By John Glennon 

The longer Alexander Radulov stays silent, the more Predators General Manager David Poile begins to doubt the wayward forward plans a return from Russia.

Poile wants to know Radulov's plans for next season by the end of June, when teams traditionally begin planning for the coming year at the NHL entry draft and in the free-agent market.

But Poile had hoped to hear from Radulov by now.

"I talked to his agent (on Monday) and there's still no word,'' Poile said Tuesday. "I thought for sure we'd have heard a decision by now, so that has me concerned.''

Poile isn't the only one who'd like to see the return of Radulov, who left last summer despite having a year remaining on his entry-level contract. He scored a combined 44 goals in his first two seasons in Nashville.

Predators captain Jason Arnott, who in the past has questioned how Radulov would fit in the locker room, sounded Monday as if he were more willing to let bygones be bygones.

"If he does come back, he's our teammate and we have to accept that,'' Arnott said. "He's going to have some issues and some apologies he'll have to make, not only to us but to the fans as well. I think the fans will be a lot more important because we can get over a lot of stuff in the room and keep going and playing."

Arnott understands that the quicker Radulov makes a decision, the more the Predators will benefit.

"Hopefully he wouldn't wait too long and then kind of strap (Poile) on who (Poile) would want to sign, and then some of our unrestricted guys go elsewhere,'' Arnott said. "That would be a tough situation.''

In fact, Arnott said Radulov's return might make a Steve Sullivan re-signing more likely. Sullivan could become an unrestricted free agent July 1 and has said one of the factors in re-signing with Nashville is how competitive the team will be.

"I think Sully would more likely want to come back,'' Arnott said. "Because adding Rad and Sully both gives us a lot more offensive power, which is what we were lacking. Hopefully with our defense returning and (goalie Pekka Rinne) playing as well as he did last year, we would have a real solid team.''

Poile said he expects to talk to Sullivan's agent later this week.

As for three other potential unrestricted free agents — defenseman Greg Zanon as well as forwards Vern Fiddler and Joel Ward — Poile said there has been little progress on new deals.

"We really haven't had any conversations with any of them (recently),'' Poile said. "We're way off in what we think they're asking for and what we want to pay.''