Nashville, Tenn. -- Zero argument can be made that Nashville has been able to draft talented -- all-world in some cases -- defensemen over the years. Home-grown talent at the blue-line has come easily for the Predators.
Yet, when shifting the view towards the offensive scale of talent, Nashville has been lacking the same success they've seen in drafting for other positions. Can that be blamed on Barry Trotz and past leadership? Maybe in terms of developing the talent to produce at an NHL level, sure. However, any level of blame for the Predators and their inability to consistently draft and develop true offensive talent in the past is a moot point.
Nashville has a handful of restricted free agents to be re-signed this summer, but arguably the two most important pieces in that discussion remain Colin Wilson and Craig Smith -- two players drafted only a year apart.
Both have made huge strides in the past couple of seasons. Both played key roles in head coach Peter Laviolette's first season with Nashville. Still, there remains a very real scenario where one of Wilson or Smith will find themselves under the employ of a different team come this fall. If I were to make an educated guess, most likely due to a trade.
The Predators have millions in available cap space, however they have a very real internal budget which falls way short of the cap ceiling. It's reasonable to expect that one just won't fit into their budget and will find his services employed elsewhere.
The question then becomes who would operate best, long-term, under Laviolette?
Wilson's share of positive impact with the Predators has been confined mostly to his play in the past season under Laviolette, where it finally seemed that he broke free of whatever invisible restraints had kept him largely at bay in his previous four-plus seasons with Nashville.
There definitely were flashes of what he could produce from time to time while playing under Trotz. Yet, the playmaker that coaches have seen this season -- the same one that produced a staggering 20 points in a 16-game span -- hasn't been the same Wilson that most have been accustomed to.
He arguably became a different player over the past year. Most of that could be thanks to the infusion of a new coach and coaching style. Can what the franchise has seen over the past season make up for the off-and-on nature of Wilson's play over the previous five?
Unequivocally, Wilson could be one of the top players in the organization if he were re-signed. He was this season until the Predators tumbled through their final 20 or so games, but then regained his composure potting five goals -- four of them on the power play -- in Nashville's six-game loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the playoffs.
The most pressing question: Can Wilson produce with the same level of consistency that he did this season?
In the case of Smith, he's been exactly the opposite. A true model of consistency for the Predators.
Since joining the team in 2012, Smith has at least produced at a half a point-per-game pace -- excluding the lockout-shortened season in 2012-13. This includes his rookie season of 36 points in 72 games, 52 points in 79 games last season and 44 points in 82 games this year.
Smith can always been relied on to produce around 40 points a season, something Nashville can and will need in the coming years. Not only that, but he has a tendency to put the puck to the net more often than passing it off.
While he lead Nashville in shots this year with 252 -- Filip Forsberg and Shea Weber were the next closest with 237 shots each -- Smith has been in the top-four of shot-producing forwards for the Predators since 2011-12.
What each player will ask for in their next contract could ultimately determine who stays and who goes. Both forwards are coming off contracts with an annual average value (AAV) of $2 million per season.
There's the off-chance that Nashville could present bridge deals to either player in hopes of keeping them with the team until they approach unrestricted free agency -- which wouldn't be more than two seasons from now -- but that's ultimately just a means to an end, something the Predators don't want to experience in their quest for hockey's ultimate prize.
Most likely expecting a hefty bump in pay, a contract spanning four or more seasons at double their current rate wouldn't be outside the question for either Smith or Wilson.
In the end, Nashville's potential return on any investment for re-signing Smith would presumably be higher than they could expect with Wilson. Smith's consistency is the key when evaluating both players if the Predators had to pick one and figure out a different path for the other.
There's no guarantee that Wilson will put up the same type of numbers for the next handful of seasons under Laviolette, especially while he's in his prime. There's no guarantee that he won't, either.
Like Wilson, there's zero guarantee that Smith will be able to continue at the same pace. However, if the Predators were forced to choose one, they would best be served going with one who that is the closest to any type of guarantee Nashville can hope to see on the offensive side of the ice.
