The Nashville Predators are the talk of the hockey world. Many believed that changes were coming once the team got back from Sweden and the Global Series after playing the Pittsburgh Penguins in a two-game set.
This would have been the week to do it since the Predators had a week off between games, but as General Manager Barry Trotz explained on 102.5 ESPN Radio in Nashville, a coaching change isn’t coming because that would be the easy way out.
“I believe our coaches have done a really good job. Our record may not show it, but they are coaching their butts off,” Trotz said when asked about why the coach hasn’t been fired yet. “And it’s the easy thing to as I said in the past. It’s the easy thing to do. This is a shared responsibility among the players, myself, and the coaching staff.”
And Trotz is owning the fact that his signings of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei have not brought the desired result for the Nashville Predators that he hoped for. As he said, there is shared responsibility for the team’s underperformance over the last two seasons. Because if Trotz felt the players weren’t listening to the coach anymore, he would make that change.
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“So our plan hasn’t changed, and the coaches, the management, and even the players have been part of the plan we are in a bit of a blend mode, and we were going to add some young guys,” Trotz continued. “So that’s my answer to that. It’s that it’s the easy thing to do. If I didn’t think the coaches were coaching, trying to make the players better, and putting in the time and effort, then I would make a change; that’s not anything little bit, as it falls on all three parties.”
The additions of Marchessault and Stamkos were good in theory. Since it is hard to score goals in the league, you add 40-goal guys to the mix. However, the Predators needed a center to get these guys the puck. And like the rest of the teams in the NHL, they are looking for centers as well.
“Well, I would say, especially at center ice. I think that’s something that we all tried to fix, but we were unable to. So there, as you see, there’s not a lot of movement at the center ice position throughout the league,” Trotzed added.
It is an interesting time in Nashville for the Predators as they try to blend young players and veterans. The problem is that the Predators don’t have those players in the lineup right now. Trading for those players isn’t easy. When David Poile was the GM, he lucked into Filip Forsberg when he traded Martin Erat to the Washington Capitals.
But Trotz is looking to do what the Washington Capitals have done: retool on the fly. He doesn’t want to tear it all the way down and play young players who aren’t ready. These GMs saw what happened in Detroit and Buffalo and don’t want to endure decade-long rebuilds.
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However, Nashville could have been in that position already had they instead of signing Marchessault, Stamkos, and Skjei, given players like Philip Tomasino, Tommy Novak, Dante Fabbro, Cody Glass, Yaroslav Askarov, Alexandre Carrier, Eeli Tolvanen, and Yakov Trenin a chance to succeed in the correct positions before trading them away for players that weren’t as good or draft picks that may or may not make the NHL.
And that is why, despite the Nashville Predators being in trade rumours, Trotz, like most NHL GMs, wants player-for-player deals, and that’s hard to come by. And if a retool on the fly is going to happen, it doesn’t sound like those players with no-movement clauses will be traded anytime soon.
“None of the players with no-movement clauses have asked to be traded,” Trotz added. “Everybody’s been on board. From that standpoint, everybody’s been on board. Now there’s a lot of noise out there, and a lot of it is coming from the media. There’s everything from Andrew Burnette to Filip Forsberg. He’s not going anywhere.”
Now, Forsberg and Roman Josi aren’t going anywhere; those are the only two untouchables at this moment. Are the rest of the players open for business? At some point, Jonathan Marchessault might want out. What about Steven Stamkos? Could a return to Tampa Bay be on the horizon?
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Not to mention, with every team needing a center, Ryan O’Reilly is a wanted man. Again, every team needs a center, so it is a seller’s market. Prices are high because these teams don’t like futures to remain competitive since it is a year-to-year league.
But the Nashville Predators need the right vision. Matthew Wood, being an everyday player, is a start. Keeping Luke Evangelista around for now is a good thing, but that mindset should have started earlier. Brady Martin will be good one day. But he needs time.
There were a lot of missteps recently in the history of the Nashville Predators, and they could be headed toward another one if they don’t change their direction.
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