In what you can call putting a stamp on the 2021-22 season for the Nashville Predators, the team had their very telling press conference with GM David Poile and Head Coach John Hynes on Thursday.
It was a press conference full of interesting and very telling quotes, particularly from Poile as he explained his thoughts on where he feels his Nashville Predators are heading, what they accomplished last season, and most importatly what they have to do this offseason to get better.
Poile came off very unfiltered and honest in this press conference to reflect on 2021-22. He didn’t hold back, and to his credit gave soem really long responses. Nothing was what you would call brief about this press conference.
It was also officially announced that Hynes will be getting a contract extension of two more years, and Poile had a lot of praise for the job Hynes did getting this team back to the playoffs despite so many hurdles since he came on in January 2020.
You can view the entire press conference at the team’s offcial website.
Poile takes a lot of the blame for Nashville Predators struggles
Perhaps the most eye-opening quote of the entire presser came from Poile in regards to his job as a general manager to bring the talent level to the roster, and Hynes not having what he needed to be fully successful in the postseason:
Poile continued: "John deserves this. I'm responsible. I haven't given him enough to win in the playoffs."
— Robby Stanley (@RStanleyNHL) May 19, 2022
A pretty raw quote from your general manager, and one that many were already thinking for the past four postseasons when the Predators lost in the first rounds to the Dallas Stars, Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche.
Poile also stated that there is still a gap between the Predators and teams like the Avalanche, which there was no way he was going to spin that any other way. So at least he was brutally honest.
Was a vision for next season laid out?
As thoughtful as many of the answers were, I didn’t get a whole lot of substance as far as how things are going to change other than Poile did admit that the team needs to add a few players to “raise the talent level”.
The Predators are going to have the cap flexibility this offseason to make a big signing if they choose that route. It really comes down to adding players externally to this roster that will maximize the production from current players, which Poile mentioned.
Poile in particular brought up making players like Ryan Johansen and Mikael Granlund better by adding players this offseason, and also Hynes mentioned that the second line showed some weaknessess.
Something tells me overall the status quo will be kept going into 2022-23, which isn’t what anyone wants to hear. I’m just nervous that this team is overly satisfied with just making the playoffs and they’re not going to take the necessary risks to rebuild this roster into an eventual Stanley Cup contender.
I wrote shortly after the Nashville Predators were swept by the Avalanche that they have a blueprint from the team that just swept them. The Avalanche went through a gradual rebuild and now they are consistently competing for Stanley Cups.
Anything new on Forsberg?
It’s been the elephant in the room since December; the ongoing contract negotiations with Filip Forsberg. It will be a major stain on Poile’s legacy if he loses Forsberg for nothing when free agency opens up in July.
All that we really got out of this press conference in terms of Forsberg is that both sides have mutual interest, according to Poile.
Another interesting note from Poile was in regards to him not deciding to trade Forsberg at the trade deadline, stating that the team woudn’t have made the playoffs if they had traded him.
This comes off as somewhat of a confusing stance to have considering at another point Poile clearly stated that the team is missing a few pieces before they can compete in the playoffs. So again, are we just satisfied enough at just making the playoffs? I sure hope that’s not the case.
Lots of praise for Hynes
As for Hynes, I thought he came off very positive and has a pretty clear plan for what he wants out of his team moving foward. I appreciated the openess about what he saw from the his team last season, and how he admitted the team struggled over the last 20 games or so of the regular season.
Hynes broke down the season into 20-game segments, saying that the second segment of the seaosn was when the Predators played their best hockey, but the team struggled in what he called the most difficult portion of the regular season, the last 20-games segment. I think we can all agree with him there.
So Hynes is getting two more years to prove that he can get this team over the first-round hump. This is fair considering what he walked into after Peter Laviolette. But he needs to show us this team is making serious strides to do better in the postseason in year 1 of this new contract extension.
Until this team shows the fanbase that they’re consistetly returning to the top of the Western Conference like they were in 2018, and some seasons before that, the criticism will continue to grow on both Poile and Hynes.