The reps for top Nashville Predators prospect Jimmy Vesey saw Predators GM David Poile's comments in the wake of the revelation that Vesey would be exercising his right to enter unrestricted free agency this summer. And they disagree vehemently with plenty of what Poile had to say.

The veteran NHL personnel man unloaded on Vesey and those, like his father, who have been advising him, suggesting that the reason the Predators didn't make further moves ahead of the NHL trade deadline this year - beyond acquiring Ryan Johansen from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Seth Jones - was due in large part to the fact that they expected Vesey to join them for the playoff run, likely on one of their top two lines.

Vesey's reps, Peter Fish and Pete Donatelli, released a statement on Wednesday, essentially calling Poile's assertion regarding the team's lack of trade deadline activity, a lie.

"After being fully advised of his options and upon the recommendation of his advisors and counselors, Jimmy Vesey shall become an Unrestricted Free Agent on August 15, 2016," the statement reads. "The Nashville Predators were informed of this decision. Nashville now claims and it has been widely reported that they were without knowledge of this possibility and that this lack of knowledge precluded the hockey club from acquiring a player at the Trade Deadline.

"This contention is not accurate."

Fish and Donatelli insist that the Predators and Poile were informed well before the March trade deadline that Vesey's immediate and long-term future "should not be a factor in their decision" whether or not to add further reinforcements.

Really, it's a he said-he said issue, the truth of which we may never know. Poile seemed to be at a genuine loss as to why Vesey would choose not to sign with the team that drafted him in the third round in 2012 and then invested four subsequent years of development in him.

He also came across much like a spurned lover, upset that an outcome he was depending on, but had no right to expect, turned out differently than he hoped, and casting about for a way to explain away the result.

In the end, Vesey is headed to NHL free agency on Aug. 15 and, while Nashville isn't yet out of the running for his services, it's likely that Poile's media sniping at Vesey and his reps won't win him any points with the young player.

It could be the Bruins, who play in Vesey's hometown and reportedly sit atop his wish list. It could be the Toronto Maple Leafs, who looked to be laying the groundwork for a run at Vesey when they hired his father as an amateur scout and drafted his brother last year.

It could be any of the league's 27 other teams.

But there's one thing that's a certainty - Vesey won't be a Predator.