The Nashville Predators have jumped into the NHL trade market in a big way, landing giant defenseman Hal Gill from the Montreal Canadiens, but the price will strike many as pretty dear. Cue Josh Cooper of the Tennessean, and ESPN's Pierre LeBrun with a clarification:

#preds trade for Hal Gill. Give up Geoffrion, Slaney and a 2nd round pick in 2012. #preds also get a conditional 5th rounder. — JoshuaCooper (@JoshuaCooper) February 17, 2012

If Geoffrion gets 40 gp in Montreal next year, Nashville gets that fifth-round pick. If he doesn't play in that many games, no pick for Nash — Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) February 17, 2012

Hal Gill #75 / Defenseman / Nashville Predators Height: 6-7 Weight: 244 Born: Apr 06, 1975

GP G A P +/- PIM PPG SHG GWG

SOG PCT 2011 - Hal Gill 53 1 7 8 -7 29 0 0 0 33 3.0

Earlier this month, we speculated on the possibility of picking up Gill to add size, strength and experience to the left side of the Nashville blueline, and this move shores up that group pretty well.

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What Hal Gill Would Bring To The Predators For one thing, there would finally be someone in the locker room who could look down at the goalies. Mostly, however, Gill brings a massive physical presence, which would be well suited to playing stay-at-home hockey supporting one of the young guns like Josi or Ellis, while taking some of the penalty killing burden off of Weber & Suter. Gill currently leads Montreal in shorthanded ice time per game, and they've got one of the better units in the league, so he can be relied upon in that sort of specialist role. He's not an offensive force, but that's something the young guys are doing rather well already (especially Josi on the power play). ... With Gill's experience (including a Stanley Cup in 2009 with Pittsburgh), I'd go with a 2nd-round pick. If a bidding war gets going, it may be worth throwing in a minor prospect as well.

The price here is a little higher than I projected, but within reason. I'm not sure how much of an NHL upside Blake has, and Robert Slaney wasn't really on a track to the big leagues, certainly not with the crop of defensemen the Preds have developing already.

Bye Bye, Boomer

Many fans, however, will be upset to see Blake Geoffrion heading out of the organization. As the homegrown kid who made it to the NHL, he will always enjoy a prominent spot in Nashville Predators history, but this season hasn't worked out well for him. After a splash during last season's stretch drive, he could never get on track at the NHL level this time around and has played mostly with Milwaukee. I have to wonder if his name and pedigree hold special value to the Canadiens organization, and obviously we all wish Boomer the best of luck.

As a parting tribute to Blake, let's recall his incredible hat trick last March in Buffalo, which helped ignite the Preds' run to the playoffs:





An excerpt from the Preds' press release follows: