"Our objective going into free agency was to retool our team a bit," general manager David Poile said. "Specifically strengthen our forwards, be a harder group of forwards to play against, and also to improve our third defensive pair. I think with our signings, we've accomplished those goals."
Among the additions is forward Luke Kunin, acquired in a trade from the Minnesota Wild for forward Nick Bonino on Oct. 7. Kunin scored an NHL career-high 31 points (15 goals, 16 assists) in 63 games last season and scored two goals in four postseason games.
"He plays in all situations, he plays center, he plays the wing," Poile said. "He plays what I would call a hard game, he has a lot of energy, a lot of bite to him, power play, penalty killing. I think he is just a good all-around player that is going to get better and better."
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Defenseman Mark Borowiecki and forwards Nick Cousins and Brad Richardson were signed to add toughness and improve a penalty kill that ranked 29th in the NHL last season (76.1 percent).
"He has a level of grit and physicality that we need to get to back to, playing to a new standard," Poile said of Borowiecki. "In addition, it's pretty obvious in watching him play and in having some conversations with him ... that he'll bring a lot of veteran leadership to our hockey club."
Here is what the Predators look like today:
