![]() The Predators star forward received an eight-year contract that started last season. Young, skilled players like Evangelista and Tomasino will be chosen to have more prominent roles. Brunette doesn't have the same talent to work with in Nashville, but he can inject some new strategy. It was evident in his first year as head coach when the Panthers were an offensive juggernaut, and many players had career years. While Hynes was more cautious in his approach, Brunette likes for his team to take more chances. Brunette will bring a new look to their offensive system, a welcome change from Hynes. The Predators offense was their biggest struggle in 2022-2023, notably their power play. Many believed that the Panthers would name Brunette their head coach due to his success, but they hired Paul Maurice as their head coach instead. Brunette led the team to a 51-18-6 record and the President's Trophy but was swept in the second round of the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was the interim head coach in Florida in 2021-2022 after Joel Quenneville resigned seven games into the season. ![]() ![]() Andrew Brunette has one season of head coaching experience under his belt. The Predators fired John Hynes in the offseason, replacing him with Andrew Brunette. How Andrew Brunette changes the Predators The Predators have been a contender for years, so Trotz is probably trying to avoid taking over the team and immediately struggling. While Poile may have had the vision of rebuilding the team, it's obvious that Trotz didn't. Trotz's first duty was the signing of O'Reilly and Schenn. His last duty as GM was the 2023 draft, and then handed the reins to Trotz. David Poile was the team's general manager since they entered the league and finally retired after the 2023 season. The best explanation is that Barry Trotz comes to the team as a first-year general manager. While they come in at a lower annual average salary, it is hard to understand why the Predators didn't opt to keep Duchene instead. The Predators are now stuck with four years of O'Reilly and three years of Schenn. The pair had previously played with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the speed of the playoffs was a problem for them in the Eastern Conference. Then, the Predators inconceivably went out during the free agency period and signed Ryan O'Reilly and Luke Schenn. Philip Tomasino, Luke Evangelista, Cody Glass, and Dante Fabbro would step up to help the next era of Predators hockey. They let aging star Ryan Johansen walk and settled in for a core of Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, and Juuse Saros. They bought out Matt Duchene, a valued contributor to the team but on a contract worth a little too much money. The Predators came into the offseason with a plan to rebuild/retool their roster with prospects and cheaper contracts. Why did the Predators sign O'Reilly and Schenn? Let's look at the Nashville Predators storylines going into the 2023-2024 season. The one clear thing is a team with Juuse Saros and Roman Josi as their anchors believe they still have a chance to contend. They were set up for a rebuild but put more veteran contracts on the books. The direction that Nashville intends to go is unclear. However, the team bought out their leading scorer amongst the forwards, as Matt Duchene found himself in Dallas. Roman Josi was his usual superstar self last season, and the emergence of Tommy Novak and Cody Glass as contributors was a welcome addition. It was confirmed that the rebuild was paused by signing Ryan O'Reilly and Luke Schenn in the offseason. It seemed they were on the way to a rebuild, but the team went 13-9-2 to close the season and almost snuck into a playoff position. The team threw the towel at the trade deadline, trading away Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter, Mattias Ekholm, and Tanner Jeannot. The Nashville Predators didn't make the postseason in 2022-2023, marking the first time in eight years.
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