1. Lack of adjustments
One of the things Brunette has been accused of on multiple occasions has been not adjusting his system well enough to his personnel. His coaching style is predicated on speed, long passes up and down the ice, and the overall 200-foot game, and that obviously did not work with a Predators team that was super slow.
While Brunette has oftentimes not changed much in terms of his style, what he has been quick to change on numerous occasions are the forward lines and defensive pairings. That has driven so many fans crazy, and even those within the organization seem to have noticed.
Jonathan Marchessault talked at the end of the year about how the Predators tactics clearly did not work, and that he wishes there were more adjustments made. Even Barry Trotz came out and said that he had asked Brunette to try some different things related to his coaching.
It does not sound encouraging, but even still, it does not automatically mean that Brunette is a bad coach and should automatically be fired. Coaches can always learn different lessons, and with him only having 3 years as a head coach under his belt, he is still relatively new to the job, and I am sure Trotz has empathy for that very thing.
Additionally, one thing I always like to point out, especially as it pertains to this argument, is Brunette's track record in the NHL. When you look big picture, he had a President's Trophy winning season in his first ever as a head coach when took over a few weeks in, and he got way more out of last year's Predators than anyone ever thought possible.
If you do not want to count Brunette's first season quite as much, it is fair, it was early in the season and that team had a ton of talent, they were expected to be great regardless of head coach. Even still, to come in and instill your system after the season started and pick up from where they left off is not an easy task.
But look at what he did with the Predators in 2023-24 with a bad roster, they had two separate hot streaks, one of 13-3-0 and 16-0-2, and got 99 points in the standings. Additionally, he got a crazy career year out of Gustav Nyquist, a career-high points season out of Colton Sissons, and Jeremy Lauzon took a big step in his development under Brunette's watch.
A lot of fans will not like to hear this, but when you have shown to have a strong body of work like Brunette did in his first two years, you get a little leeway in terms of adjustments. Plus, it does not hurt to think about it from his perspective either.
If you as a head coach have done well in your career with your tactics, would you not have conviction that how you operate works well? Plus, with how many personnel issues the Predators had in 2024-25, which were far bigger issues, it is understandable why coaches might be slow to adjust under such circumstances.
And of course, the Predators were certainly not x or y amount of Brunette adjustments away from being a good team. Would that have gotten them 10-15 more points in the standings? Maybe, but certainly nothing that would have saved the season from being a huge disappointment.
With all of these factors to consider, it is understandable why Brunette is getting another chance to come back behind the Predators bench and right the ship. The ask now is for him to learn a lesson or two about challenging his philosophies even when he does not have an optimal roster to work with.
Once again, Trotz did talk about the importance of making adjustments, so hopefully he is right that Brunette has done some soul searching and really will be better in this area going forward.