PuckScene.com

Many had a hunch that David Poile had something up his sleeve, but I don’t think anyone saw this one coming.

Matthew Lombardi’s $3.5 million contract is off of Nashville’s books, but Cody Franson had to go as well. Franson may have been an insurance policy for Toronto in case Lombardi never came back. In other words, Brian Burke was willing to take on Lombardi’s contract, but he wanted something else, too.

Ignore the two acquisitions from the Predators. Brett Lebda is either going to be packed into another trade later on or he will be put on waivers and sent to Milwaukee. Robert Slaney is an ECHL forward who will see most of his time in Cincinnati next year.

This move was entirely addition by subtraction. After freeing up Franson’s spot as well as Shane O’Brien’s, there is room to bring up some of the young talented defensemen in the Predators system, most notably Ryan Ellis, Roman Josi and Mattias Ekholm. In addition, shedding Lombardi’s salary currently puts Nashville at the lowest payroll in the NHL, about $13 million under the salary cap basement.

The Predators now have plenty of room to offer Shea Weber a pretty hefty contract and have some breathing room for when negotiations start with Pekka Rinne and Ryan Suter.

One thing is pretty much for certain, anyone not wearing a 6, 12, 20 or 35 is probably considered expendable.

Press release after the jump.