Poile, Preds Evaluating the Future During Rookie Camp

David Poile looks at these few days as a perfect time to see what he has "in the cupboard."
In attendance to watch the Predators rookies hit the ice at the 2018 NHL Prospects Showcase in Estero, Florida, the Nashville general manager has been pleased with what he's witnessed thus far. It's hard not to be positive with a 2-0-0 record and five goals scored in each contest, but there's much more to it than just putting the puck in the net.
While Poile and his staff - including Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette - have just about every option available to them during the season when it comes to checking in on the top prospects in the organization, nothing beats seeing them in person.
In that sense, three games across four days in a tropical locale is just about as good as it gets for all involved.

"A lot of times, [some of our NHL coaches or management] have never seen these kids live," Poile said. "It gives them a chance to make a decision on whether they think any of them are warranted to try and have a really good chance to make the Predators, or just even getting in one preseason game. The games are important, and if I had my choice, it's always better to win than to lose."
Poile's group will go for a clean sweep of the tournament on Tuesday morning when they face Washington at 10:30 a.m. (CT), one last chance for the rookie camp participants to show they deserve a second look when they return to Nashville for main training camp later this week.
"There's nothing that substitutes for seeing a player in person," Poile said. "For example, you see some of the guys in Milwaukee, they had a year last season where they didn't make the playoffs… This tournament is really important to see how they're playing here to determine whether we think they're truly prospects, or maybe they're not as good as we thought they were. There's a lot of value in these games to someone like myself."

The two players on the rookie roster with perhaps the highest expectations are defenseman Alexandre Carrier and forward Eeli Tolvanen, both of whom have seen NHL action with the Preds in past seasons.
Carrier's opportunity came back in January of 2017, and just because he didn't get a shot on the Nashville blue line last season doesn't mean the organization thinks any less of the captain of the prospect squad.
"Carrier appears to be sort of the leader of the pack," Poile said. "He certainly, to me, has jumped out possibly a little bit ahead of everybody else on defense, which bodes well for him to get games in the preseason."
Then there's Tolvanen, a player the Predators have been high on ever since they called his name with the 30th overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. Through two games and 10 combined Nashville goals this weekend, Tolvanen has yet to find the back of the net.
Of course, the 19-year-old Finn would prefer that wasn't the case, but while some may look at Tolvanen's lack of point production in this tournament as a negative, Poile doesn't necessarily see it that way.
"A lot of people want to grade him on whether he scores or not, but I think we're looking for his skating ability, his defensive play - as much as anything, I think a lot of times people probably forget that if you're a defensive liability, it almost doesn't matter how good you can be and how good you are offensively," Poile said. "I think Tolvanen, based on a couple of games here, has still put himself in a really good position."

Tolvanen, Carrier and the rest of their rookie teammates will all head back to Nashville on Tuesday night in advance of the opening of main training camp on Thursday, the time when they'll get to test themselves against full-time NHLers.
In a way, Poile feels the prospects will almost be better than the veterans at the start, having participated in these three contests ahead of time. And although the GM and his staff have their ideal blueprint mapped out already, there's no telling what could happen before the season opener on Oct. 4.
After all, in 37 years of management, Poile has learned never to discount what's in the cupboard.
"You can say what you want, like you think we have this, you think you have that, but you never know until it all comes together," Poile said. "We haven't made that many changes, so in theory, there shouldn't be that much different. But, you're a year older, a year wiser, and did we learn some things from last year and can we be better? That's really what I'm thinking right now.
"We've been so close the last couple years, but obviously not quite good enough. So, can we be better? That's what we're going to start finding out on Thursday."