Just before the NHL commenced its three-week break to enable the league’s players to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics, a trade freeze began that will run through the duration of the first time NHL players have participated in the Olympics since the 2014 Sochi, Russia games.
Once the freeze is lifted, teams will have just 12 days to complete trades before the league’s March 6 trade deadline.
With most of the teams still within striking distance of making the playoffs, general managers will be busy during that period assessing their playoff chances in deciding whether to be buyers, sellers or neither as the regular season hits its stretch run.
When the season paused for the Olympics, the Predators were just four points outside of the Western Conference’s second wild card position. General manager Barry Trotz, presumably in his final season in that job title, has consistently remarked that the team is not in a playoff position when asked about what he intends to do with the trade deadline approaching, indicating that he could be a seller unless something changes in that aspect.
A couple of the names that are already circulating in the trade rumor mill are a pair of the team’s centers, Ryan O’Reilly and Michael McCarron. While both would likely demand big returns from the acquiring team, the Predators lack center depth within the organization. Moving either or both O’Reilly and McCarron before the deadline would leave the team’s center cupboard virtually empty.
While goaltending may be the most visible position on the ice, centers play a tremendous role in determining whether a team succeeds or fails. Centers gather attention in the fact that they are the ones who usually take faceoffs, but where a lot of their value flies under the radar is on the defensive side of the ice.
Centers have defensive responsibilities all over the ice, and as polished as a player may be offensively, if a center cannot help in the defensive end, their team is not set up for much success.
O’Reilly holds much value
O’Reilly would have many suitors should Trotz decide to make a deal. He centers the team’s top line and plays huge minutes in all situations; even strength and on both the power play and penalty kill.
Somewhat surprisingly, at the Olympic break, O’Reilly is the team leader in points with 56, nine ahead of high-scoring winger Filip Forsberg. O’Reilly is also among the league leaders in faceoff win percentage.
O’Reilly also has a desirable contract, with no trade protection, an affordable salary cap hit of $4.5 million, and perhaps most importantly, is signed through the 2026-27 season at that salary.
Last season when O’Reilly’s name came up in trade talks, Trotz mentioned that while he did not have either a no-movement or no-trade clause in his contract, Trotz would treat O’Reilly as if he did, meaning that he would not move O’Reilly unless he was agreeable to being moved and to which team as well.
As much value as O’Reilly has on the ice during games, he is a prominent member of the team’s leadership group. He’s one of the first players on the ice for practices and probably more importantly, he’s one of the last players off the ice following practices.
Younger teammates see the kind of extra work that O’Reilly puts in each and every day and many stay out there with him. They see the dedication and attention to detail O’Reilly has, and when they see a surefire future Hall of Famer doing things, they are quick to emulate him.
A potential trade of O’Reilly would net a nice return in a likely combination of current roster players, prospects and draft picks. Attempting to recoup O’Reilly’s on-ice production in a trade is possible, but finding a replacement for his intangibles could prove to be much more difficult.
McCarron not easy to replace
McCarron is a prototypical fourth-line center, with many of the things he does on the ice not necessarily reflected in offensive statistics like goals and assists. McCarron is called upon to kill penalties and shut down opponents’ top offensive lines. He plays a physical role, as well, dropping the gloves and fighting five times so far this season.
McCarron is in the final year of his contract and can become an unrestricted free agent following the season. His salary cap hit is a reasonable $900,000 this season and will likely be due a raise with his next contract.
McCarron would likely land a decent draft pick via trade, but, like O’Reilly, subtracting a center from the roster would not be easily replaced by an organization that is already thin at that position.