Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz has made his first trade of 2024, and it’s for a player he’s quite familiar with.
The Predators sent a 2024 fifth-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for 26-year-old forward Anthony Beauvillier, who played under Trotz for four seasons when he was head coach of the New York Islanders from 2018 to 2021. He scored 63 goals and 129 points across 271 games during that time.
The Blackhawks aren’t retaining any of Beauvillier’s salary in the deal. He’s set to make approximately $1.007 million through the end of the season when he’ll become an unrestricted free agent. Beauvillier is in the final season of a three-year, $12.45 million deal.
The Predators now have no pick in the fifth round of the 2024 draft but still have 10 picks in total, including three second-rounders, two third-rounders and six selections in the top 96 picks, per PuckPedia.
It’s tough to pinpoint exactly where Beauvillier fits in with the Predators. He plays a similar bottom-six role to Kiefer Sherwood and Yakov Trenin, though the latter could reportedly be traded at some point before Friday.
Beauvillier has been traded three times since January 2023, going from the Islanders to the Vancouver Canucks along with Aatu Raty and a 2023 first-round pick in exchange for Bo Horvat. Vancouver sent him to Chicago in December 2023 for a conditional 2024 fifth-round pick.
The 28th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Beauvillier has one 20-goal season under his belt (2017) and two 35-point seasons (2017, 2019).
Beauvillier’s addition now gives the Predators seven UFAs at the end of the season along with forwards Denis Gurianov, Mark Jankowski, Sherwood and Trenin, defensemen Tyson Barrie and Alex Carrier, and goaltender Kevin Lankinen.
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