Predators' Del Zotto will not receive qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent

The Nashville Predators tried to move the rights to defenseman Michael Del Zotto right up until the last minute, but ultimately have decided not to extend the underachieving puck-moving defenseman a qualifying offer before Monday's 5 p.m. deadline per TSN's Bob McKenzie. Del Zotto will become an unrestricted free agent. 

It's quite the fall from grace for a power-play specialist who managed 37 points as teenager, and put together a 40-point season as a 20-year-old. Del Zotto's expensive qualifying offer (the Predators would have had to offer him the equivalent of a one-year, one-way $2.9-million contract to retain their right of first refusal) is likely the major reason Del Zotto was non-tendered. 

Though Del Zotto "didn't fit" with the Predators, the 24-year-old is sure to prove an intriguing reclamation project for a team in need of some additional speed on the back-end.