The Nashville Predators placed offseason addition Denis Gurianov on waivers on Saturday and after he cleared waivers, assigned him to the Milwaukee Admirals.
The Predators signed Gurianov in July to a one-year, $850,000 contract. Gurianov is a 2015 first round draft pick for Dallas and most recently played 23 games for the Montreal Canadiens. In 2022-2023, the forward played 66 games between the Stars and Canadiens and scored seven goals and 17 points.
The hope was that a fresh start with a new head coach might help Gurianov return to his 2019-20 form in which he scored 20 goals for the Stars. Gurianov played a good number of minutes in preseason games and worked in training camp with Cody Glass and Gustav Nyquist. It appeared to be a good opportunity with the team and with quality line mates, but Barry Trotz and Andrew Brunette opted to send him to Milwaukee to begin the season.
"It was tough," Brunette said today of the decision to place Gurianov on waivers. "He's a guy who's been successful at this level."
The move to place Gurianov on waivers also has to do with other players on the team fighting for a roster spot. Players like Kiefer Sherwood, Cole Smith, and Michael McCarron made it a difficult decision for Brunette. Competition in training camp has been high.
"Unfortunately that's part of the business. They're hard, hard decisions," Brunette said.
"They're not fun decisions, but I think organizationally, they're good decisions to have. That means a lot of guys are playing up to or above the level we expected."
What comes next for Denis Gurianov remains to be seen. He may embrace the opportunity to work his way back into the Predators' roster with time in Milwaukee or he may choose to take his career in another direction. Andrew Brunette is hoping to see Gurianov again this season.
"With him, we hope he goes to Milwaukee and gets his game because we still believe in him. I still think he has an aspect of speed and can score at this level and he could help us. If he goes down and plays and gets his confidence, it'll be interesting to see him come back," Brunette said.
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