Predators Make Surprise Move As Team Trims Roster To 23

In mid-July, Denis Gurianov appeared to be a lock for the Nashville Predators bottom six after signing a one-year, $850,000 contract.

That’s no longer the case after the Predators placed the 26-year-old forward on waivers on Saturday along with forward Jachym Kondelik, who was placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of contract termination.

Gurianov’s preseason performance was far from impressive. He logged one assist and recorded eight shots, two blocked shots and had three giveaways while averaging 14:03 of ice time and 2:08 of power play time.

Putting him on waivers indicates that 23-year-old Samuel Fagemo, who was claimed off waivers less than a week ago from the Los Angeles Kings, will take Gurianov’s spot in the Predators opening-night lineup.

Fagemo played in Nashville’s final two preseason games, scoring one goal and logging five shots while averaging 11:14 of ice time and 1:51 of power play time. He played on the top line with Filip Forsberg and Juuso Parssinen in Friday’s preseason finale, and he saw some time on that same top line with Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly in Thursday’s preseason win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Nashville also assigned 23-year-old defenseman Marc Del Gaizo to the Milwaukee Admirals. Del Gaizo had been battlingJeremy Lazuon, Alex Carrier and Dante Fabbro for one of the final two spots on the Predators blue-line.

With Saturday’s moves, the Predators opening-night roster appears to be set. Nashville will carry seven defensemen with Carrier, Fabbro and Lauzon likely rotating into the third defensive pairing.

Nashville Predators 23-man roster (in alphabetical order)

Forwards (14): Luke Evangelista, Samuel Fagemo, Filip Forsberg, Cody Glass, Michael McCarron, Tommy Novak, Gustav Nyquist, Ryan O’Reilly, Juuso Parssinen, Kiefer Sherwood, Colton Sissons, Cole Smith, Philip Tomasino, Yakov Trenin

Defensemen (7): Tyson Barrie, Alex Carrier, Dante Fabbro, Roman Josi, Jeremy Lauzon, Ryan McDonagh, Luke Schenn

Goalies (2): Kevin Lankinen, Juuse Saros

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