Where do Nashville Predators go from here after Barry Trotz announces his stepping down?

The first word I think of when hearing the news that Barry Trotz is stepping down as General Manager of the Nashville Predators is "blindsided".

Early on Monday, multiple reports came out that Trotz was stepping down as GM of the Predators organization, but will remain in the position until a replacement is found.

Barry Trotz came in with a lot of flare and made some really bold moves that just didn't yield the optimal results for the Nashville Predators

Trotz came in as GM of the Predators with a lot of hype and popularity among the fans considering he was the franchise's original head coach and took this team to new heights as a perennial playoff team. Not to mention he has always been a class act and very candid in his press conferences.

But unfortunately it has just been a very bump road for Trotz as GM of the Predators after taking over for the franchise's only other GM, David Poile, in July of 2023.

Despite the franchise trending in the wrong direction since Trotz took over the front office, no one saw this coming so abruptly and first foremost, is health was my main concern. That has thankfully been cleared up as not health unrelated.

Trotz made serious noise for the Predators when he made his bold push for Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei in the offseason of 2024. That was followed by nearly the franchise's worst season in their history, stumbling to 68 points.

And here we are now in the first week of February and the Predators sitting just narrowly out of a playoff spot and Trotz makes this decision to step down. The timing is baffling and it can't help but make you wonder what is really going on. If it's part of Trotz's personal life, then obviously that is none of the public's business on why. After all, we are all humans in the end and Trotz deserves that grace and privacy.

There is a press conference scheduled at Noon local time to address questions on this decision. Owner Bil Haslam made it clear in the press conference that Trotz is still "our guy for the trade deadline" right now.

Haslam also made it clear that a search for a new GM will go past just the Assistant GM and they're going to start with a search committee that Trotz will be on.

For now, the Predators will have to block out the noise and focus on the task at hand while in this congested playoff push for one of the Western Conference's two wildcard spots. The team's next matchup is against the St. Louis Blues at Bridgestone Arena on Monday night, the day of Trotz's annoncement to retire.

Not only do these players have to deal with their GM unexpectedly stepping down in the middle of a playoff push, but they also have the trade deadline approaching fast and rumors circulating all around that players are up for sale.

Finding a way to focus on hockey between the lines and blocking out the outside noise will be an extraordinary task for this team. It will be on the veteran leadership to lead the way, like Captain Roman Josi, Steven Stamkos and Filip Forsberg.

As for potential replacements to Trotz, you naturally first have to think about Brian Poile who is the current Assistant General Manager and son of David Poile. This appears to be the most logical pathway forward for the franchise, even if the fans probably strongly disagree. Who knows, but I suspect we'll get more answers on that in the press conference. At the very least, Haslam wants to have a full search.

What went wrong for Trotz as Preds GM,and also what went right?

I do think that Trotz was in a little over his head. Per PuckPedia, Trotz has made 51 total signings and traded 22 players away in his short tenure that hasn't even reached three years.

And to be fair, the jury is still out on if the Stamkos signing was actually a great move, at least until we see how this season closes out. Same goes for Marchessault, which we need to wait and see what kind of trade value the Predators get in return. We can also be more confident that the Skjei signing hasn't been good and won't get better.

Trotz has made some good signings as well; Nick Blankenburg got a two-year deal from Trotz in July of 2024, and that has paid dividends. Trotz also orchestrated the big extension to Juuse Saros for eight years at a $7.740M annual cap hit. Again, the jury is still way out on that one.

On Day 1 of Trotz's GM tenure the franchise signed Ryan O'Reilly in free agency, and that has undoubtedly in my mind been a great pick-up. That will especially be true if the team finds a team willing to overpay for O'Reilly at this trade deadline.

And that brings me to my final point about this shocking scenario about Trotz, and that is what does this mean for the upcoming trade deadline? This is just speculation on my part, but it signals to me that a heavy sell-off is looming regardless of the position in the standings.

This franchise obviously needs a hard reset and to really do that, they're going to have to sell heavy and trade away some key contributors to this playoff run. If the team falls out of the playoff race due to trading away some of these players, then so be it.

It just really feels like a new era of Predators hockey that we've never seen before is about to happen, and this franchise is probably about to enter a long rebuilt period. Just look at this organization's center depth if you don't believe me, because it is probably the worst in the NHL.

You just can't avoid this any longer; make wise trades to stock the cupboard for the long-term future and let the chips fall where they may in terms of the playoff race.

I'll wrap it up with this; I have full respect for Trotz to make this incredibly difficult and unselfish decision right now. No ego, just caring about this franchise and the long-term health of it. He has always been top class and my view of him only got stronger that he's that type of leader.