The Nashville Predators are officially sellers.

After news came down on Saturday afternoon that David Poile had dealt forward Nino Niederreiter to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for a 2nd round draft pick in 2024, the trajectory of the current team is relatively clear.

Eight points out of a playoff spot with only three games left until the league's March 3rd trade deadline, the 2022-23 Nashville Predators are selling parts and looking ahead to the future.

While you can't ever rule out a late, dramatic (in this case, "miraculous" would be a better word) playoff push, it's clear this Preds team is flawed enough and inconsistent enough to know it's probably not a playoff team this year.

But what does trading Nino Niederreiter mean in the short and long term?

Trading Niederreiter signals potential rebuild

In the short term, trading Niederreiter saves the Predators $4 million for the 2023-24 season. According to Cap Friendly, the Preds are projected to have around $14 million for the 2023-24 season.

This extra cap room will help them sign a few key restricted free agents: Cody Glass, Tanner Jeannot, Dante Fabbro, and Alex Carrier, should they choose to keep all four.

Just a thought: by saving $4 million next year, the Preds could afford to keep both Alex Carrier and Dante Fabbro now.

Not saying this is why they did it, but the $ flexibility should be used on RFAs, which is what they both are.

— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) February 26, 2023

In the long term, adding a 2nd round pick in 2024 will help begin a more long term rebuild. Adding draft picks is key to any team's rebuild, but it will be especially important for the Predators, as they try to navigate a challenging roster situation. They need as many cost controlled, inexpensive players in their system as they decide what to do about their problem contracts.

As I mentioned in my "five step plan" article from a last week, the Preds need to collect as many draft picks in the top 100 as they can. Since the Preds will not likely be bad enough to grab a lottery pick, they need to stack draft picks to get as many chances at landing NHL talent. Quantity over quality is important right now.

Did the Preds get enough for Nino Niederreiter?

The immediate aftermath of Saturday's trade saw polarizing opinions about the return.

Did David Poile get enough for Niederreiter? Is a 2nd round pick equal value?

In my opinion, yes.

These things are pretty subjective, but getting a 2nd round pick for Niederreiter sounds about right. He's not worth a 1st round pick and a 3rd round pick would have been too low. The fact that the pick isn't until 2024 is slightly annoying. But that doesn't ultimately affect the quality of the rebuild, only the timing of it.

If you are one who thinks the Preds should have gotten more out of Niederreiter, you may also be one who is frustrated with the overall direction of the franchise to begin with. You may be thinking "David Poile screwed up again" and I suppose that's your prerogative.

I believe an unbiased approach is best when evaluating trades. That requires asking a lot of questions, many of which are unanswerable. What's the context of the transaction? Who were the potential buyers? What were the offers? Why might the Preds have traded Nino Niederreiter, and not, say, Tanner Jeannot? Why trade him to the Jets? Why not trade him to the Eastern Conference? What other trades might be coming?

Those questions and the possible answers led me to the conclusion that a 2nd round pick makes sense for Niederreiter. They were not likely many other teams looking to buy a player like Niederreiter, who is not an elite scorer and more of a middle six play driver. He's a depth addition, not a game changer.

He's also owed $4 million for the 2023-24 season. That's a very team friendly number, but many people may be underestimating the serious cap crunch the Preds are in. They don't have the luxury of keeping veterans like Niederreiter around just because the contract is good. The truth is, Niederreiter is not (and never was) a part of the long term "competitive rebuild" for this team. Signing him was an attempt to improve the roster from a surprising offensive juggernaut in 2021-22. It didn't really work out, though Niederreiter was not the reason for that.

Then there's the "what else could be coming" question. If the Preds are trading veterans like Niederreiter, there are probably other plans in the works. Some have speculated the Preds could use the money they've freed up this season to leverage more trades with competing teams that need salary space. That would certainly make sense.

All trades are accompanied by fans on both sides saying "I wish they could have gotten more" and "how did they get that much?" respectively. This trade is no different.

One of those trades that somehow has equal “that’s it??” and “that much??” reactions on this site https://t.co/lHmbUWTFof

— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) February 25, 2023

There is no science to evaluating trades when they happen. In a few years, we will have a better perspective. For now, most people want to say either "they won" or "they lost".

I think it's neither; the Preds got what they could out of Nino Niederreiter, and the more important revelation is that David Poile is finally committed to selling at the deadline.

— Featured image via David Kirouac/USA TODAY Sports —