Despite another disappointing start to the season, Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz still seems hesitant to push the team into rebuild mode.
“We’re in that transitional phase,” Trotz said in an interview on “Conversations & Coffee” with Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas, published Nov. 15 on YouTube. “I don’t want to say a rebuild. We sort of are, but I just call it a build. We’re starting to build.”
The interview, filmed by the NHL as part of the Global Series in Stockholm that the Predators and Penguins played in, had Trotz and Dubas talking about the current state of their teams.
After explaining his transition from coaching to the front office, Trotz described how he has seen the Predators’ roster evolve since he took over in 2023.
“The first year, we really over-achieved in terms of our record,” he said. “We thought we’d be in for three or four years of pain. We really didn’t have any pain for sort of the first two years, but last year was painful. Expectations went really high.”
After making the playoffs in Trotz’s first season, he stunned everyone by spending more than $100 million on free agents in 2024, including Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei. It ended up being one of the worst seasons in franchise history as the Predators finished 30-44-8 (68 points).
“We tried to extend it, went to free agency, as you know,” Trotz said. “Got some of those veteran players, but also picked up draft choices. Now we’re just trying to wait for them.”
In the past 12 months, Nashville has dealt Luke Schenn, Gustav Nyquist, Colton Sissons, Jeremy Lauzon and Alex Carrier in an attempt to build draft capital and get younger. That has led to a “transitional” phase, as Trotz sees it.
“The cupboards were bare, we’re trying to fill the cupboards and now waiting is the hard part. Because everyone wants it immediately,” he said.
Trotz mentioned 2023 first-round picks Matthew Wood and Tanner Molendyk, as well as 2025 first-round pick Brady Martin, as early returns on the transition period, but still sees playmaking up the middle as a glaring need.
“I’m trying to build. I’ve got some shooters. I need some playmakers, I don’t have enough playmakers. If you’d give me Sid(ney Crosby) or (Evgeni) Malkin for a little bit, I think they could be a little more productive,” Trotz said, joking with the Penguins’ general manager.
While Nashville (6-10-4, 16 points) has added to its prospect talent pool, those big contracts from 2024 loom large. Stamkos, Marchessault, and Skjei are among the team’s highest-paid players, and their contracts include no-movement clauses. The team added veterans Erik Haula, Michael Bunting, Nicolas Hague and Nick Perbix during the summer, preventing younger prospects from testing their NHL mettle.
This has led to a near-repeat of last season’s start. Thee Predators are struggling to score, aren’t much better on defense and have lost six of their past seven games to fall to eighth in the Central Division.
The Predators face the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 22 (7 p.m. CT, FanDuel Sports Network) at Bridgestone Arena.
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.