Viktor Stalberg’s Predators Career Ends With a Thud

Viktor Stalberg hoisted the Stanley Cup over his shoulders less than three years ago as the Chicago Blackhawks reigned supreme in 2013. He played more than 10 and a half minutes during their 19-game Cup run and certainly helped the ‘Hawks win their second Cup in three years.

Fast forward from that point onward and Stalberg’s career has gone nowhere but down, culminating in being placed on unconditional waivers on Monday with the purpose of being bought out.

Richards (LA), Parenteau (MTL), Fistric (ANA) all clear unconditional waivers. Cody Hodgson (BUF) and Viktor Stalberg (NSH) on unconditional — Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 29, 2015

The Nashville Predators signed the winger on July 5, 2013 to a four-year $12 million contract and the 6-foot-3 forward simply did not live up to the expectations the Predators put forth.

Nashville has always been built from the back-end from Pekka Rinne in net to Shea Weber and Roman Josi on the back-end. Finding fast, skilled forwards to sign in Nashville has never been the easiest thing to do.

Stalberg joined Nashville after a 47-game regular season in which he accounted for 23 points along with three points in the postseason. He was 27 years old at the time and Nashville expected him to be an effective second- or third-line winger who could create plays and put the puck in the net at a decent rate. That did not happen.

Stalberg played just 95 games with Nashville and he’s found the back of the net just 10 times along the way. He accounted for just 28 points with the Preds despite playing in literally every situation and on every line with the club.

This past season he battled the injury bug and the healthy scratch syndrome and was placed on waivers to be sent to the American Hockey League in mid-December. He played in 20 games with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL and was nearly dominant, as he should have been, posting 17 points during his time in the minors.

Things got a bit better toward the end of the year. During the Predators’ first-round series against Chicago, he scored once and added two helpers during the six-game series. However, it simply wasn’t enough to keep him on the ‘keep list’ during this offseason.

Nashville GM David Poile was a bit undecided on what to do with Stalberg after he cleared conditional waivers last week.

He told The Tennessean “We’re talking to a couple teams about possibly making a trade. Thought that if that was going to happen, it might have happened (Saturday). We might pursue that (Sunday) and there’s also the possibility that we could buy him out.”

In the end, the Predators decided to move on from Stalberg. He will be paid to play elsewhere next season.