Predators recall AHL stud to help mediocre attack

Denis Gurianov has been one of the top scorers in the AHL so far this season and he has been rewarded for his efforts.  The Predators announced that they have recalled the winger from AHL Milwaukee.

It has been quite the fall from grace for the 26-year-old in recent years.  He had a 20-goal campaign with Dallas in 2019-20 and looked like he’d be part of their long-term core.  However, Gurianov’s numbers had steadily dropped since then and near the trade deadline last season, the Stars moved on, sending him to Montreal in exchange for Evgenii Dadonov.

Things didn’t go much better with the Canadiens as Gurianov had just eight points in 23 games, resulting in the team declining to tender him a qualifying offer of $2.9M, making him an unrestricted free agent last summer.

Gurianov’s market wasn’t particularly robust, resulting in him having to settle for a one-year, $850K one-way agreement.  The expectation was that he’d add a bit of offensive depth to a bottom-six group that didn’t exactly feature much firepower on paper.

However, that plan didn’t exactly pan out either.  After a tough preseason that saw him record just one assist in four games, Gurianov was waived and after clearing, was sent to the Admirals.  To his credit, he has fared quite well down there, leading the team in scoring with 30 points in 27 games, good for a tie for sixth in AHL points.  He’ll now get a chance to try to contribute to a Nashville attack that sits in the middle of the pack for goals, ranking 15th in that department.