Poile gifted custom guitar by Predators at start of 2023 NHL Draft

NASHVILLE --David Poile is ready for a life of semi-leisure in the Music City.

The retiring president of hockey operations and general manager for the Nashville Predators was sent off in style at the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday.

As part of the going-away celebration, Poile was gifted a one-of-a-kind, custom Gibson guitar from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, retired Predators goalie Pekka Rinne and current Predators captain Roman Josi.

"Thank you for this gift, it is beautiful, " Poile said from the stage before the draft started. "Nashville thank you for the greatest 26 years in my NHL hockey career."

The 73-year-old is stepping down from his position, handing the reins to Barry Trotz, who was the first hire of the franchise and coached the Predators from 1998 to 2014.

Poile is presiding over his 40th NHL draft, his 26th with the Predators. Only Harry Sinden of the Boston Bruins (28) and Lou Lamoriello of the New Jersey Devils (27) have more seasons as GM of a team. Poile has the most wins (1,533) and games (3,075) among general managers in League history.

Poile will serve as an adviser to Trotz but plans to slow down and pursue some opportunities and hobbies that had been placed on the backburner during more than five decades in professional hockey.

RELATED: [Video: David Poile presented with custom built guitar]

Perhaps sitting in with bands with his shiny new ax at some of the famous honky-tonks on Broadway, a slap shot away from Bridgestone Arena, will be on the agenda.

His Les Paul guitar was painted a blue and gold, the colors of the Predators, which Poile has served since they entered the League as an expansion franchise for the 1998-99 season. The guitar has several easter eggs built into the design, including gold-plated, laser-etched logos of the Predators and the NHL on the fret board. Many of his accomplishments with the Predators were baked into a plate on the back of the guitar. The finish of the guitar is a washed-out blue color, designed to mimic the denim of blue jeans.

"This build was fun, because typically on a day-to-day basis, it's us coming up with [ideas]," said Nathan Thorpe, demo shop team lead at Gibson Brands, Inc. "For this build, we got to interact and get feedback from [the NHL]. And that was a fun collaborative effort that we normally don't get to take part in. It was a lot of fun to kind of bridge those two companies. To me, on this project, that was the fun thing to have that back and forth."

The idea behind the guitar was born at the 2016 NHL All-Star Game here where the players taking part in the game were given custom-made guitars by Gibson as a gift and Poile expressed how cool an idea it was.

Thorpe and his team built the guitar on a tight deadline, but there was no denying the craftsmanship in the final product. He also said that making a keepsake for Poile, the revered face of hockey in Nashville since Day 1 of the franchise, inspired his group.

"We had to hit the ground running," Thorpe said. "We actually had the right guitar and the right materials around. It's always fun. I mean, that kind of gets the team energized, right when you have that deadline. We love that. That's kind of exciting to us.

"A lot of people don't know what we do, but we are we're kind of like the secret department] of Gibson. We do all these cool secret projects. And it's going to be cool for our shop to get some of that notoriety and a little bit of our name out there. I know my guys are going be really excited. We're all proud of this project."