If there was one unsolved question that haunted the Predators more than any other last season, it was why the team couldn’t craft a productive power play.

But there was a clear second-place finisher in the mystery sweepstakes as well: Whatever happened to Kyle Turris?

The same player who once seemed like a perfect fit for the Predators lineup, posting 16 points in his first 17 games during the 2017-18 season, fell off a statistical cliff in 2018-19. He managed just 23 points (seven goals, 16 assists) in 55 games, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the team’s second line.

“It was very frustrating,” Turris said after the season concluded. “I just couldn’t get into a rhythm, couldn’t get going in the right direction consistently.”

What’s doubly concerning for the Predators, of course, is that Turris is slated to be a big part of the Preds’ future, under contract at $6 million per year for the next five seasons.

So what’s the best solution to the Turris situation moving forward?

Should the Predators stand pat, hoping an offseason refreshes and re-invigorates Turris, who missed 25 games last season due to injury? Should they try to trade him, a challenge given the length and value of his contract? Should they go so far as to consider buying him out?

We’ll take a closer look here at each of those options for Turris, who was acquired from Colorado in exchange for prospects Samuel Girard, Vladislav Kamenev and a second-round draft pick. He was immediately signed to a six-year, $36 million contract.

Stand pat, hope for the best

This is the simplest solution, and it may be the one the Predators follow for at least a couple of reasons:

First, the Preds made a huge investment in Turris — money-wise and personnel-wise — and the team surely wants to believe he’s capable of becoming the second-line center they sought.

Second, there’s the argument that Turris’ statistical plummet was caused at least in part by rib and foot injuries, the second of which left him unable to stay in top skating condition while he rehabbed for six weeks.

“Just trying to get back in a rhythm after an injury is tough and it takes a bit of time,” Turris said. “(I was) just trying to regain my confidence and play the game I know I can play. I was having a tough time finding it.”

Let’s examine the injury situation and its impact on Turris’ game.

His statistical slide began in the 2017-18 playoffs (three points in 13 games) and continued into 2018-19, both stretches in which Turris was healthy. But it’s worth pointing out that before Turris suffered his foot injury last season, he was merely having a sub-par year, not a horrific one. Through 30 games, Turris had posted 18 points (six goals, 12 assists), a .60 points-per-game clip that was close to his career average of .67 points per game.

The Athletic’s statistical guru, Dom Luszczyszyn, uses a stat he calls game score, which combines basic box-score stats (like goals, assists and shots) with on-ice stats (like Corsi).

Turris, in his first 30 games, had a game score of 0.59, a reasonable second-line rate that — at the time — was fifth on the team behind Fillip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen, Viktor Arvidsson and Craig Smith. Again, that 0.59 figure wasn’t up to Turris’ score of 0.78 in 2017-18, but it wasn’t off-the-charts awful by any means.

Then there was Turris’ play following the foot injury, which was disastrous.

On the most basic front, the 11-year veteran managed just five points (one goal, four assists) in his last 25 regular-season games, followed by two points (one goal, one assist) in six playoff contests.

Digging deeper into Turris’ numbers only makes things uglier.

Turris’ 0.59 score rate of the first 30 games tumbled to 0.13 in the final 25 games, the worst figure for any of the Preds’ forwards and what Luszczyszyn termed “replacement-level rate.” Similarly, Turris’ points-per-60 minutes over his final 30 games was just 0.55, whereas a normal fourth-line forward posts a 1.00 to 1.25 mark in that department, per Luszczyszyn.

Those final 30 games dragged down most of Turris’ overall 2018-19 numbers to career lows, like the 0.42 points-per-game clip that was second only to his .38 total for Phoenix in 2010-11.

TURRIS TURMOIL Year Status GP G A Pts PPG Corsi for % Shot % 2018-19 Pre-foot injury 30 6 12 18 .60 52.66 14.3 2018-19 Post-foot injury 25 1 4 5 .20 48.12 2.8

But if there’s a silver lining to be found, it’s that Turris’ stats were so much worse after the injury, leaving open the possibility that months of rest and rehab might help him rebuild his game — and confidence level — to the pre-injury level.

Predators general manager David Poile, asked about Turris’ play at season’s end, chose to talk about all his non-first-line forwards instead.

“I don’t have the solution about any one guy,” Poile said. “I do believe deep down that any of these players you want to bring up — historically and track-record wise — have the potential to (contribute consistently), both secondary scoring and on the power play. That’s a bit frustrating.”

Added Turris: “I’m just frustrated right now, but I’m ready to get back at it next year and excited to get started, get back to the way I know I can play.”

Trading Turris

Given the events of 2018-19 — which included Predators head coach Peter Laviolette twice making Turris a healthy scratch — it’s certainly possible the team would look into trading him.

But that wouldn’t be as easy as it sounds.

The same Turris contract terms that are cause for concern among Predators fans — five more years at $6 million per season — would make it hard to imagine other teams agreeing to a deal.

Could the Predators help out financially in that kind of situation? Yes, a team can retain up to 50 percent of a player’s salary in such a situation, meaning the Preds — hypothetically — could swallow a $3 million cap hit over each of the next five years in a Turris trade. But would the Predators be willing to go to that extreme, and — even if they did — would other teams want Turris at five years for $15 million, given his stats this past season?

In theory, the Preds could sweeten the Turris pot further by tossing in a prospect or draft pick.

A somewhat similar situation played out a few years ago when the Blackhawks, desperate for salary-cap relief, were eager to trade forward Bryan Bickell and his $4 million cap hit for the coming year. Carolina agreed to take on Bickell’s out-of-whack contract, but only after the Blackhawks agreed to throw in promising prospect Teuvo Teravainen. In the end, Chicago got its cap relief by trading Bickell and Teravainen, receiving a second- and third-round draft pick from the Hurricanes.

Kyle Turris (Christopher Hanewinckel / USA Today)

Buying out Turris

Another option, if the Predators were absolutely intent on parting ways with Turris, would be to buy out the remainder of his contract.

But that’s not a very tidy solution either.

With Turris still owed $30 million over the next five years, the Predators would have to pay Turris $20 million (two-thirds of the remaining sum) over the next decade (twice the length of the remaining years on the contract). In other words, the Predators would be paying Turris $2 million a year for the next 10 seasons not to play for them.

The Predators bought out forward Viktor Stahlberg in the summer of 2015 after two poor seasons, paying him a reported $4.66 million over the next four years not to play in Nashville.

But that total is just a fraction of what the Preds would owe Turris in a similar situation.

Given the above options, the Predators may well choose to hold on to Turris, hoping that one injury-marred season is less indicative of the 29-year-old than his 10 previous seasons — and his 385 career points.

“I just have to play my game,” Turris said. “That’s what it comes down to, being confident in how I can play or playing the game I know I can play and have been for the last eight years. … I just have to get back to it.”

(Top photo of Kyle Turris: Christopher Hanewinckel / USA Today)