Barry Trotz To Succeed Retiring David Poile As Nashville Predators’ GM

For the first time in the history of their franchise, the Nashville Predators are getting set to have someone other than David Poile in their general manager’s chair.

According to reports on Sunday from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Paul Skrbina of The Tennessean, Poile plans to retire at the end of this season. He has been Nashville’s GM since a year before the expansion franchise officially joined the NHL in 1998. In 2007, he added the title of president of hockey operations.

In one of his first moves with the Predators, Poile hired Barry Trotz to be the club’s first head coach on August 6, 1997. The two had been colleagues in the Washington Capitals organization, where Poile served as general manager for 15 seasons. Trotz coached the franchise’s American Hockey League affiliate for five years, winning a Calder Cup in 1993-94.

Trotz then had a 15-year run behind the bench Nashville. After that, he moved on to the Capitals, where he won a Stanley Cup in 2018, and followed up with four seasons with the New York Islanders. In an unexpected move, the Islanders fired Trotz last May after failing to reach the playoffs in the 2021-22 season. But while he was courted aggressively by several teams, Trotz chose to take a year off to spend with his family, and there were rumors that when he returned to the NHL, he’d prefer to do it in a management capacity.

So Nashville makes perfect sense. In addition to having a reputation as one of the sharpest minds in hockey, he has a long history with the Predators and is well-regarded by the fanbase. And at 73, Poile can take a step back. According to Friedman, he’s expected to remain with the organization in a consulting capacity.

Though he doesn’t have a Stanley Cup on his resume, Poile has been one of the most successful GMs in NHL history. In a role that’s volatile by definition, he worked for just thee organizations in his career. Poile spent five seasons as an assistant general manager with the Atlanta/Calgary Flames starting in 1977, then was hired to be GM of the Capitals in 1982. In his first season, he helped Washington reach the playoffs for the first time in its franchise history. That started a string of 14 straight postseason appearances. When the Capitals missed for the first time in his tenure in 1996-97, he was fired — and quickly snapped up by the expansion Predators.

Thanks to that longevity, Poile now holds numerous records. Last October, he became the first general manager to hit the 3,000-game mark at the NHL level. He is also the only GM to reach 1,000 games and 500 wins with two different franchises.

In 2017, when the Predators reached the Stanley Cup Final for the only time in their franchise’s history to date, Poile was named the NHL’s general manager of the year. On March 1, 2018, he became the NHL’s all-time winningest GM, with his 1,320th victory. The Predators won their first Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s best regular-season team in 2017-18. Later that year, Poile was enshrined in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

Poile’s leadership has also helped transform the Predators from a struggling expansion franchise that was nearly relocated to Hamilton in 2007 into one of the NHL’s marquee markets — committed to growing the game in and around Tennessee at the grassroots level and proving to be a top-notch event host at the 2016 NHL All-Star Game and the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs.

This June, Nashville will serve as host for both the 2023 NHL Awards and the NHL Draft as part of a combined slate of season-ending festivities.

Friedman reports that while Trotz won’t take over the GM position until the end of June, he will start work immediately. And there is immediate work to be done, with the 2023 trade deadline looming on Friday, March 3.

As of Sunday morning, the Predators sit 10th in the Western Conference, eight points out of a wild-card spot and likely to miss the playoffs for the first time in nine years. Nashville’s roster is top-heavy with big contracts for players who are over 30 years of age, including forwards Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen and defensemen Roman Josi, Ryan McDonagh and Mattias Ekholm. But the Predators do have one of the best goalies in the game in 27-year-old Juuse Saros, who is locked up for two more seasons at a very reasonable cap hit of $5 million.

Last week, the Predators lost Johansen for an estimated 12 weeks after he underwent surgery for a leg injury. On Saturday, Poile cut bait with Nino Niederreiter after signing him to a two-year contract as an unrestricted free agent last July. He traded the big winger to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for a second-round draft pick in 2024.

As of Sunday, the Predators hold eight picks in the upcoming draft. As hosts, and with the transition from Poile to Trotz certain to be one of the big stories of draft weekened, they’d love secure more selections for what’s expected to be a deep, talented group of players that will be available in the 2023 draft class.

The Predators are in action on Sunday, wrapping up a two-game road trip at Mullett Arena in Tempe against the Arizona Coyotes at 7 p.m. ET.