Nashville Predators extend coaching staff through 2010-11 season

This comes from John Glennon at the Tennessean:

General manager David Poile said Thursday he told the coaches shortly after Thanksgiving that the team had chosen to pick up the option years for 2010-11, and added an option year for 2011-12. Terms of the new contracts have not been disclosed.

"Our coaches are doing a really good job and our record is really good,'' said Poile, who did not make public his decision at the time.

"There's certainly no reason I would want to go in a different direction and they felt the same way about staying. We've got a good group right now.''    

This of course, continues the trend of stability at the top of the organization, as Barry Trotz is the only head coach in team history. A steady hand at the tiller is one of the reasons that the Predators persistently punch above their weight in the NHL.

I'm sure, given the continued poor performance of the power play, that there will be some criticism of an across-the-board extension like this. As I said recently in the piece on Marcel Goc:

Nashville's goal-scoring in 5-on-4 play is worst in the NHL, after ranking 3rd-worst last season and 8th-worst in 2007-8. An already bad PP is getting worse, not better, and it's time to look for some novel solutions.

Often, situations like that end up with an assistant being sent packing, but we haven't seen much change in the power play setup in recent times. Something, however, must be done, now that a coaching change is out of the question.