Poile put 'fingerprints all over' Predators en route to Hall of Fame as Builder, Trotz says

Barry Trotz first met David Poile when he was invited as an undrafted defenseman to Washington Capitals training camp in 1982, which was Poile's first training camp as general manager. That was the beginning of a long relationship that included Trotz working for Poile as an assistant and coach of Washington's American Hockey League affiliates in Baltimore and Portland (1990-97) before Poile hired Trotz as the first coach of the expansion Nashville Predators, a position he held for 15 seasons (1998-2014).

Here Trotz, who succeeded Poile as Predators GM after he retired June 30, 2023, shares his thoughts on Poile, who will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a Builder on Monday, in a special testimonial for NHL.com:

If there is a more fitting title for David Poile than Builder, I don't know what it is.

When you look at what David did with the Washington Capitals after taking the job there in 1982 and building the Nashville Predators after they entered the NHL as an expansion team in 1998, it takes a lot of work, a lot of dedication, a lot of hours, a lot of planning.

As David would say, the Poiles are planners, and he always thought everything out and looked at the big picture.

I remember David telling me the story about the Rod Langway trade with the Capitals. He was a rookie general manager and traded two of the fans' and the owner's favorite players, Rick Green and Ryan Walter, to the Montreal Canadiens to get Langway, Brian Engblom, Doug Jarvis and Craig Laughlin. He made the deal and then walked out on the balcony and said, "I hope I know what I did."

That trade transformed the Capitals from a team that had not qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs into one that did for 14 consecutive seasons and was always a threat.

When David took the job with the Predators, he turned down an opportunity to work for an established team. I think he loved the fact that he could mold the team into his vision. Sometimes you go to existing teams and the on-ice product is something you mold, but he had an opportunity to mold the entire organization.

I said when I took this job that every time you come to a game in Nashville, and I know there were a lot of people like CEO Sean Henry and people before Sean who had an influence, but David's fingerprints are all over this franchise and they will be forever. There's lots of things that have allowed this franchise to become a top franchise now, but it doesn't get to this point without all the heavy lifting that David did.

The biggest challenge at the start was just getting enough talent. The expansion rules were the old-time rules where teams would get to protect most of their players and then if there were older guys or guys that were in the minors, you might get them. When I went scouting, I met most of the guys that we ended up having on our team.

I didn't see them on the ice as much I'd have liked to. I ran into them in the press box a lot of times. The Scott Walkers and people like that.

The best advice David gave everybody that year when it came to acquiring players was, "We'll make some deals. Those are ones that are going to pay the biggest dividends for us but take chances. We shouldn't be too good based on the talent we'll have but take some risks on people.

"If a guy has the knock that he's too small but he's a really good player, take a chance on him, because the worst-case scenario is it's not going to work out. But we're not going to be that good, so we get to try things. Try things that are outside the box."

So we picked up Kimmo Timonen (5-foot-10, 194 pounds) in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings (June 26, 1998) and selected Karlis Skrastins from Latvia in the 1998 NHL Draft (ninth round, No. 230). Latvia didn't have a lot of players in the NHL at the time. And we took a chance on Tomas Vokoun, who was down the goalie depth chart for the Canadiens. Those guys ended up being really good acquisitions for us.

We ended up being good teams for what we had. We were always more than the sum of our parts. We were going up against the Detroit Red Wings, who had eight or nine Hall of Famers, and we're not beating them all the time, that's for sure. But we didn't make it easy on them and we always worked and created a culture on shoestring budgets.

I remember the first time we made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2004. I think Detroit's payroll was, like, $72 million and ours was, like, $17 million. David always adjusted. It was just his patience and being organized.

From all that I know and all that I saw in my early years in Nashville, if David is not at the helm, I'm not sure this franchise makes it. A lot of people had to step in when they were going to sell the team, but I know David had a lot of influence. When the team was on life support, David brought it back to life.

David has always loved the game and loved being a part of the game, so when he says being an NHL general manager was his dream job, I truly believe that. He loved the daily challenges and the building process of being a GM.

We talk about David building teams, but he was also a guy who built people. Everything I've done in the game and everything I have in life is in some way attributed to David's time in Washington or in Nashville, so I'm more than thankful. I almost don't know how to express it.

There are so many good people that David hired, and he helped mold their careers.

David still helps me as a senior adviser for the Predators. He's been really good. I can phone him any time and talk. He'll usually come in and chat.

He always apologizes and says he doesn't want to intrude, but I'll say, "No, I want you to give me a bird's eye view. You have so much more experience than I do. You've forgotten more than I know."