The Nashville Predators wasted little time in signing newly acquired forward Mavrik Bourque to a long term deal, inking the 24 year old to a 6 year, $33M extension on the weekend.
Bourque, alongside defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin, was acquired from Dallas in exchange for a pair of picks on July 1st. His new $5.5M AAV contract is a well earned pay raise from the $950K he took home in 2025-26. Originally drafted 30th overall by the Stars in 2020, Bourque set career highs in virtually every statistical category last year including goals (20), assists (21), points (41) and games played (82).
Bourque figures to occupy a top 6 forward role with the Predators in 2026-27, possibly joining a line with Filip Forsberg and Matthew Wood. While he’s still getting his feet wet at the NHL level, he’s already proven everything he needs to at the AHL ranks having taken home the Les Cunningham Award as league MVP and the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the AHL’s top scorer back in 2023-24.
For Dallas, Bourque was an unfortunate cap casualty this offseason, with general manager Jim Nill having previously told the press that the team would have loved to retain the RFA’s services, but would likely be priced out. It continues a frustrating offseason for Dallas who have been at loggerheads with fellow RFA Jason Robertson on a new deal.
The team attempted to trade him to the Kraken, contingent on him signing a long term deal, but he ultimately turned that down. Then the club thought they had landed Norris Trophy winning defenceman Zach Werenski from Columbus, only for him to use his no trade clause to veto the deal as well.
Now they lose a young, up and coming forward plus a depth blue liner for Nashville’s 2027 second rounder, and a 2028 third round pick (via Vegas) which will do little to help move the needle this upcoming season.
Newly minted Predators GM Chris MacFarland has now added Bourque, Lyubushkin, Ross Colton, Jack Drury, Adam Edstrom, and Nils Hoglander this summer as the club looks to retool on the fly.
Photo: The AHL. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.