The Nashville Predators have been a team that has to play in a flow the last few seasons, and nothing breaks that up like the Olympics.
When players return from the once-in-four-year international tournament, the NHL season will get back underway after almost a month off the ice. It might turn out to be Andrew Brunette's biggest test as a coach.
The Predators have recovered from a disaster of a start this season and, at the Olympic break, sit on a record of 26-24-7 for 59 points. That puts them in 5th place in the Central Division, but only 4 points back of a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Wild Card race is very much in play for the Predators, and a hot start will do a lot for helping the cause.
Therin lies the rub. In all three seasons as the Predators' head coach, Andrew Brunette has had a failure to launch. In his first season, 2023-24, the team opened 4-5. In 2024-25, they managed just a 3-6-1 record. This year, the opening month saw the Predators post a 4-6-2 record.
Added up, that's 11-17-3 in the opening month of the season. When you are supposed to have a roster at its healthiest, when you've had the most time to practice, and everyone should be as prepared as they could possibly be for the year. The Predators have fallen short of expectations in three consecutive seasons, and the coach certainly has to bear some responsibility for that.
With the Predators knocking on the door, Bruno might find himself in a situation where he is coaching for his job. A new GM is going to take over sooner rather than later. If you've missed the playoffs in the previous two years, and are all but guaranteed to start slow next season, whoever the new hire is might make the move to bring their guy in immediately.
Brunette will face pressure as younger talent enters the lineup
You may critique a lot of what Barry Trotz has done, but he's brought in a lot of draft picks and subsequently gotten a lot of talent into the Predators pipeline. With top prospects waiting in the wings or developing in the AHL, you're going to want to put them in an ideal NHL scenario. This is likely the last chance that Andrew Brunette is going to have to prove that he can do that.
His task won't be easy. The Predators are going to be playing a compressed NHL schedule, as the league tries to catch up on games so the playoffs start on time. That means 25 games in just a 7 week span. The Predators are going to play 4 times in a week in 4 of those 7 weeks.
If the team struggles or can't find consistency, they'll surely miss the playoffs. If that happens, then you'd have to imagine that Andrew Brunette could find his seat unbearably hot. If the Predators fall out of the race quickly, he just might not make the end of the year.