After 26 years as Nashville Predators general manager, David Poyle will retire on June 30 and be replaced by former Predators head coach Barry Trotz. the team announced on Sunday.
Poyle, 73, has served as the Predators’ general manager since their inception in 1997 and has become the most successful general manager in NHL history with 1,519 regular season wins.
Since the team’s first season in 1998-99, Poyle has steadily turned the Predators out of an extended franchise. In the 2016-17 season, Nashville reached the Stanley Cup Final under Poyle’s supervision, and the team won the President’s Trophy the following year.
However, since that season of the Presidents’ Trophy, in 2017-18, the Predators have not won a single playoff series and have only five playoff wins. With Nashville in danger of missing the playoffs entirely for the first time since 2013-14, Poyle will retire this summer.
“This decision is the best for me personally and the best for the Nashville Predators,” Poyle said in a statement. “For Predators, I think it’s time for a new voice and a new direction. I am proud of the foundation we have laid in our hockey operations by investing in and improving every area of the department. This is the right time. for someone else to move our franchise forward.”
The change will be a sort of homecoming for Trotz, who was hired by Poyle as the first head coach in Predator history. Trotz spent 15 seasons as head coach at Nashville and led the team to the playoffs seven times, posting a 557–479–60–100 record.
Pual will remain on Predators as a consultant, and he will immediately become involved in the process, helping Trotz transition to his new role. Trotz said working under Poyle in Nashville has prepared him to become a general manager and his goal is to take the franchise to new heights.
“I cannot thank David enough for not only passing this job on to me, but also for teaching me so much over the past 40 years,” Trotz said in a statement. “I believe I am ready to succeed as an NHL general manager and I have David to thank for that. I will work hard for David’s team for the next four months, and when I become general manager on July 1, I promise to do everything in my power to lead our franchise to the first ever Stanley Cup.”
Trotz was fired by Nashville in 2014 and became head coach of the Washington Capitals the following season. Trotz coached the Capitals for four seasons and led the franchise to its first Stanley Cup in 2018 before leaving to coach the New York Islanders.
In four seasons with the Islanders, Trotz went 205-89-34 and led the team to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals in 2020 and 2021. Trotz was fired by the Islanders after the 2021–22 season, when the team finished fifth in the Capital Division and missed the playoffs.
Source: www.cbssports.com
