The Nashville Predators stole the spotlight during the NHL’s Free Agent Frenzy on July 1, investing over $100 million to acquire star forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, as well as defenseman Brady Skjei.
General manager Barry Trotz is optimistic that these key additions will propel Nashville toward its first Stanley Cup run in franchise history.
Trotz appeared on TSN1050’s OverDrive on Wednesday to discuss the Predators’ significant free agency moves, the team’s expectations, and potential lineups for the upcoming season.
“I want to bring the Stanley Cup to Nashville – I always wanted to do it as a coach, and I think I failed, so I’ve got a responsibility to arm my coach with as many tools as possible to bring a cup here,” Trotz stated.
Trotz, the first head coach in Predators’ franchise history in 1997, led the team to seven playoff berths in 15 seasons. He is the third-winningest coach in NHL history with 914 wins.
On June 30, 2023, the 61-year-old Trotz was announced as the general manager of the Predators, following David Poile’s retirement earlier in the year.
Trotz mentioned that his approach to free agency as a GM is similar to his approach as a coach, except for having “less patience.”
This was evident in the swift signing of Stamkos, who had spent 16 years with the Tampa Bay Lightning and captained them to two Stanley Cup titles.
“By no means did I ever envision that a day like today would happen, but it did,” Stamkos said on July 1. “It was definitely a bitter pill to swallow when it really started to materialize that it wasn’t going to work in Tampa.”
Despite expectations that Stamkos would take time to consider his next move after ruling out a return to Tampa Bay, Trotz quickly executed his pitch.
“I think he saw what we were doing in Nashville, how we treated people in this city, all the things we had to offer,” Trotz said. “I think it made a lot of sense for Stamkos to make the move to Nashville.”
Nashville qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs as the first wild-card team but was eliminated by the Vancouver Canucks in six games.
Last season, they finished 10th in scoring with 3.24 goals per game. Trotz prioritized upgrading the team’s offensive firepower during the offseason and believes he has effectively addressed this need.
“The priority was to add some more offense to our team, especially our forward group, and I think we were able to do that, obviously, getting two 40-goal scorers,” said Trotz.
Stamkos, who scored 40 goals and 81 points last season, and Marchessault, who tallied 42 goals and 69 points, are not only elite scorers but also Stanley Cup winners and proven playoff performers, which Trotz highly valued.
“We always look for serial winners. Obviously, getting a captain in Stamkos and getting Marchessault, who was a playoff MVP just like Ryan O’Reilly is, those Conn Smythe type of guys are valuable for their lessons from their journeys,” he explained.
“I think what you’re going to see is we fixed our top six… It looks like a better hockey team on paper, but you’re going to need the buy-in, you’re going to need the understanding of the workload, the commitment from all the players to have success.”
