UPDATE: 12/10/2022, 5:05 PM – The Milwaukee Admirals will skate in tonight’s AHL matchup against Springfield with just five defensemen, with D Roland McKeown and Kevin Gravel not in the lineup. It is expected they will be recalled officially by Nashville tomorrow, but it is likely both are already on the way to Music City. – BB
UPDATE: The @mkeadmirals will be playing just five defensemen tonight against Springfield. The #Smashville AHL affiliate will be without D-men Kevin Gravel and Roland McKeown – I expect both to be on the way to Nashville to fill in for Lauzon/Carrier.@OnTheFutureOTF https://t.co/sXZUniZoyb
— Bryan Bastin (@BryanBastin) December 10, 2022
The Nashville Predators’ injury woes have been bad for defensemen, with Mark Borowiecki and Ryan McDonough both on the injured reserve, but a 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators may not have been the worst thing to happen to the Predators blueline.
Jeremy Lauzon left the game in the second period shortly after his fight with former Predator Austin Watson, and by the end of the second intermission, the Predators had announced that neither Alexandre Carrier nor Lauzon would return to the game.
#Preds appear to be down to 4 defensemen, as neither Carrier nor Lauzon has returned to the bench following 2nd intermission
— Emma Lingan (@emma_lingan) December 10, 2022
With just four defensemen left to play, the Nashville defense put up abnormally high time on ice playing without a third of their teammates. Late in the game though, it wasn’t enough, as the Predators couldn’t muster up enough offense to tie the game at 3 goals a piece.
D-men TOI today 😮 pic.twitter.com/PPMhfzBuNL
— Bally Sports: Preds (@PredsOnBally) December 10, 2022
After the game, Nashville head coach John Hynes had no update on the injuries’ severity or timetables for possible returns.
#Preds head coach John Hynes did not have an update on Alexandre Carrier or Jeremy Lauzon after the game
— Emma Lingan (@emma_lingan) December 10, 2022
Author’s note: The below was written prior to McKeown and Gravel not being active for Milwaukee Saturday evening.
If either cannot go against St. Louis on Monday night, Nashville will likely have to call up one or two players from Milwaukee over the weekend as reinforcements. Our own Eric Dunay predicted that three possible options are Roland McKeown, Kevin Gravel and Marc Del Gaizo – however the Admirals may need to find replacements of their own.
As for cap room, Lauzon carries a cap hit of $2 million, while Carrier is only $733,000 – however the Predators currently have just under $1 million in cap space. All the defensemen currently in Milwaukee are playing on sub-$1 million deals, so if both players are out long term, the Predators may need to consider putting one of the injured d-men on long-term injured reserve to gain some cap space.
McKeown
Gravel
Del GaizoIn that order most likely
— OTF: Preds Prospects (@OnTheFutureOTF) December 10, 2022
We will keep you posted on any updates regarding the status of either player and any resulting callups here at On The Forecheck.