Marchessault signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract with the Predators ($5.5 million AAV) after he and the Vegas Golden Knights were unable to reach an agreement on a contract. An original member of the Golden Knights, the 33-year-old said he was disappointed he could not re-sign with Vegas, but told TSN, “I turned the page an hour ago. We move on. A new chapter, a new challenge for me and my family.”
Marchessault, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP in 2023, when he helped the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup, had 69 points (42 goals, 27 assists) in 82 games last season and four points (two goals, two assists) in seven playoff games. He has 487 points (230 goals, 257 assists) in 638 regular-season games for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Lightning, Florida Panthers and Golden Knights, and 76 points (36 goals, 40 assists) in 102 playoff games.
“To me, it’s an organizational win for today,” Trotz said. “But we don’t play the game on paper. Our lineup looks better, but we’ve got to be a better team. Plain and simple. You saw last year it took some time. This year it will take some time for some guys. We’ve got players from different organizations that don’t quite play the same way, but I think their DNA allows them to play the way we want them to play. We’ve got to give them a little time, and then hopefully we can get our feet off the ground and into training camp. I’m really excited about that.”
Trotz said his biggest priority heading into free agency was to address the void in the lineup left after Nashville traded defenseman Ryan McDonagh to Tampa Bay on May 21.
“A, he’s a good defender, and B, he’s a leadership guy,” Trotz said of McDonagh. “If I had to prioritize, I said I needed to fix the back end because I told our players I was going to do that.”
The Predators believe they did that with Skjei, whom they signed to a seven-year, $49 million contract ($7 million AAV). The 30-year-old had an NHL career-high 47 points (13 goals, 34 assists) in 80 games for the Carolina Hurricanes last season and nine points (one goal, eight assists) in 11 playoff games.
Selected by the New York Rangers in the first round (No. 28) of the 2012 NHL Draft, Skjei has 247 points (68 goals, 179 assists) in 609 regular-season games for the Hurricanes and Rangers, and 25 points (seven goals, 18 assists) in 76 playoff games.
The Predators also re-signed defenseman Alexandre Carrier to a three-year, $11.25 million contract ($3.75 million AAV) and signed goaltender Juuse Saros to an eight-year, $61.92 million contract ($7.74 million AAV) that will begin with the 2025-26 season.
Saros, 29, has one season remaining on a four-year, $20 million contract ($5 million AAV) he signed with Nashville on Aug. 16, 2021. He was 35-24-5 with a 2.86 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage in 64 games last season and 2-4 with a 2.02 GAA and .900 save percentage in six playoff games.
Carrier, 27, had 20 points (four goals, 16 assists) in 73 games last season and three points (one goal, two assists) in three playoff games.
Wedgewood signed a two-year, $3 million contract ($1.5 million AAV) to compete to be Saros’ backup. He was 16-7-5 with a 2.85 GAA and .899 save percentage in 32 regular-season games (28 starts) for the Dallas Stars last season and had a 2.28 GAA and .862 save percentage in three games off the bench in the playoffs (no decisions) — his only NHL postseason experience.
A third-round pick (No. 84) by the New Jersey Devils in the 2010 NHL Draft, the 31-year-old is 48-48-22 with a 2.98 GAA and .899 save percentage in 130 NHL regular-season games (114 starts) for the Devils, Arizona Coyotes and Stars.
Goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, selected by Nashville with the No. 11 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, will also vie for the backup role at training camp. He has played three NHL games.
The Predators believe their additions in free agency have given them the necessary components to compete in the playoffs.
“I’ve been on championship-winning teams in the past in Tampa,” Stamkos said. “You see those teams that have won recently, there’s always a mix of a really good goaltender, an elite defenseman and some elite forwards. Even before today with the signings, Nashville checked those boxes. Obviously, a great goalie. (Defenseman) Roman Josi, he speaks for himself. You’ve got [forwards Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist], that line was dynamic last year. And they’ve got a great mix of younger players, too.”
The Predators haven’t yet determined where Stamkos, Marchessault and Skjei will fit into the lineup, but Stamkos and Marchessault will likely be top-six forwards. Skjei could play with Josi on Nashville’s top pair.
“We’re so excited to be part of this amazing franchise,” Stamkos said. “We saw what happened today with some of the other signings. A great day to be a Nashville Predators fan. Very, very excited to be part of that.”
End 13-game winning streak with humbling defeat to the Argos 37-18 before 18,088 Molson Stadium spectators.
Published Jul 12, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 4 minute read
Alouettes quarterback Caleb Evans runs for a first down against the Argonauts in Montreal, July 11, 2024.Photo by Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press
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The worst fear of every professional football team is losing its starting quarterback. Those fears were realized Thursday night by the Alouettes.
Cody Fajardo suffered a hamstring injury at the end of the first quarter against the Toronto Argonauts after completing his first five passes for 62 yards. Rolling to his right, Fajardo’s attempted pass for Reggie White Jr. was incomplete. Fajardo was heard screaming in pain on the play by RDS sideline reporter Didier Orméjuste and immediately went to the dressing room, clutching his right hamstring. He didn’t return.
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A pulled hamstring generally takes between four and six weeks for recovery, although there’s no way of immediately knowing the severity of the injury. Even with an upcoming bye week in the schedule, expect Fajardo to miss at least one game and possibly more. Without him, the Als might have challenges remaining competitive.
Montreal is no longer undefeated following its humbling 37-18 defeat to the Argos before 18,088 Molson Stadium spectators. The Als, who were playing their second game in five days, now have a 5-1 record and lost for the first time since Sept. 15, ending a 13-game winning streak, including playoffs and the Grey Cup.
The Argos improved to 3-2, ending a two-game losing streak.
While it would be easy to pin this defeat on Caleb Evans, who replaced Fajardo, the Als lost on all three phases. Their defence couldn’t stop the run and didn’t make enough plays, while their special teams were atrocious. But the finger-pointing and spotlight always will go back to the quarterback, and Evans wasn’t nearly good enough.
In Evans’s defence, he receives few practice reps during a normal week — and Montreal held only one full workout leading up to the game. It’s also difficult for any quarterback to come off the bench and enter a game cold.
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“I feel like it’s always tough,” Evans said. “You’ve got to expect the unexpected and it’s hard to expect the unexpected. It’s always tough. You’ve got to get a little rhythm going, kind of get your feet wet and get comfortable. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t do it today.”
Evans won two games for the Als last season when Fajardo was injured, but both were against Ottawa, his former team, and the Redblacks weren’t good. Against Toronto, he completed only 12 of 22 passes for 127 yards. While Evans threw touchdown passes to Charleston Rambo and Tyson Philpot, he also was intercepted twice.
One, by Wynton McManis, was returned nine yards for a touchdown midway through the second quarter. Evans displayed poise on his 22-yard scoring pass to Rambo at 10:39 of the same period, eluding Toronto pressure. It was Rambo’s first touchdown this season.
“In every game you play, there’s always some ups and downs,” Evans said. “Not my best game at all, I don’t think. It’s just about getting comfortable. It’s a good time for the bye week to come up. I’ll be able to lock in for a full week and a half, two weeks and get in that rhythm.”
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The Als still were in this game at halftime, trailing 24-15. But unlike last Saturday night against Calgary, there was no dramatic comeback. Montreal produced only three second-half points against the Argos and wasn’t able to generate any offence. Over the final 30 minutes, the Als were held to one first down, ran 13 offensive plays, had 32 yards of net offence and had the ball for only eight minutes.
Defensively, the absence of veteran rush-end Shawn Lemon, suspended at least three games for wagering on CFL games, remains conspicuous. Lemon generates pressure on the field and his veteran leadership in the dressing room can’t be diminished. While Montreal sacked Toronto quarterback Cameron Dukes three times, that wasn’t nearly enough.
Dukes, a better runner than passer, didn’t beat Montreal. Instead, it was tailback Ka’Deem Carey, who gained 94 yards on 16 carries. Dukes, in his first season as the starter, had 46 yards off nine carries.
“The run defence wasn’t to our standard,” defensive-tackle Dylan Wynn admitted. “Obviously too many yards on the ground. We’ve just got to tighten up, be really detailed, buckle down and regroup after this bye week. We’ve got to play better. We’ve got to do better. I don’t think it’s an effort thing, anything like that. Football’s a game of inches. We were inches away. We’ve just got to come out better.”
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Wynn refused to use the two games in a five-day span as an excuse.
“It don’t matter,” he said. “We work in the off-season for this kind of stuff. We train for this kind of stuff. I’m not willing to lean in on something like that. Today just wasn’t our day and we’ll come out better.”
The Als must also improve on special teams. Janarion Grant returned two kickoffs for 145 yards, including one of 103 yards for a touchdown following Philpot’s score. Grant also had five punt returns for 97 yards.
“It has been hard on special teams,” Alexandre Gagné said. “Our force is the cover teams. We’ve been giving too many yards to the opposing teams, and it’s not only tonight. Tonight was more obvious. We’ve got to make some plays, get downfield and tackle.
“That Grant touchdown was a killer, and we know it. We can’t be the ones pulling everyone back. We know it.”
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