The Predators continue to unravel under GM Barry Trotz
In 2023, the Nashville Predators had the structure of their organization right where they wanted it. David Poile, the only general manager the franchise had ever known, was ready to retire and hand his post off to Barry Trotz, the longtime head coach of the team during its formative years and eventual Stanley Cup Champion at the helm of the 2018 Washington Capitals.
Was it a bit odd to promote a coach with no managerial experience to a head front office role? Sure, but Trotz had a scouting background, and his familiarity with the market, fan base, media and NHL landscape made him a sensible enough candidate.
The vision was clear. The Predators, a consistently competitive small-market team that at the time had picked in the top 10 of the draft just once since 2008, would aim to remain an annual presence in the playoffs that could ride a wave to legitimate contention when it presented itself, just like one did in 2017.
“The bar is that you don’t accept losing,” Trotz told The Tennessean upon his hiring. “The bar has to be that you create a culture that you be a threat.”
With more than two years of hindsight, it now seems crazy in retrospect that the Predators did not undergo a more thorough search process and that a careful, measured steward of the franchise like Poile was so ready to give the reins over to his former colleague in a move that was both reported and announced in tandem without much of an interview process that involved outside candidates.
In the 28 months since the transition, Trotz’s inexperience in front offices has reared its ugly head, as has a seemingly skewed player evaluation process— both in terms of player quality and fit within the existing structure of the team.
At the same time, his impulse to act quickly could be just the trait that saves him from the fate that finds so many NHL general managers who struggle to put together winning teams.
The 2023 Off-Season: Careful moves set up a strong showing
Trotz took the big chair during the summer of 2023 and got to work on methodically turning Nashville’s roster from that of a bubble team to that of a solid playoff team, and he achieved that goal.
He brought in a much-needed two-way presence down the middle in Ryan O’Reilly on a very reasonable four-year contract. O’Reilly was the exact sort of player Trotz loved as a coach, and our first glimpse at Trotz’s team-building mindset confirmed most priors: that he was aiming to mold the roster in the image of a team he would successfully coach: defensively responsible, physical and fundamentally sound.
He made a great move in signing defenseman Alexandre Carrier as an under-the-radar pickup, and he also brought in Gustav Nyquist to provide more depth and scoring upside for a club that had just three forwards finish with more than 40 points.
It all worked nearly flawlessly. Nyquist put up 75 points on a $3.185-million cap hit, and O’Reilly racked up 69 points while being the play-driving anchor down the middle he was brought in to be. The Predators overcame a slow start to make the playoffs before losing in the first round to the Vancouver Canucks.
It wasn’t a perfect outcome, but with boatloads of cap space and a quality roster already in place, things were looking up for Trotz to build on his successful first year in charge.
The 2024 Off-Season: Reckless abandon
Nashville had plenty of roster flexibility on July 1, 2024, and Trotz wasted no time in weaponizing it.
In one day, Trotz added three key veterans to his team, beating out plenty of suitors to add former Tampa Bay Lightning star Steven Stamkos, former Vegas Golden Knights winger Jonathan Marchessault and defenseman Brady Skjei, fresh off a phenomenal tenure as a second-pairing fixture with the Carolina Hurricanes. In total, those three contracts would cost $108.5 million over their varying terms.
Competitors and commentators watched in awe as Trotz pulled off a maneuver that cemented the Predators as “the winners of the off-season” and put them in the conversation to contend for the Stanley Cup. Skjei would slot in perfectly behind Roman Josi, and Stamkos and Marchessault would join Filip Forsberg, O’Reilly and Nyquist to form a dangerous forward group with plenty of depth behind it.
“These players see what we’re doing with our franchise,” Trotz told reporters that day. “We have lots to offer, and we’re very determined to win. We’re committed to that.”
Everybody reading this knows how the season that followed played out for the Predators. They were never anywhere close to contending for the Stanley Cup, and adding three different veterans who were leaving situations that were perfectly set up for them to thrive while ruining the sense of continuity on an already-solid roster was a recipe for disaster.
Stamkos produced 106, 84 and 81 points in his final three seasons with the Lightning. He mustered just 53 last year. Marchessault’s goal total was cut in half from 42 to 21. Outside of Carolina’s defensive structure, Skjei struggled to carry his own pairing.
