Preds waive Eeli Tolvanen, potentially ending strange career in Nashville
The Nashville Predators have reportedly waived forward Eeli Tolvanen, according to NHL insider Chris Johnston. Tolvanen, who has been a healthy scratch since November 19th, will now have to clear waivers in order to be assigned to Milwaukee. While it seems likely that a player of his potential would be claimed by another team, apparently […]
The Nashville Predators have reportedly waived forward Eeli Tolvanen, according to NHL insider Chris Johnston.
Tolvanen, who has been a healthy scratch since November 19th, will now have to clear waivers in order to be assigned to Milwaukee. While it seems likely that a player of his potential would be claimed by another team, apparently the Nashville Predators do not think so.
Eeli Tolvanen has scored 25 goals in his short NHL career, shooting 10.4% on 240 career shots. He was drafted in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft with tremendous offensive potential. While much of that potential has not yet been realized, he proved himself a capable scoring threat on the power play in 2020-21, leading the team with six goals on the man advantage.
But since then, Tolvanen has been kicked off the top power play unit, slowly pushed further down the forward lineup, and had his role shrunk to a replacement level, physical two-way winger. This has culminated in being healthy scratched for seven straight games since late November, mostly because there are other two-way wingers who seem more well equipped for such a role.
Tolvanen has always had above average shooting ability. The main question has been consistency from shift to shift, and maybe whether he is capable of creating offense on his own.
But these same criticisms could be levied against many Nashville Predators forwards, including ones getting paid a lot more than Tolvanen, who is in the middle of a three-year, $4.3 million contract.
At a rate of just $1.4 million per year, it seems very likely another NHL team will be willing to take a chance on Eeli Tolvanen.
If Tolvanen is indeed gone, what happens next?
This move comes at a very strange time for the Nashville Predators roster situation.
For one, the defense is losing players at an alarming rate. There are likely two new defenseman on the way to Nashville after both Alex Carrier and Jeremy Lauzon left the game on Saturday with injuries. So there is already roster turnover to deal with, albeit on the defensive end.
But then, on Sunday morning, we learned that Michael McCarron has entered the NHL's player assistance program. He will be out for an indefinite period of time. Eeli Tolvanen would have been the clear front runner to replace McCarron in the lineup.
So now what happens?
Do the Predators finally recall Philip Tomasino to Nashville? He's a player that many expected would be on the Nashville roster all season long, but has spent the first two months in Milwaukee. It should be noted that Tomasino just recently returned to the Admirals lineup after an injury, so he might need more time to get up to playing speed.
Then there's Keifer Sherwood, who played five games with the Preds this year, and scored the first goal of the season in Prague. Or maybe Markus Nurmi or Luke Evangelista or Egor Afanasyev make their debuts.
(Everyone knows they will not recall Thomas Novak, because the Nashville Predators seem to refuse to believe he exists.)
Addressing the suddenly chaotic Preds roster should be priority number one for David Poile, especially as the team sits in a two game losing streak. However, he has only himself to blame. By waiving a player that has shown great potential in the past, Poile has created the mess himself.
Now he has to clean it up.
— Featured image via Stephen Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports —
