2. Young guys have not had much success
Admittedly, development of the young guys is an area where Brunette has had arguably the most trouble in his time as head coach of the Predators. Fans do not need any more reminders on what has happened to guys like Cody Glass, Philip Tomasino, Juuso Parssinen, and Dante Fabbro.
Tomasino and Fabbro especially have looked much better on other teams, so it just seems as if something is not right with how the Predators are doing things. Coaching absolutely deserves blame when you see something like this going on, but it is honestly hard to figure out how much of it is on Brunette or Trotz.
Trotz is the one who has gotten rid of these guys for virtually nothing, absolutely nothing, or in the case of Glass, actively gave up assets to move him away from the team. And the Yaroslav Askarov situation had absolutely nothing to do with Brunette, that was all Trotz and his mismanagement.
He has spoken about these players similarly to how Brunette has, so it seems as if they are like-minded in this area, but maybe he is giving some guys away because their value has been depressed so badly under Brunette's coaching?
Either way, it is a bad look for the Predators and something that likely would not look nearly as bad if coaching of these guys was better. Even for all the troubles, the team still has a decent few young guys with bright futures as we speak.
First year reviews were positive for both Fedor Svechkov and Adam Wilsby, and even Luke Evangelista had a strong finish to 2024-25. Most of the fans and media even liked what they saw from Nick Blankenburg and Zachary L'Heureux, as well as Justus Annunen, although the conversation around him is a little different since he is a goaltender.
The Predators are also hoping to see steps forward from guys like Ozzy Weisblatt and Joakim Kemell in 2025-26. Even though Justin Barron showed several issues that need to be fixed moving forward, but the team is hoping that he too can be a part of the solution moving forward.
Some might see that as cherry picking a little, given that many of these guys have not had true success yet, and some have had some real struggles thus far. And the nine guys just listed, none of them are supposed to be transcendent talents, so there is that as well.
Even still, all of these guys still have a chance to carve out successful careers in their own right, and in Nashville. Again, maybe they will not be true franchise changing superstars, but them failing to get to that point would not be an indictment on coaching, that would be due to player talent limitations.
I am sure not all of those guys will ultimately work out, but if we can see some positive steps forward from most of them next year, we might feel better about Brunette overseeing their development. But if we see more of the same as in the past, it will be hard to keep defending him and the potential that he might get better as a head coach.