But the impulsivity, impatience and aggressive nature that Trotz showed in throwing caution to the wind to land splashy names in an ill-fated bid for the Cup might be the exact traits that allow him to find a way out of the mess he created.
The 2024-2025 Season: Out with the old, in with the new
The Predators had a big problem in August of 2024. Yaroslav Askarov, the No. 11 overall pick in the 2020 draft and presumed goalie of the future, was unhappy.
His path to the starting job was blocked by Juuse Saros, who only got better as time went on and earned a massive eight-year extension that July. It was assumed that Askarov would at least back Saros up that year, but Trotz surprised everybody, including Askarov and his representation, by signing veteran Scott Wedgewood in free agency. The two-year, $1.5 million-per-year deal was serious money that would only be handed out to a player who was supposed to be on the roster.
Askarov requested a trade, and Trotz obliged, sending him to the San Jose Sharks for forward prospect David Edstrom, goalie Magnus Chrona and the 2025 first-round pick that previously belonged to Vegas.
Bafflingly, Wedgewood was on his way out just three months later, sent to the Colorado Avalanche for goalie Justus Annunen, a move Trotz made to address the lack of a young, high-upside netminding prospect in the pipeline. It was a need that only existed because he alienated Askarov by signing Wedgewood in the first place.
Another July 1, 2024 move proved to have a wildly short shelf life when Trotz sent Carrier to the Montreal Canadiens for Justin Barron in December. Carrier had just signed a perfectly reasonable three-year extension with an AAV of $3.75 million. He’s gone on to excel with the Habs while Barron has essentially filled a spot on Nashville’s bottom pairing to mixed results.
Center Thomas Novak was inexplicably sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins along with Luke Schenn for Michael Bunting and a fourth-round pick. The Penguins promptly flipped Schenn to the Winnipeg Jets for a second and a fourth, assets Nashville certainly could have used, and Novak was just two years removed from putting up 43 points in 51 games and one year removed from a career-high 18 goals.
These are just a few of several examples where Trotz has consistently shown a level of impulsivity and lack of planning that has quickly come around to bite him. On the other hand, Trotz’s quick trigger-finger meant that he didn’t wait around for things to get better when that clearly was not in the cards.
Just 12 games into last season, with the Preds sitting at 4-7-1, Trotz took to the media to express his frustration and voice his willingness to pivot.
“We will be limited a bit because of some of the contracts we do have,” he told 102.5 The Game in Nashville. “If we don’t get it going, then I’m going to start our rebuild plan.”
The 2025 Off-Season to Now: Purgatory
After the work he did as a seller and at the 2025 Draft, the Predators are in a weird spot. The roster is still aging, expensive and underperforming. They’re 4-4-2 to start the 2025-26 season, on the outside looking in of the playoff picture early, and they’re scoring just 2.6 goals per game.
There are solid young players in place like Luke Evangelista, Fedor Svechkov and Matthew Wood, but it’s hard to see a future franchise player anywhere on the team’s current roster.
At the same time, Trotz and his scouting team have bolstered the prospect pipeline. After a lauded 2025 draft haul that featured three first-round picks, Daily Faceoff Prospect Analyst Steven Ellis ranks Nashville’s system 12th in the NHL.
“The Predators have quickly built one of the most dangerous pipelines in all of hockey,” Ellis wrote.
More is on the way, too. Trotz has acquired extra picks in the second and fourth rounds in 2026 to go with two extra third-rounders and an extra fourth-rounder in 2027.
But even if it is a big help, Trotz was not hired to build the 12th-best prospect pipeline and accrue excess draft capital. He was hired to win and continue to keep Nashville relevant in the greater hockey landscape.
It’s no easy task, but the best small-market organizations are able to achieve both feats at the same time. Look no further than what the Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, and Utah Mammoth have spent the past several years building.
Competent, additive management is about patience and knowing when to push the chips to the middle; building a window of contention and then actively ensuring that it stays open.
Last year, Trotz acted quickly to make sure that the Predators would not be both uncompetitive in the present and without any sort of hope or asset base for the future. If he does not develop a long-term vision that is not just about vacillating between buying and selling based on recent performance, Nashville might end up there anyway.
_____
POST SPONSORED BY bet365