David Poile Sees 'A Path Forward With a Bright Future' for Predators

Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations & General Manager David Poile held his final end-of-season press conference on Monday at Bridgestone Arena.
Flanked on either side by Special Advisor/Future General Manager Barry Trotz and Head Coach John Hynes, Poile shared his thoughts on the 2022-23 season, his vision for the future and the transition of power as he prepares to retire at the end of June.

"Our first goal every year at the beginning of the season is to try to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs and to give ourselves a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup," Poile said. "When we entered the start of the season, I think we were very optimistic."
Indeed, there were plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the Predators heading into the 2022-23 season. The team had returned all of its core players from the previous season, not to mention the key offseason additions of Ryan McDonagh and Nino Niederreiter. Several young players had emerged during the 2021-22 season, raising expectations for 2022-23.
The first half of the Predators' season, however, did not go as expected.
"Our goaltending was very solid with [Juuse Saros] and [Kevin Lankinen] but we were not producing at 5-on-5," Poile said. "Our power play, which was so good a year ago, was really struggling. Last year, multiple players had career years, and most players were having trouble replicating that this year. Some of our young players who had played so well were really having a tough time producing. It felt like every time we took a little bit of a step forward during the season, we'd fall back. I never really felt in these first 50 games that we were in the playoff race. We seemed to always be playing from behind, either on the scoreboard or in the standings."
Poile was faced with a number of difficult decisions approaching a trade deadline that ultimately saw him move core players like Niederreiter, Mattias Ekholm and Mikael Granlund, while bringing in new pieces, prospects and several draft picks. Around the same time, Poile announced that he would be retiring as GM and that Trotz would be taking over effective July 1.
"When we announced Barry as our incoming GM at the end of February, together, we went to work on restructuring our team," Poile said. "It was time to prepare a path forward. It was a time to create more opportunities for younger players. It was an opportunity to add more draft picks and prospects. And it was also a great way to create some cap space and flexibility going forward for our team."
Unfortunately, while they were in the throes of trade deadline moves, the Predators were hit hard by the injury bug. Alexandre Carrier sustained an upper-body injury that ultimately ended his season; Ryan Johansen had season-ending ligament repair surgery; Filip Forsberg and Roman Josi suffered concussions; and the list goes on. Enter the aforementioned young players and call-ups.
"All those guys played hard," Poile said. "They brought energy. They brought excitement to every game, and they produced through it all. We had elite goaltending; Saros and Lankinen - especially Saros - were just outstanding for us…Remarkably, we got back into the playoff race and we played meaningful games until the last few days of the season. I'm very proud of that. I thought that was just fantastic."

The Predators ultimately fell short of their playoff goals this season, but their strong push down the stretch gives plenty of reason for optimism and confidence in this team moving forward.
"The last 15 or 20 games were really fun," Poile said. "And that's what we're wanting to have here. We want to be excited. We want to make our fans excited. The last 15 or 20 games, our energy returned in our locker room, on the ice, in the stands; it was fun to watch. Fans knew that [the players] were playing with the maximum effort and they were buying into what the coaches were asking them to do [with] determination and commitment. Kudos to our coaches, staff and our players for what we saw over the last 15 or 20 games. So while we missed the playoffs, we have a renewed sense of optimism and hope for the future."
Although many of the specifics remain uncertain for next year and beyond, Poile outlined three key truths that we know today:
The Predators have elite goaltending.
Nashville's goaltending tandem of Saros and Lankinen has been rock-solid this season. Saros in particular put together one of the finest seasons by a goaltender in Predators history.
After being named a Vezina Trophy finalist last season and earning the 11th-most votes for the Hart Trophy in 2020-21, Saros is arguably the primary reason why Nashville remained in the hunt for a playoff spot until last Tuesday despite a barrage of injuries and a young, inexperienced lineup in front of him.
At the end of the season, the 32 NHL general managers will vote to determine the winner of the Vezina Trophy, given to the goaltender who is "adjudged to be the best at this position."
"I don't know how many first-place votes Juice is going to get," Poile said. "But I can guarantee you he got one."
The Predators have strong veteran leadership.
The Preds returned several members of their veteran core from last season, including Josi, Matt Duchene, Johansen and Forsberg. They also added veteran blueline talent in McDonagh and Tyson Barrie.
Poile gave credit to McDonagh, Barrie and Colton Sissons as key veterans who rose to the occasion when the team needed leadership down the stretch amid a slew of injuries to their core players.
"They're going to be healthy next year," Poile said of those players. "And then when they return next year they're going to be productive leaders both on and off the ice."
The Predators have a number of young prospects with bright futures.
Poile says it all the time: The road to Nashville is through Milwaukee. And this season saw the Predators call up more players from the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals than anyone would have anticipated earlier in the season - 15 to be exact. Additionally, six players made their NHL debuts with Nashville this season - Egor Afanasyev, Yaroslav Askarov, Luke Evangelista, Jake Livingstone, Juuso Parssinen and Spencer Stastney.
Several players aged 25 and younger - Parssinen, Evangelista, Tommy Novak, Philip Tomasino and Cody Glass, among others - not only played for the Predators down the stretch; they were key contributors on offense.
"Sometimes it requires a little bit of patience," Poile said, referring to the development of young players. "Sometimes you need to go back to Milwaukee to grow a little bit more. We all saw the difference in the second half of the season with these types of players."
Poile announced prior to Monday's press conference that the Predators had
reassigned seven players to Milwaukee
to assist in the Admirals' quest for the AHL's Calder Cup. The playoff experience, Poile said, will only help to develop these players further.
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With the 2022-23 season officially behind them, Poile, Trotz and the rest of the Predators front office will begin to set their sights on next season. The process begins with exit meetings held with players, coaches, staff and ownership to review organizational structure and discuss plans going forward. Then, the preparations will begin for the 2023 NHL Draft, which will be held right here in Nashville.
"As I step away, I believe the franchise is positioned for future success," Poile said. "We have the right people in place with Barry at the helm and those around him. With the moves that we recently made at the trading deadline, we have 13 draft picks this year, which is the most since 2003… The recent trades, as I said before, brought us draft picks and prospects but also created cap space and flexibility for the next season and maybe for the next few seasons, which I think is very important."
Transitions take time, and they are rarely easy. Still, as the only GM in franchise history, Poile feels confident in the team and the organization as he hands the reins over to Trotz.
"There is a path forward with a bright future for the Nashville Predators," Poile said. "It is going to be a process; it's going to take some time. I ask our great fans to give us a little bit of patience. But I also encourage our great fans to enjoy the ride. As we saw in the last 15 games, it's going to be fun. It's going to be great to come to games. It's going to be great to watch our players grow and develop and ultimately get back to where we want to be."