Preds Land Gaustad

Being one of the busier teams leading up to the deadline, Nashville made another deal that helps improve their team depth and they got it in just before the 3:00 deadline.


Gaustad will bring his faceoff prowess to Nashville


The Trade:
The Buffalo Sabres send C Paul Gaustad to the Nashville Predators for a first round pick in this year's draft and a 4th round pick.

In Gaustad, Nashville gets a gritty centre who can give the team about 15 minutes a game, has a 56% faceoff percentage this year and can play on the penalty kill. Gaustad will likely centre the fourth line, maybe the third line and play a key role in their penalty killing which is currently 13th in the NHL.

Buffalo getting a first round pick for Gaustad is outstanding for them. For a player that has never scored more than 12 goals in the NHL is great. Allow this will be a somewhat late round pick with Nashville expected to make it a round or two into the playoffs and this year's draft isn't the deepest there has been,  this is still a good trade for the Sabres.

Nashville Trade Rating: B Can help improve the team defense even more, and can aid in penalty killing and faceoff situations, but the price was pretty steep.


Buffalo Trade Rating: A- Getting a first round pick for the player is great, especially for a pending UFA.