THN Archive: Old Beginnings

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Old Beginnings—Sept 18, 2023 - Vol. 77, Issue 03 - Michael Traikos

BARRY TROTZ IS back in Nashville, a place where he’s spent so much of his hockey career, doing what he’s really never done before.

As a coach, he would have normally taken the summer off. But as a rookie GM, there’s been no time for that. Not with the draft and free agency to take care of, and daily meetings with amateur scouts and pro scouts taking up his time, all while working the phones and figuring out what kind of team he’s going to ice this season. “It’s pretty hectic,” he said. “It’s been a different rhythm than coaching. What I’ve found is that, as a coach, you’re married to the NHL schedule. As a manager, you’re married to the situation.”

Of course, no one envisioned a situation where Trotz, 61, would become GM. Not Trotz. And certainly not David Poile, who, in the final week of February, officially announced he would be stepping down as GM of the Predators in what now looks like a seamless drop pass to his old friend and colleague. “It was a perfect situation,” said Poile, 73. “It was also a long time coming. I had told my owners last summer that it was time to make a change, and we all agreed upon that. It was just a matter of ‘How is it going to work?’ ”

What he meant was he didn’t know who would take over.

Though Trotz had just been fired by the New York Islanders, he wasn’t exactly hurting for work. A year ago, teams were lining up for his services. The Winnipeg Jets offered him the opportunity to return home. A local brewery even sweetened the deal with a promise of free beer for life. But Trotz politely turned it down. The Philadelphia Flyers reportedly offered him a multi-year contract worth $7 million annually to coach. Again, Trotz said no. As the months went by, more and more teams kept calling. They all received the same answer: he wanted to take time off to spend with his family.

And then Poile called and offered something completely different. “We just talked,” Poile said. “I never said, ‘Would you be interested?’ or anything like that. But as we went along and he kept turning down these jobs and the season was moving along, I brought it up to him. Once I planted that seed, it obviously struck a chord with him.”

By then, the two longtime friends had been talking regularly. Mostly, it was about hockey. But they also talked about the future and what Trotz wanted to do with the rest of his career and where his wife and family wanted to live.

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Up until then, Trotz still wanted to coach. He probably still does. You don’t become the third-winningest coach in NHL history (914 wins) – only Scotty Bowman (1,244) and Joel Quenneville (969) have won more games – and suddenly stop for no reason. But while Trotz admits that he “was in process of being on the 18th tee” of a long career behind the bench, he also wasn’t ready to put away his clubs just yet. Nor was he angling for a management job.

But the fact that it was Nashville changed everything. “He had lots of coaching opportunities, and it’s pretty public that he was offered quite a few,” Poile said. “But one thing that kept coming back was that, regardless of what happens, he would be moving back to Nashville now and that whatever happened and wherever he went, he would always go back in the off-season to Nashville. That’s what he and his wife decided.”

It was around that time Poile was also making a serious life decision. He had decided the 2022-23 season would be his last. No one really believed him, of course. After all, more than 50 years had passed since Poile got his first job in the NHL with the Atlanta Flames in 1972. Hockey lifers, such as Poile, never really retire. But as Trotz became more and more interested in the position, a succession plan started to take shape.

“I always thought when I finished coaching, I would come back to Nashville and have some kind of role,” Trotz said. “I didn’t necessarily think it was going to be as a GM or anything like that. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I had spent a lot of time in Nashville, and it had become home, and I thought it was a natural fit.”

As Poile echoed, “It was a perfect situation.” Not just for Trotz, but for Poile as well. Part of the reason why he had been so reluctant to move on was he couldn’t picture anyone doing his job. Then again, Trotz wasn’t just anyone. He was Poile’s first hire when Nashville was awarded an NHL franchise in 1997, a position he held until 2014. His fingerprints are all over the franchise. The year before the Predators played their first game, Trotz worked for the team as a scout. He designed the team’s facilities and helped pick the paint colors. He even coined several of the team’s catchphrases, such as “the Nashville Way.”

In many ways, the team belongs as much to Trotz as it does to Poile. “From a management standpoint, if it was another team, I don’t know if I would have gone that route,” Trotz said. “What pulled me in was my love for this franchise and the city. I think I would probably still be coaching if it weren’t for this opportunity. It was a new challenge. I would get to be more at home, and it would be full circle.”

I ALWAYS THOUGHT WHEN I FINISHED COACHING, I WOULD COME BACK TO NASHVILLE AND HAVE SOME KIND OF ROLE– BARRY TROTZ

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Indeed, this is going to be a challenge. Trotz is not only transitioning from being a coach to being a GM, but he’s taking over a team that is also undergoing its own transition from perennial contender to middle-of-the-road bubble team. Since reaching the Cup final in 2017, the Predators have won just one playoff round in six years. Last season, they missed the playoffs, which is part of the reason why Poile decided a new voice was needed. “The realization is there that we’re in the middle,” Poile said. “While we’ve made the playoffs every year, we weren’t winning any playoff rounds. It was my opinion, and Barry concurred, that it was time to take a proverbial step backwards in order to take a few steps forward.”

And yet, there is a bit of a disagreement as to what path Nashville is on. Poile’s last moves as GM – trading defenseman Mattias Ekholm and winger Tanner Jeannot – effectively pushed Nashville toward what looks like an inevitable rebuild. But in trading away Ryan Johansen and then signing defenseman Luke Schenn and center Ryan O’Reilly in free agency, Trotz made it clear Nashville is not a place where vets can come to retire. Rather, he said, “I want you to come here to win.”

WE’RE NOT IN A RESET. WE’RE NOT IN A REBUILD, WE’RE IN SOMETHING IN BETWEEN RIGHT NOW– BARRY TROTZ

“I don’t have the correct word for it,” Trotz said. “But we’re not in a reset. We’re not in a rebuild, we’re in something in between right now.”

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Indeed, the Predators still have Norris Trophy winner Roman Josi on defense, 40-goal scorer Filip Forsberg up front and Vezina Trophy contender Juuse Saros in net. That’s a pretty good core. They also have a cupboard that is well stocked with prospects – Nashville has seven players who were ranked among the top 100 prospects in last season’s Future Watch magazine.

“We were watching the NHL Network the other night, and they had our prospect pool ranked seventh,” Poile said. “I like that number. I think that’s fair with the draft we had. I believe we’ll be in the top five next year at this time.”

Whether they will be in the playoffs will depend on what Trotz did this summer. Then again, a lot of it will be dependent on how new coach Andrew Brunette handles the roster. Handing over the team to someone else is an entirely new experience for Trotz – and it’s not something that he’s looking forward to.

“I’m going to miss the bench,” he said. “I’m going to miss the locker room. As a coach, you’re looking at it probably from a different angle. In the seat I’m in now, it seems that you’re looking from a long ways away. You’re up in the press box rather than behind the bench. The angles, the speed, the emotions and the chaotic stuff is all behind the bench. Whereas up top, it’s more sterile and generic. But hopefully, the thing I should have learned is the timing of when you ask questions or put a little heat on the coaches or back off and say nothing. I’ll have a better grasp of that than someone who hasn’t been behind the bench.”

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And if he runs into a jam, he’ll still have his old boss to lean on. While Poile won’t have an office in Bridgestone Arena, he joked that he’ll still have a phone. And chances are the two friends will be talking just like they always have.

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