Predators Headed to Free Agency

It's too bad that I don't have a little graphic for this one, but Denis Grebeshkov was not qualified as a restricted free agent on Monday afternoon, the deadline for qualifying restricted free agents for first refusal purposes, which means he will be headed straight to unrestricted free agency on July 1st.  Grebeshkov has quite a large salary to qualify, meaning the Predators would have to match his $3.15 million contract from last season, in order to qualify him and the likelihood of someone snatching him away for a bucket load of draft picks (in compensation) is slim to none, so Nashville decided against keeping him around.

Grebeshkov was the 80th ranked defenseman in pool scoring in 2010, having only 21 points in 51 games.  An MCL injury and a lower-body injury were keeping him away from the game for so long, keeping his numbers down.  If he can stay healthy in 2011, he could be a bit of a sleeper pick, but I would be weary of these lower-body injuries for now and not rush out to get him.

Another player of note is heading to unrestricted free agency as well, as Dustin Boyd was also not qualified by the Predators this week.   Boyd had 11 goals and 13 assists in 78 games between Calgary and Nashville in 2010, ranking him 234th among all forwards, which would have him in the bottom part of a very deep draft.  Boyd is due a raise on his $650,000 cap hit that he had last season, but it looks like the Predators are not willing to guarantee him a spot with a load of youth coming up the ranks, so he'll head to pasture, looking for greener grass.