NHL Trade Rumors: Predators' Steven Stamkos Could Be On Way Out of Nashville

Things are not working out for Steven Stamkos as a Nashville Predator. Like Seth Jones with the Chicago Blackhawks, it's starting to feel like the team is going to ask him to waive his no-movement clause, eat some salary in the deal, and move on.

Stamkos has not been the same player as a Predator as he was in Tampa Bay. His shot totals are down, his goal totals are down, and last night, he finally scored his second goal of the season. It certainly feels like teams are starting to call GM Barry Trotz to ask if he's open to approaching Stamkos about a potential move.

Recently, hockey insider Elliotte Friedman was on Morning Cuppa Hockey, and ex-NHLer Colby Cohen asked Friedman about a potential Stamkos deal early on this season:

It’s interesting. Colby, you’re like the third person this week who’s brought up the name Seth Jones with Steven Stamkos to me, and so they’re generally. It shows that Seth Jones has sort of become the patron saint of, ‘Maybe it doesn’t work here, but it can go work somewhere else.

I think everybody here knows what’s going on and what the situation is. And I think that what it is, is that if it’s something that makes sense, it’s going to get considered. Like the No. 1 one thing is, if you take a look at Stamkos, if you take a look at his shot totals the last three years that he was in Tampa, he had a pretty consistent shot number. I can’t remember off the top of my head if it was 280 or 240 or whatever it was. It was consistent. And last year in Nashville, it was 170. And this year, it could potentially be even less than that. And what that says to me is the player always has to take responsibility. If it doesn’t work, you always have to be saying, ‘What can I do better,’ or ‘How is this on me?’ But they don’t have a (Nikita) Kucherov. They don’t have anyone even in his mold who can get Stamkos to the pocket. And so I think that if there was a situation that revealed itself, where Stamkos could potentially go where they have a facilitator that could help him, I think everybody would consider it. But that has to materialize first.

Stamkos has two seasons left on his contract at $8 million, and will have to approve any deal he's a part of.

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