Poile makes last trade as Predators GM before retirement

NASHVILLE -- David Poile got emotional. Barry Trotz and Tom Fitzgerald nearly cried.

"Me and 'Fitzy' both welled up because of what David means to both of our careers, really," Trotz said.

Holding back tears and smiling along the way, the three people who were here as leaders of the Nashville Predators at the beginning, their first general manager, coach and captain, completed a trade in the seventh round of the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bridgestone Arena that brought a fitting close to Poile's long, celebrated career in hockey.

New Jersey traded the 218th pick to Nashville, meaning Poile's last trade as an NHL general manager was made with the Devils' GM who was also the first player to sign with Poile and the Predators on July 6, 1998, when Fitzgerald was also named captain.

Poile is retiring effective Friday. He was Nashville's only GM until he named Trotz as his successor Feb. 26.

And with the last pick, he announced Aiden Fink, a right wing from Brooks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League who is entering Penn State as a freshman in the fall.

RELATED: [Complete 2023 NHL Draft coverage]

Everyone on the draft floor and those left in the stands and on the media risers stood and applauded. Poile waved. Trotz and Fitzgerald nearly cried.

"What happened in the seventh round, it felt really good," Poile said. "It's closed. If there's going to be a book written, that should be the last chapter, the last page of the book.

"It hit on every possible note."

But it nearly didn't.

"Barry mentioned to me that he had a deal and can do it with 'Fitzy,'" Poile said. "I said, 'No, I've got a better pick than that.'"

Poile was arranging with Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion to acquire the 215th pick while Trotz was planning a trade with Fitzgerald and the Devils for No. 218.

"I went to David and I said, 'David, I just traded our seventh,'" Trotz said. "He says, 'So did I.'"

Fitzgerald said he even sent an assistant over to make sure of the trade.

"I sent my cap guy over and he walked back and said, 'Uh, I think it's on hold,'" Fitzgerald said. "Then they came over and said, 'No, we did it, it's good.'"

It was because Trotz pulled his first power play on his former boss, telling him the trade he arranged with Ottawa was off.

"I said, 'Well, I've got to trump you on this one,'" Trotz said. "He said he already made it, but I said I am going to go back to Pierre and we're going to make the deal with 'Fitzy.' And we did it."

Poile said, "As soon as he told me 'Fitzy,' I said, 'OK, I got it.' This is a much better story."

Trotz said Dorion told him he initially wanted to be the last GM to trade with Poile because he knew that's what the late Bryan Murray would have wanted. Murray, the former Senators GM, was the first coach Poile worked with in the NHL, from 1982-90 with the Washington Capitals.

Murray died of colon cancer Aug. 12, 2017.

"I said Bryan will be looking from up top and he would want the circle of life type of thing, this synergy to happen," Trotz said.

The funny thing is Fitzgerald said at first he didn't even realize the magnitude of what was transpiring when Trotz approached him about making the trade.

He said it didn't dawn on him until Devils senior vice president of communications Peter Albietz told him that there was going to be an announcement that Poile's last trade will be made with his first captain and that cameras were going to follow him to the Predators' table.

"Then I called my wife and I started tearing up," Fitzgerald said. "I'm pretty emotional about it. It means a lot to me to be asked to be part of something special in this human being's life and what he's provided for the game. I was like, 'Wow, how big is this?' Pretty cool. Very cool."

Trotz and Poile both said they didn't know anything about Fink, the player they picked, but his name will always now be linked to Poile and Predators history forever.

"Aiden Fink, I'm certainly going to be cheering for you," Poile said.

Trotz added, "Man, he's got a lot of pressure."