Stastney Trade Is Smart Move For Preds

The initial reaction across Nashville Predators Twitter to Nashville trading Spencer Stastney to the Edmonton Oilers for a 2027 third-round pick was… let’s call it “politely confused.” 

Fans wanted an NHL-ready forward. They wanted someone who could help today. They didn’t want yet another future asset jammed into Barry Trotz’s ever-growing draft pick drawer. On the surface, the optics are rough: a young defenseman leaves, and no present-day roster help comes back.

But look again. This move is better than it feels.

Stastney was a great story, and that’s precisely why his value peaked

Stastney was a fifth-round pick in 2018, a smooth-skating left shot who projected as a long-term project more than a lineup fixture. But he developed beautifully—credit to the player, credit to the Milwaukee Admirals’ development staff, and credit to Nashville’s perennial defensive-factory DNA.

Stastney carved out NHL minutes. He gave the organization meaningful depth. He became a “break glass in case of injury” defenseman who could play legit bottom-pair minutes without anyone panicking. For a fifth-rounder, that’s a win.

And that’s why this return matters. A 2027 third-round pick is real value for a player who — through no fault of his own — had virtually no path to climbing Nashville’s defensive depth chart anytime soon.

Nashville’s defensive logjam made this trade inevitable

The Predators’ pipeline is bursting with left-shot defensemen, and at higher ceilings than Stastney –– most notably, 2023 first-round pick Tanner Molendyk. At some point, someone becomes expendable—not because they’re bad, but because the organization simply doesn’t have the space to elevate them. Stastney was in exactly that spot: good enough to play NHL minutes, not fortunate enough to have a wide-open lane in Nashville.

Rather than bury him or lose him for nothing down the road, the Predators cashed in now while his stock still held weight and sent him to an Oilers team where he has a much clearer path to become a lineup fixture.

Why Predators fans wanted more, and why that expectation was unrealistic

With the Predators hovering in the awkward middle of a retool—not rebuilding, not quite contending—fans understandably wanted forward help. Someone who could slot in today. Someone who could ease the pressure on Nashville’s kids. Someone who could stabilize the bottom six.

But that’s not what Stastney fetches on the market. NHL-ready forwards don’t swap hands for fringe third-pair defensemen. What does fetch a mid-round pick? Exactly this type of player: capable, young(ish), controllable depth.

If Nashville had forced a search for a “NHL piece,” they would’ve ended up taking back a contract they didn’t want or a player without upside. Instead, they took value straight up.

This is the kind of smart, unspectacular move good GMs make

Here’s what Trotz has made abundantly clear during his tenure as GM: Draft picks are currency. And he loves spending currency.

A 2027 third can be packaged at the draft to move up, part of a deadline deal for a real roster piece, ammunition for a big summer trade or the chip that finalizes a deal Nashville otherwise wouldn’t win.

No, this move won’t sell tickets at Bridgestone Arena. But the Predators turned a fifth-round pick—someone who exceeded expectations, contributed, and climbed the ladder as far as he realistically could—into a third-rounder seven years later.

That’s organizational profit. And unlike Stastney, the pick doesn’t hit waivers.

Fans won’t love the optics because it doesn’t help Nashville in the immediate term. But the Predators didn’t give up meaningful ice time, didn’t weaken a strength, and didn’t lose a player with a long-term role. They simply converted surplus into flexibility.

Stastney was a great story. This trade is simply the next chapter in it — and a quietly solid piece of business for a franchise that needs long-term options more than short-term patches.