Last night the Predators were eliminated from postseason contention for the second straight year. After the game Shea Weber said that “something needs to change,” and he just may get his wish.
Jim Diamond posted a fantastic article today about how it seems the writing is on the wall for Barry Trotz. Go read it right now.
A few highlights:
It’s not a tremendous leap to conclude there is major concern when a typically hands-off ownership group steps in to ask how the ship plans to be righted.
An owner, or ownership group in this case, does not all of a sudden ask the man in charge of their hockey operations for such a plan if things are going well and they have no concern about the direction of the hockey club.
Many have been screaming until their throats were raw about the organization seemingly unwilling to get involved and make a change. At this point, it looks like they are just as fed up with it as the fans are. Diamond goes on to confirm what many have speculated: that Trotz is in the last year of his contract and it expires on June 30th. There’s almost no possible way of extending him given the state of the team.
By parting ways with Trotz, Poile buys himself some time. Let’s face it, when ownership is looking for change, if you are not the one who makes it, you are likely the one who will be changed. The non-hockey side of operations has the ear of ownership just as much as Poile and his crew do, and they are doing more than whispering their ideas on how things should be changed to the owners.
We’ve debated whether both Trotz and David Poile should be relieved of their duties practically all season. It looks like Poile will come out of this unscathed for now. One has to imagine his seat is getting uncomfortably warm, and he will be under an even bigger microscope during the draft and offseason. Poile has done a decent job making up for mistakes he’s made, (looking at you, Matt Hendricks) but he won’t be able to make those mistakes again. If ownership is willing to step in an relieve the coach, it may be only a matter of time before the GM is next.
It’s kind of hard to fathom that Nashville has been under the same leadership for 15 years. But at the end of the day they owners need people to walk through the doors of Bridgestone Arena. Many of you have repeatedly said how you wouldn’t be doing so if there wasn’t a change made. It looks like you all are going to get your wish.