Hey Smashville!

So with the recent events of new coach in Brunette, Duchene being bought out, Johansen moved with 50% retention for nothing, O'Reilly / Schene / Nyquist (all 33yr olds) being signed to 4 / 3 / 2 year contracts respectively... what do you all think the ultimate plan of Trotz is? He is on record talking about bringing in a winning culture, but maybe I'm reading the words in between the lines in that the culture that was there to begin with wasn't that great? From what I read Johansen was a great locker room guy, but maybe just couldn't keep up? I've also read that Duchene can be a bit of a trouble maker in a room as well, is that the case here?

From these moves, Saros isn't going anywhere, and hopefully these moves make Forsburg and Josi happy enough to work through potential growing pains with the influx of youth coming up.

I guess time will tell, but is it reasonable to expect this team to make a push for the playoffs?

Nashville should be excited by these changes. Trotz is a winner, trust him. The three additions of Ryan O'Reilly, Gustav Nyquist, and Luke Schenn are all smart and calculated signings.

Ryan O'Reilly at $4.5 million a year for the next 4 years is the definition of a steal. If Nashville is called Smashville, than Luke Schenn is your new mayor. I feel bad for players coming across the blueline and getting absolutely destroyed by a Luke Schenn or Jeremy Lauzon.

I think Johansen will do fine in Colorado, where he can be a secondary compliment to an already stacked team. But, you don't want Johansen at $8 million a season now. However, at $4 million a year, he's worth taking a look at.

I have never been a fan of a buyout, especially because it goes against your payroll CAP. Nashville will be paying for Duchene for a little while now. Just ask Minnesota how it feels to still be paying for Parise and Suter, over $14 million against their CAP for the next 2 years. That's over $14 million a season, for the next 2 years, devoted to their CAP, for a couple players that are long gone. But, I do think Duchene was overpaid and Trotz obviously felt something needed to be done.

Saros is a great goalie, Lankinen is a very good backup, and this team is now much better defensively than it was last year. There are still moves to be made, but Nashville has a bunch of low budget forwards. Barrie should be flipped at some point. If they do make it to the playoffs this upcoming season, they are built right and have the ability to surprise some people. Either way, this team is trending in the right direction with Barry Trotz at the helm.