New Contracts In Hand, Svechkov and L'Heureux Excited to Keep Improving With Preds

Fedor Svechkov and Zach L’Heureux were already forever linked thanks to their distinctions as Nashville’s first-round selections in the 2021 NHL Draft. 

Now, as both of their careers begin to blossom, the pair will also be sticking around a bit longer. 

L’Heureux inked a new two-year, $1.75 million contract last week. Just five days later, Svechkov signed a two-year, $2.5 million deal - moves that pleased both sides with the two players both on track to become restricted free agents this summer. 

That’s no longer the case with their new agreements in hand and the Predators confirming their desire to have both of the 22-year-old forwards in the fold. 

“It's pretty special,” L’Heureux said. “Being able to call my parents and kind of explain the situation; it’s a lot of hard work from them, and a lot of support and a lot of people behind it. So, just seeing all the text messages and people pretty fired up for me, it's special.”

“Just happy to be here, and two more years is going to help me to establish myself as an NHL player,” Svechkov said. “I feel like this group, a young group of guys going in the right direction, and a lot of old guys are helping us so much. I feel like we're a team right now, more than we used to be last year, so I'm really happy to be here.”

Both in the midsts of their second NHL seasons, there are similarities between the two, but also a few differences, especially in the current campaign. 

For one, L’Heureux was hit with a dose of adversity last fall when he didn’t make the team out of training camp following a rookie season that saw him appear in 62 games. But all the scrappy, 5-foot-11 winger did was go down to AHL Milwaukee and prove to be one of their best players with 14 goals and 28 points through 28 outings.

Waiting for the call back to Nashville wasn’t easy, but it finally came last month as the Preds prepared to return from the Olympic break. Since then, L’Heureux has established himself as an everyday NHLer once more, and his game continues to improve on a nightly basis. 

"If you would have asked me this a few months ago, if I thought I would be getting this deal, I would probably think you're lying to me,” L’Heureux said. “Just the way the year has been with all the adversity, it's a little bit of weight off the shoulders to know that all that hard work when I was injured, that commitment to playing the right way down in Milwaukee, being a good person and earning my way back up, it's kind of paid off now. It’s nice, but at the same time, I know it's just getting started, so obviously a lot of work to do. But obviously having that stress off the shoulders is big.”

Svechkov is feeling similarly. 

After 17 points in 52 games as a rookie last season, the centerman struggled to find the scoresheet at times through the first few months of his sophomore run. However, as he went down to Milwaukee during the break, the Russian began to find his game once more with five goals and eight points in just 10 outings. 

Once the break was done, back to Tennessee he came - and the difference has been noticeable more often than not with a tally last week in Edmonton, a beautiful setup to Filip Forsberg for a goal in Tuesday’s win, and another on Reid Schaefer’s goal in Thursday’s outing. 

“I feel pretty confident and feel that my game is going the right way right now,” Svechkov said Tuesday morning. “I’ve just got to keep pushing and prove that I can do better and score more and get more points and be more productive. So, it’s my goal to just be better.”

The Preds would certainly love that as well, and the man in charge of deploying L’Heureux and Svechkov in-game is encouraged by what he’s seen from both skaters. 

“I give Zach a lot of credit going down the start of the year,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “He could have easily - because he was up last year - just kind of go through the motions and wait for his call up. He earned it. He earned it the hard way, and he played his butt off. He was the best player down there, and he deserved the opportunity. And since he's been up, he's grabbed it.

“With Svech, he’s had kind of an up and down year… I thought it was very important for him to go down and play [during the break]. Probably would like to see him play down there a little bit longer because I thought his game was coming. He came up here, and I think he's shown flashes of what he can do when he has a little bit more confidence. Through this stretch here, we’ve just got to build that consistency with ‘Svech.’ We talk about it all the time, and he's taken some really good steps here since he's been back.”

With the final few weeks of the regular season now here - and the Predators still very much in the thick of a playoff race - they’re going to continue to rely on contributions from up and down the lineup. 

Svechkov and L’Heureux are intent on doing their parts, and if they’re successful, there’s no telling what that springboard might do for each of them over the next two campaigns - and perhaps beyond. 

“I love the city, I love this place, and I want to play here, hopefully my whole career,” L’Heureux said. “So, I'm just excited to keep things going.”