This was rather unexpected, even though Nashville is a falling down the standings. The Nashville Predators have made headways as their legendary GM David Poile announced he’s stepping down, leaving Barry Trotz to take over and become the new GM.
An era has ended in Nashville. Literally.
David Poile is not only the first and the longest serving GM in Nashville Predators history, but he also has the distinction of being the longest reigning GM in the NHL today.
No other team or GM, including Don Sweeney (2015-now) with the Boston Bruins, Doug Armstrong (2010-now) with the St. Louis Blues, Kevin Cheveldayoff (2011-now) with the Winnipeg Jets, and Jarmo Kekäläinen (2013-now) with the Columbus Blue Jackets, have served longer with a single franchise than Dave Poile (1997-2023) has with the Nashville Predators.
In truth, only Art Ross (1924-54) with the Boston Bruins and Lou Lamoriello (1987-2015) with the New Jersey Devils have served longer as the GM of a single franchise than Polie.
So, in other words, Dave Poile was the sole face of the Nashville Predators organization from its inception…until now.
Now, it’s not really too surprising that Poile, who is 73 years old, will step down at the end of the season as he’s obviously done all he can with the Predators organization, but the timing is.
The season is still not over yet as the Preds have another 25+ games left to play, while they are currently in a fight to just make the playoffs with them sitting in 5th in the Central on 62 points. It just seems strange for this news to leak while the Predators still have a chance to compete for one final playoff run. Though, maybe Polie wanted this news to leak as he has done enough for this organization already.
Yes, he wasn’t able to win the Stanely Cup, but he did help guide them to within two wins of the prize in 2016 (lost 4-2 to Pittsburgh Penguins), won the 2018 President’s Trophy, he became the all-time wins leader (1,319) as a GM, and has built one of the most stable teams over the last 15 years.
Obviously, one can’t compare his achievements to those of the legendary GMs I listed above (i.e.: Lamoriello, Ross), but his ability to turn an expansion franchise into one of the most successfully run teams in all of the NHL in just 26 years. If that seems like a long time, then you should look at the records of the other franchises that came into the NHL with the Preds in the 1990’s and early 2000’s.
The Columbus Blue Jackets (est. 2000) have yet to make it past the 2nd round, the Minnesota Wild (est. 2000) have only made it to the Conference Finals once in 23 years, the Florida Panthers (est. 1993) just won their first playoff series last postseason for the first time in 20+ years, the Atlanta Thrashers (est. 1993) were relocated to Winnipeg because of poor fan interest and woeful mismanagement, the Anaheim Ducks (est. 1993) did win the Stanely Cup in 2007 but have been sporadically successful since, and the Tampa Bay Lighting (est. 1992) and San Jose Sharks (est. 1991) have been extremely well-run teams.
My point is that the Predators had just as great of a chance to end up like the Atlanta Thrashers and Florida Panthers (two expansions teams with terrible fortune) as they did the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks (two expansion teams with a decent amount of success). And a big reason why the Preds have survived and thrived as an NHL franchise in Nashville, Tennesse is due to Poile’s guidance.
Fortunately for Preds fans, the man replacing Poile has just as much experience with the organization as he did as Barry Trotz (Preds HC: 1998-2014) was the first and the longest serving HC in Predator history. The transition from Poile to Trotz should be as smooth as taking a dump after eating a prune.
Though, he has massive job on his hands to turn the Predators back into a playoff-caliber organization with them currently drifting away from the playoff race with teams like the Colorado Avalanche, Seattle Kraken, Winnipeg Jets, and Calgary Flames all boasting of 4+ point leads over Nashville.
So, this transition might not be as seamless as Preds fans might think if Trotz can’t flush out the mediocrity and regression that has constipated the team in the recent years.
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