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[Stumpedos]

The Nashville Predators announced Tuesday that the club has exercised the option on forward David Legwand's contract for the 2004-05 season. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The 23-year-old Legwand tied for second on the Predators with a career-high 18 goals this past season, and finished fourth on the club with 47 points. The Detroit native appeared in all 82 regular-season games for the Predators this past season, and he also saw action in all six playoff games.

Legwand, Nashville's first draft choice (No. 2 overall in 1998), ranks among franchise leaders in games played (fourth with 362), goals (fourth with 72), assists (fifth with 122) and points (fifth with 194).

The club also made qualifying offers to Group II restricted free agents Jonas Andersson, Mark Eaton, Martin Erat, Vernon Fiddler, Brian Finley, Simon Gamache, Adam Hall, Scott Hartnell, Darren Haydar, Shane Hnidy, Andrew Hutchinson, Vladimir Orszagh, Konstantin Panov, Kirill Safronov, Wyatt Smith, Steve Sullivan, Tomas Vokoun and Marek Zidlicky.

''Our priority this off-season is signing our group of young talent that helped the Predators reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time this past season,'' said Predators executive vice president and general manager David Poile. ''With our nucleus in place, a young roster and few long-term commitments, the Predators are well-positioned to go forward competitively in whatever system is in place for next season and beyond.''

The Predators did not make qualifying offers to Group II free agents Jamie Allison, Greg Classen and Jeremy Stevenson. All three players will become unrestricted free agents on July 1.

Group III free agents Brad Bombardir, Wade Flaherty, Tony Hrkac, Andreas Johansson, Rem Murray, Jason York and Sergei Zholtok will become unrestricted on July 1, along with Group VI free agents Mathieu Darche, Mike Farrell and Ray Schultz.

The Predators declined to exercise team options for 2004-05 on the contracts of Jan Lasak, Curtis Murphy and Robert Schnabel. All three players will become unrestricted free agents on July 1.