Poile Discusses Transactions, Draft, Looks Ahead to Free Agency for Preds

At least 10 hours after his day began, and likely much more, David Poile took a moment to review it all - and there was plenty to discuss.
After
selecting goaltender Iaroslav Askarov
with the 11th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft on Tuesday night, Nashville's general manager had one of his busier days in recent memory - not only
highlighted by six more selections in Rounds 2 through 7
of the draft, but also a trade and a buyout that made news across the hockey world.
Just as the second round of the draft commenced on Wednesday morning,
Poile dealt veteran centerman Nick Bonino
- as well as a pair of 2020 picks - to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for promising, young forward Luke Kunin and the 101st selection in the 2020 draft.

Poile made the deal looking toward the future and inserting younger players into his lineup - a goal he has stated over the past two months - but before raving about Kunin, the GM took a moment to acknowledge the contributions of Bonino.
"I would like to comment and really thank Nick Bonino," Poile said. "He was a great signing three years ago. How he played for us, what he did off the ice for us, his leadership; I really think Nick Bonino has got more good years ahead of him, and I also said to him on other occasions, as I said to him today when we made the trade, I think he's got a fantastic hockey mind. I certainly could see him being in hockey well after his playing days if he ever chose to go in that route."
As proud Poile is of his former center, he's equally as excited about the newest member of his roster. The 22-year-old Kunin is a restricted free agent, and once Poile and the Preds agree to a new contract with the versatile forward,
the team is eager to unlock the potential of the 2016 first-round pick.
"He plays in all situations, plays center, he plays the wing, he plays what I would call a very hard game, a lot of energy and he's got a lot of bite to him," Poile said of Kunin. "Power play, penalty killing, I think he's just a good all-around player that is going to get better and better. Knowing from his past and following him as a younger player, he's got lots of leadership capabilities. He's always been an assistant captain or a captain along the way, so I think we've traded a good player in Nick Bonino, but I think we've got a real up-and-coming player in Luke Kunin."
Poile also made the difficult decision to proceed with a buyout of forward Kyle Turris on Tuesday, a centerman who had four seasons remaining on his contract with the Predators.
"I'm not sure that anybody knows the exact answer on that, and that's why it is so disappointing," Poile said of why Turris was unable to produce as expected in Nashville. "As I've often said, we were very excited when we traded for Kyle and at times, especially at the beginning, he played really well for us…but it didn't last for whatever reason.
"We will take as much responsibility as we need to in that, and it's just over. It's just very, very unfortunate that it didn't work out better. It's caused me a lot of consternation, for sure, to have to make this decision, because I think Kyle's a really good person and I know he's a real good player. I just really regret that it didn't work out better for us."

The moves with Bonino and Turris cleared a considerable amount of cap space for Poile, and the GM said he'll take "a hard look" at what might be available on the free agent market beginning at 11 a.m. CT on Friday. Additions at forward and defense are options for the Preds, and the moves may begin on the backend.
"With our decision probably not to bring back [defenseman] Yannick Weber, and we're not bringing back [defenseman Korbinian] Holzer and [defenseman] Dan Hamhuis retired, we're going to have to pay attention and try to repair or get a little bit more of a depth on our third pair of defense," Poile said. "I'm really happy with the top four guys, and [Jarred] Tinordi played well for us last year. I think [defensive prospect] Alex Carrier can come up and play, but if we can add one more defenseman, maybe two defensemen, that might be my first area that I attack in free agency on Friday."
All of those moves - and the potential for more - arrived on top of seven selections in the 2020 NHL Draft for Poile and the Predators, three forwards, three defensemen and a netminder.
In particular, Nashville has plenty of optimism for Askarov, a player the Preds believe has the capability to be a "franchise goaltender."
"We've now drafted our future goaltender someday," Poile said. "If you watched him play, or if you followed what some of the reports have been on him, the people in the know have thought this guy could be really, really special for his age. He is as good as come…and if you've seen how he plays, his size, his agility, his flexibility, it's pretty impressive."
Approximately 20 minutes after Poile's meeting with the media to examine all of those topics was complete, he likely went right back to work on improving his club with any means possible. And while he doesn't believe the Preds need a complete overhaul, he knows things need to be different when the puck drops once more.
Perhaps Wednesday's moves were just the start. Poile is sure to have more to discuss in due time.
"We've got a lot of really good players, so I don't think we need to have a rebuild, but I would like to get younger," Poile said. "I would like to have a few different types of players on our team than we had last year. And of course, the main pressure to me is going to come to see if our top players, especially our top forwards, can get back to where they normally are. If they can, maybe these few changes that we make will take our club in a much better direction than it did last year."