David Poile Steps Down, Barry Trotz to Replace as Nashville Predators GM
By Chad Minton
Seemingly out of nowhere, David Poile is stepping down as General Manager of the Nashville Predators and Barry Trotz will “immediately” take over duties, per a report from Elliotte Friedman:
Big breaking story out of Nashville: after 26 years as the Predators’ architect — the most consistent presence in franchise history — David Poile is retiring from President of Hockey Operations & GM position, effective June 30. Expectation is he will remain in a consulting role.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 26, 2023
Trotz wont’ get the official title until later this summer, but the fact that he is getting a say in trade deadline moves immediately says that maybe the talks had been ongoing behind closed doors. More will come out on this as statements from the team come out.
Poile Stepping Down, Trotz In as Nashville Predators’ 2nd GM in Franchise History
With the trade deadline rumors already swirling around the Nashville Predators, this bombshell announcement from Poile just makes things even more unpredictable.
Poile is reported to have a consulting role alongside Trotz.
Poile has the most wins as a general manager in NHL history with 1,519, and over 3,000 games with the Nashville Predators.
Many will likely focus on the recent shortcoming of the Nashville Predators, including some bad contracts and trades, but Poile was a huge ambassador to growing hockey in Tennessee when the Nashville Predators joined the league in 1998 as an expansion team.
The Predators have made eight-straight playoff appearances, but things have grown sour in recent years with underperformances in the postseason and the team going backwards. The calls for the franchise to move on from their only GM in history were growing louder and louder.
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Trotz is a massive fan-favorite and has enormously strong ties to the community. How this affects Head Coach John Hynes’ job security, and what type of priority Trotz has on the roster in comparison to Poile will be intriguing to watch unfold. And we might see it as soon as this week.
With the news so fresh, let’s pay respect to David Poile for giving it everything he had to this franchise and doing a ton of great things to grow the sport in the Middle Tennessee region. His time had come to an end, and it looks like he recognized that.
Happy retirement to David Poile.
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