As he was about to join Jeremy Lauzon for his bachelor party weekend on June 29 Alexandre Carrier heard from the Nashville Predators about re-signing before getting to July 1.
Carrier kept the group chats aware that he’d have to stay home to put pen to paper to stay a Nashville Predator.
“I was excited to go but I told Jeremy I hadn’t signed yet so I didn’t know if I could go,” Carrier said. “I couldn’t fly and be partying and make the biggest decision of my life. He understood it and once I signed on Saturday I called to let him know immediately.”
Alex’s full answer. He & Lauzon are coming up on their respective weddings this summer. https://t.co/oQdh8MrmY0 pic.twitter.com/8RxUzpleAZ
— Nick Kieser🏒 (@KieserNick) July 10, 2024
Carrier agreed to a three-year deal worth $11.25 million which kept him from a fun weekend, but to him, it was worth it knowing he wanted to be in Nashville. He had no idea the organization was in on Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, & Brady Skjei.
The Québec City, Canada native said he’s a rather conservative guy and plans to save his money for a house in the near future as he’ll be getting married sometime in the next few weeks.
As Carrier discussed a new deal with Nashville in the middle of last season one thing was evident to him. He enjoyed playing in a new system under head coach Andrew Brunette and knew it was a fit to unlock his full potential.
“I love the way we play and love the way Andrew wants us to play and get their defense going as well,” Carrier said. “I didn’t know we were going to make a big splash like at free agency, but I think it’s super motivating for guys like me. You’re getting closer to 30 so you’re thinking ‘I don’t know if I’m halfway through my career’ so you want to win.”
The defenseman is now one of eight players on the roster drafted by the organization. Nashville retains one of its key pieces to the backend with perhaps the assumption of Carrier being alongside Lauzon.
Before exiting Nashville for the offseason Carrier said he wanted to focus on his retrieval of pucks when going into his own corners. Breakouts were a point of emphasis for the smaller defenseman but added how this coming year he’d also like to be better offensively.
“The main thing every summer it’s about getting stronger and faster. When you get to a certain age you can’t get too much faster but endurance can improve,” Carrier said. “I want to be quicker on my edges. I’ve been working more on that. I’ve been working with a [coach] to create more offense as well.”
Carrier eyes picking up more of a role on offense now that he has an established defensive partner but also a more balanced blue line complements him as Brady Skjei joins the team.
Blocking out the noise was something Carrier had to do before re-signing with the Predators. He has a mental health coach in Montreal he speaks with regularly to help him think through everyday situations.
“You put everything in perspective. I’m really lucky to be playing hockey and sometimes we put a lot of pressure on ourselves, it’s just something you cannot control,” Carrier said of grasping a strong mentality last season.
“I was trying to be in the present as much as I could. Meditation––I know Roman Josi talks about it––but we have a lot of guys that use it in the room. I was trying to do that and trying to enjoy myself being in the present.”
Carrier saw all of the names roll in on July 1 after he agreed to a new contract, therefore, the expectations are high for the Predators after squeezing into the postseason a few months ago.
Names like Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei heighten a league-wide awareness that Nashville has pushed all of its chips to the middle.
“It motivates me even more to be on top of my game once training camp starts. We can continue to build what we were building last season on the first day,” Carrier said.
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Photos courtesy of Nashville Predators
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