Was there a disconnect between Barry Trotz and Predators’ ownership?

Big news sent shockwaves through the NHL world on Monday when Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz announced his decision to step down from the role as soon as a replacement is found.

Trotz, who took over the role in 2023, has authored a roller coaster-like tenure at the helm of the team he coached for well over a decade.

After a disastrous 2024-2025 campaign fueled by a rash of poor decisions, the Predators again stumbled badly out of the gate this year.

On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by the host of The Sheet, Jeff Marek, to discuss the circumstances that led to Trotz’s resignation.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Do you buy anything into the theory that there was a disconnect here between ownership and management? That Trotz wanted to go one way, whether it was contender rebuild and ownership said, “Not a shot. You go the other way.” And that’s what led to this, or is it truly just Barry Trotz wants to retire?

Jeff Marek: That is 100% what it feels like. And that is very much a vibe that I thought that, again, I’ll go back to my conversation with [Pierre] McGuire yesterday. That’s why he’s sort of really, really pronounced about everybody. Fiddler’s fiddle and dancer’s dance, right? How many times you heard that? And owners own and managers manage and coaches coach and all that types of things. And sometimes when those lines get blurred, even though one of the best skills you can have as a manager is managing upwards and managing your owner, this does sound like there was some type of disconnect between what the owner wants and what Barry Trotz wants. Again, I’m doing this based on vibes and conversation. I’m not there, but like honestly, Tyler, I along with you and Hutts, maybe you felt the same way. This very much does have that vibe about it. 100%.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…