Shortly after announcing the trade of goaltender Chris Mason to the St. Louis Blues, the Nashville Predators announced the re-signing of goalie Dan Ellis to a two year, $3.5 million contract, paying him $1.5 million next season and $2 million in 2009-10. 

Don’t be surprised if Ellis ends up with roughly the same salary ($3 million per season) that Mason made. Actually it's less and quite affordable, breaking down to around $1.75 million per season.

Ellis was a pleasant surprise for the Predators last season, for with only one previous NHL game under his belt ( in 2003-04 with the Dallas Stars), the 27-year-old made a sensational debut in 2007-08, posting a 23-10-3 record in 44 games, with a 2.34 goals-against average, 6 shutouts and a league-leading .924 save percentage.

It was that performance which wrested the starting goalie job away from incumbent Chris Mason, and in the Predators six-game opening round elimination to the Detroit Red Wings Ellis was outstanding, stealing two wins for the over-matched Preds in a series that was much closer than it should’ve been.

Due to his age and years in the minors Ellis was eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer, and in order to retain him and elevate promising Pekka Rinne the Preds had to deal away Mason to free up the necessary cap space.

The Predators are taking a gamble here as there’s always the possibility Ellis could turn into a one-year wonder, but given his amazing 2007-08 performance it’s a gamble worth taking.

The St. Louis Blues have been the busiest team thus far in the final 24 hours heading into the start of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

On Thursday night the Blues dealt veteran forward Jamal Mayers to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a third round pick in this year’s entry draft, and on Friday obtained goaltender Chris Mason from the Nashville Predators for a fourth round pick (111th) overall , also in this year’s draft.

The Mayers trade signals the continuation of the Blues rebuilding with youth, and by acquiring Mason they get an experienced backup for Manny Legace who could challenge for the starting goalie role.

Moving Mayers also freed up $1.4 million per season, which will  alleviate the cost of Mason’s $3 million per season for the same period.

These moves also have consequences for the Maple Leafs and Predators respectively.

The Mayers acquisition could signal the end of Darcy Tucker’s tenure as a Maple Leaf. Mayers doesn’t have Tucker scoring touch but both play a similar style of physical game, plus his $1.4 million per season salary is more affordable than Tucker’s $3 million per.

If Tuckers bought out as has been oft-rumored the $1 million cap hit plus Mayer’s salary for the next two seasons equates to around $600K in savings for the next two years.

Trading Mason to the Blues not only frees up $3 million in cap space for the Predators but is also a likely signal that their anticipated re-signing of impending UFA goalie Dan Ellis is imminent, probably for around the same as Mason’s salary.

Scratch another significant name from this summer’s list of potential unrestricted free agents.

The Nashville Predators have today re-signed winger J.P. Dumont to a four-year, $16 million contract extension, which will translate into a $4 million per season hit against their salary cap.

Dumont is currently the Predators second-leading scorer this season with 45 points, only one behind linemate and team leader Jason Arnott, but he’s been on fire since December 29th, averaging a point per game.  He’s currently on pace for a career-best 71 points.

Since signing with the Predators in the summer of 2006 as an unrestricted free agent Dumont has proven to be a valuable addition to the club, one that GM David Poile in re-signing him today obviously didn’t wish to risk losing to free agency.

It also says something about Dumont in that he chose to pass over a significantly higher contract he surely would’ve received on this summer’s open market to remain with a Predators team that could be considered in the midst of a mini-rebuilding process.

He’s obviously happy in Nashville, meshing well with the team and playing the best hockey of his career (he had a 66-point performance in 82 games last season.

After dumping several prominent players during the 2007 off-season in cost-cutting moves Poile is now clearly focused on retaining his best players. There was concern as to whether or not the new Predators ownership would provide Poile with the necessary money to do so, but the Dumont signing is an obvious signal that the Predators won’t be dumping salaries again this year.

This also sends a positive signal to the Predators fan-base that, regardless of how the team fares in the standings this season, management’s focus this year is on retaining their best players.

With Dumont now re-signed, Poile’s focus will turn toward forward Martin Erat, defensemen Ryan Suter and Shea Weber and goaltender Dan Ellis, and the expectation should now be that all will be re-signed before this summer.