NHL Trade Rumors: Nashville Predators Place Hodgson on Waivers
The Nashville Predators could no longer give forward Cody Hodgson another chance to prove himself, with the team's announcement on Wednesday that he has been placed on waivers. The decision means that he no longer will play for the team the rest of the way.
Predators general manager David Poile talked about how disappointing the season has been for them. "We're now past the halfway point of the season and we're not where we want to be," he said. The team is currently at 19-17-7, with its playoff spot in the Western Conference slowly slipping away.
The decision to put Hodgson on waivers is part of the team's efforts in making drastic changes in the middle of the season. It is likely, though, that he'll end up spending time with the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League.
The 25-year-old signed a $1.05million contract, good for one year for Nashville, with the team hoping to provide depth in offense and scoring. However, the signing proved to be a gamble that the team ended up losing. He played in 39 games for the team but only scored 3 goals with 8 points. That kind of production is definitely below what was expected of him.
His best season as a professional hockey player was in 2013-2014 with Buffalo, wherein he scored 20 goals and added 44 points. But for the past two seasons, he only produced 9 goals and 21 points, and that's for 117 total games.
But Hodgson's career is not just about disappointments and underachievement. He was part of the Canadian national hockey team that participated in a couple of International Ice Hockey Federation events, where his team won gold in the 2008 IIHF World U18 Championships, followed by the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He also led in scoring for both tournaments.