Nashville Predators general manager David Poile told reporters after his club was eliminated from post-season play that he intended to re-sign the team’s restricted free agents, the most notable being defensemen Ryan Suter and Shea Weber and winger Martin Erat.

On Monday the Predators GM proved how serious he was with that statement, re-signing Erat to a seven-year, $31.5 million contract extension, which breaks down to $4.5 million per season.

The 26-year-old Erat had his second-straight 57-point season in 2007-08 and proven to be a valuable member of the Predators offensive attack, continuing to make steady improvement since he was drafted in the seventh round by the Predators in 1999.

Some will inevitably question the Predators paying Erat that much but it’s keeping with the going rate for players of his caliber. Besides, Poile couldn’t run the risk of letting Erat going unsigned after July 1st, where he might’ve gotten as much if not more via offer sheet.

It’s also another example of a team paying for potential. Erat’s consecutive 57-point seasons suggests he’s capable of more, and over the next seven seasons he’ll be in his playing prime which traditionally for players is their late-twenties through to their early-thirties.

With the cap continuing to rise and salaries rising accordingly Erat’s salary will be a bargain in a couple of years, especially if he puts up more than 57 points per season.

Having re-upped Erat, Jordin Tootoo and J.P. Dumont since January, Poile’s attention now turns to Weber and Suter. It could prove more costly to retain those two but the Preds GM is determined to get it done, and has already indicated he’ll match any offer for those two if they’re still unsigned by July.

The Erat signing along with those of Dumont and Tootoo is a good sign for Predators fans of just how serious their team is to retain their best players only a year after previous ownership forced Poile to make cost-cutting trades of Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell and Tomas Vokoun and allowing Paul Kariya to walk via free agency a year ago.

If anyone still thinks the Preds will be slashing payroll or unwilling to spend on their roster for next season, the Erat signing should dispel that.

 

With the NHL trade deadline now past the next notable round of player movement won’t occur until June, 2008, and most of it will be free agents signing with new teams.

While the focus as always will be on unrestricted free agents, this summer the threat of offer sheets is now a very real one, thus hockey fans will be nervously watching the contract talks of their favorite restricted free agent players as July 1st approaches.

Many teams haven’t wasted time this season, locking up their best RFA players to lengthy, long-term contracts now rather than risk another club either setting the price or plucking them away.

As a result, the list of the top RFA players has shrunk considerably since the start of the season, but there still remains some quality talent who, if unsigned by July 1st, could be tempting targets for offer sheets. It’ll be interesting to see how many of the following are re-upped by the end of June:

Anaheim: Corey Perry.

Columbus: Pascal LeClaire.

Detroit: Valtteri Filppula

Edmonton: Tom Gilbert and Joni Pitkanen.

Florida: Jay Bouwmeester.

Minnesota: Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

Montreal: Andrei Kostitsyn.

Nashville: Martin Erat, Shea Weber and Ryan Suter.

Ottawa: Andrej Meszaros.

Philadelphia: Jeff Carter.

Pittsburgh: Marc-Andre Fleury.

San Jose: Ryane Clowe

Washington: Mike Green.

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.

Scratch Nashville Predators forward David Legwand off next summer's list of potential unrestricted free agents.

On Friday the Predators announced they'd re-signed Legwand to a six-year, $27 million contract, which averages out to $4.5 million per season, starting next season. Legwand is currently in the final year of a contract paying him $2.1 million for this season, averaging $1.85 million against the Predators cap.

It's taken a long time for Legwand to develop into a reliable second line center, although that's now how Predators management envisioned him when they selected the Detroit native second overall in the 1998 entry draft.

Back then it was thought Legwand might develop into a talent first line center but injuries and a slow adaption to the NHL game hampered him. Prior to the lockout he had three 40+ point season, but in 2005-06 injuries limited him to only 44 games and suggestions that he might be too brittle for the NHL.

Last season was a breakout performance for Legwand (27 goals, 63 points, +23) and with 21 point in 27 games he's on pace for a 66 point season, which would be his career best.

The reason for Legwand's success since last season was the addition in the summer of 2006 of veteran center Jason Arnott, who took over the first line center role for the Predators. Without the pressure of performing on the first line Legwand was able to shine and realize his full NHL potential.

$4.5 million might seem expensive for a second-line center, and his contract will have an effect on the market value of similar centers, but it was a price the Predators were willing to pay to keep Legwand in the fold. He probably would've received that much, if not more, had he hit next summer's UFA market.

It should also dispel speculation that the Predators new ownership group might not be willing to spend to keep its best players, such as leading scorer Martin Erat, who's a restricted free agent next summer.

Erat would be a tempting offer sheet target to rival clubs, but given that the Preds have now ponied up $4.5 mil per season for Legwand, it's safe to assume they'll part with as much, perhaps more, to keep Erat in the fold.

And if Predators GM David Poile is smart, he'll get Erat under contract as soon as possible before his value gets much higher.