The Wild and Predators have agreed to a swap that sends Mikael Granlund to Nashville in exchange for Kevin Fiala, the teams announced Monday. The deal was first reported by The Athletic less than an hour before this year’s trade deadline.
Granlund, who turns 27 on Tuesday, had been one of the Wild’s leading scorers with 49 points in 63 games this season. However, general manager Paul Fenton hasn’t been shy about making aggressive trades over the past few months, shipping out key forwards Nino Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle in previous trades.
The Predators have been trying to load up to make a run at winning their first Stanley Cup. Fiala, who was drafted by Nashville when Fenton was part of its front office, represented one of their most talented young players. He recorded 48 points in 80 games last season as a 21-year-old, and had 32 points in 64 games this season before being traded.
Nashville also acquired Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds on Monday.
Granlund has a $5.75 million cap hit on a deal that expires following next season, per Cap Friendly. Fiala is making $863,333 in the final year of his entry-level contract and will become a restricted free agent this summer.
