Expect a retool to begin MacFarland’s tenure in Nashville

The Nashville Predators are in a new era under president and general manager Chris MacFarland, and while they won’t be entering a full rebuild, there are fixes to be made around the current roster. 

After a season that saw the Predators finish sixth in the Central Division and miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second consecutive season, McFarland will likely make some moves to improve the team to take a run with many of the current core. 

On a recent episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined co-hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton to break down the outlook for the start of the MacFarland era in Nashville. 

Carter Hutton: The NHL just keeps moving everywhere. We look at Nashville, obviously getting Chris, MacFarland, what’s the plan there? Like, is it a sell-off, or is it like: ‘hey, we’re still kind of knocking on the door?’ What happens in Nashville?

David Pagnotta: I think it’s a little bit of restructuring. I don’t know if I want to categorize it as a retool, but it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a rebuild. This is a ‘get us back on track,’ and ‘start to veer us back in the right direction.’

I think they’re going to restructure some of the roster. They’ve got some good young kids in the system; they’ve got some good pieces. We know some pieces that haven’t worked, like Jonathan Marchessault, for example. Maybe his mindset changed because I think he’s willing and open to accept the trade to the right environment, but does MacFarland come in and have a conversation, and does he explain what the direction of this team is? I think the mission is to get back into contention and back into the playoffs. Their captain has two years left on his contract, and I think everybody wants to kind of go in the right direction in terms of competing, and they’ve got a decent balance anyway with some of the young kids coming up. 

I’m not anticipating a rebuild, I’d be a little surprised, and I’m not expecting a full-on retool. This is more of a fine-tuning that needs to be done for this club. When opportunity arises, he’s going to pounce, but he’s got the keys to that team now, and he’s going to dictate what they look like on and off the ice.

You can catch the full conversation and the rest of the show here…