Nashville Predators Place Former First Round Pick on Waivers

The expectations around the NHL this season for the Nashville Predators were very, very high, but with the Stanley Cup Playoffs approaching, they are likely the next team to officially be eliminated from the post-season race.

The team have struggled on both ends of the ice, with their offense ranking in the bottom three in the league in goals scored, and now, it appears as though they're ready to part ways with a former top draft pick.

On Wednesday, the team officially placed two players on waivers, including Kieffer Bellows, who was first-round pick of the New York Islanders back in the 2016 NHL Draft where he was taken No. 19 overall.

Unfortunately, being drafted in the first-round doesn't always lead to success, as Bellows has played in just 108 NHL games with New York, Philadelphia and now Nashville since making his NHL debut back in 2019/20.

In that time, Bellows has tallied just 16 goals and 31 points, with only three of those points coming in 13 games played with the Predators this season, but now he becomes a very intriguing waiver target for contending teams around the league.

On top of that, they also waived former fourth-round pick Marc Del Gaizo after playing 35 games with the team this season, with the team hoping that both can pass through waivers and head back to the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL for the remainder of the season.

It's unclear if either player will be claimed, but after both had disappointing seasons, it's easy to see why Nashville are ready to send them back to the AHL as they may help the Admirals to solid success down there if no team claims them in the next 24 hours.