our team a boost," Poile said. "But for whatever reason it hasn't gone well in the last couple years, and those are the things in these next couple weeks that we're going to weigh in terms of what we should do and what we're doing. I don't want to take anything off the table.
"My normal day is I probably talk to approximately 10 (general) managers a day, so there's a lot of conversations. This is not just a [Turris] conversation. I want to be open-minded. I want to see what the value of our players are, what changes we could make, if any, and then make a decision from that. So there's going to be a lot of things that are going to happen here in the next week or so."

The buyout window opened Sept. 25 and will close Oct. 8, one day before NHL free agency begins. Poile said center Mikael Granlund and forward Craig Smith, who each can become an unrestricted free agent, will not return. Granlund scored 30 points (17 goals, 13 assists) in 63 games this season; Smith scored 31 points (18 goals, 13 assists) in his 10th season with Nashville.
With Turris' future questionable and Granlund and Smith departing, Poile said there will be opportunities for forward prospects, including Eeli Tolvanen, Yakov Trenin and
Rem Pitlick
, to earn roster spots.
"We're going to make changes," Poile said. "Right off the top, you've got two guys in our top nine in Granlund and Smith that aren't going to be coming back, so that's going to open up a couple of spots for some younger guys to promote from within, and also if we get to free agency, to see what's available to us. I don't want to make a whole bunch more changes than that because we do have some young guys that we think are ready to play, like in Trenin and Tolvanen. I think there are guys that can play higher in the lineup than they currently play.
"For example, Colton Sissons three years ago when we had our great run to the Stanley Cup Final and Ryan Johansen] got hurt, Mike Fisher got hurt, Colton Sissons actually played first-line center. In the [Cup Qualifier] against Arizona, he was playing on the fourth line. I think there's an in-between there in terms of getting more from a Colton Sissons and playing at a higher level and making more of a contribution than maybe he was put in a position to make last year. A lot of this with the forwards that we're referring to, I need to find out if they are the top forwards that we believe they are."
Poile also left open the possibility center
[Philip Tomasino
, Nashville's first-round pick (No. 24) in the 2019 NHL Draft, could compete for a roster spot. The 19-year-old was fourth in the Ontario Hockey League with 100 points (40 goals, 60 assists) in 62 games and has one season of junior eligibility remaining.
"It's not a question of if, it's just a question of when," Poile said. "Normally you would let these players play their junior hockey. It's just like, 'The road to Nashville goes through Milwaukee (American Hockey League).' We want to do right by Philip, but I would really like to keep some flexibility open to giving him a really good chance at training camp because he could be a player that could surprise. Obviously I'm very open-minded to giving him as good of a chance as anybody come this training camp."