How Nashville Predators' video coaches are unseen, but they see everything

The Nashville Predators have two members of their hockey staff with an outsized influence over how the team prepares for each game.

And you’ve probably never seen their faces or heard their names.

“They’re the engine that runs a lot of our group,” coach Andrew Brunette said. “They’re both unbelievable and they make our job a lot easier.”

Assistant video coach Lawrence Feloney and senior video coordinator Andrew Meloche are mostly kept to the back rooms of the Predators‘ coaching offices, but their reach goes much further. As video coaches, they help Brunette and his staff with pre-scout reports, special teams breakdowns, faceoff tendencies, and ways to attack goaltenders that become crucial in game planning.

“I think (they’re) the best in the business,” Brunette said.

Lawrence Feloney, Andrew Meloche crucial in Predators’ preparations

NHL teams have employed video coaches since the availability of on-demand video exploded in the early 2000s. Teams still send in-person scouts as reconnaissance for upcoming matchups or to gather information on potential trade targets, but video coaches have become essential.

Feloney was named assistant video coach in 2010, when current general manager Barry Trotz was still behind the bench. Among other things, his job requires creating video packages to illustrate the tendencies of upcoming opponents.

“(Feloney) presents to the team before every game about what he sees,” Brunette said. “We work in coordination with each other. We put a game plan together and talk about it, but he runs point on a lot of those things, which is very helpful for our staff.”

Feloney is the only assistant coach to have worked with every coach in Predators franchise history: Trotz, Peter Laviolette, John Hynes and now Brunette.

“(Feloney) has been doing it for so long, he picks up on all those little things,” Brunette said. “When we game plan, (he is) really good at understanding our game.”

Meloche, who works under Feloney as the senior video coordinator, joined the team during the 2017-18 season. His job is to track scoring chances and puck battles, among other things.

Brunette appreciates Meloche’s eye for developing visuals that communicate key talking points.

“(Meloche) does a lot of really cool things graphically,” he said. “Today’s athlete, a lot of times, they prefer visuals with highlighting and coloring. All the high-end stuff with visual presentation to the group. Us coaches, we aren’t really good at that, we’re from the dinosaur age.”

Predators’ Brunette trusts video coaches for in-game challenges

NHL coaches can request video challenges for potential offside, goaltender interference or a missed stoppage of play. These challenges come with risks — a failed challenge results in a delay of game penalty, putting your team down a skater for two minutes — but the Predators trust their video team to give them the best chance.

Feloney and Meloche are on standby with video playback in case of a close play. So far this season, they’ve helped overturn two goals for goaltender interference.

“They’re on it right away. They’ll radio down to either (assistant coach Derek MacKenzie) or (assistant coach Darby Hendrickson) either to say, ‘Hey, maybe use your timeout here because we need some more time’ or they’ll say right away to challenge it,” Brunette said.

One example was Oct. 13 against Ottawa, when defenseman Jake Sanderson scored on Juuse Saros to give the Senators a 1-0 lead. After hearing from his video coaches, Brunette challenged for goaltender interference.

The challenge was successful — there was irrefutable evidence that a Senators player made contact with Saros in the crease prior to the score — and the goal was taken off the board. The Predators went on to win 4-1.

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Brunette said their ability to act quickly with accurate information gives him an advantage few coaches have.

“They’re usually bang-on,” he said. “There’s times that you challenge things for maybe different reasons, but usually their information and detail is excellent.”

Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Predators’ video coaches prepare Andrew Brunette for game day

How Nashville Predators’ video coaches are unseen, but they see everything

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