Barry Trotz continues to be adamant that he’s not firing coach Andrew Brunette, with the Nashville Predators general manager believing that the current state of the team should not fall only on the coach.
The Predators (6-12-4), who allowed a goal 11 seconds into the first period of an 8-3 loss to the Florida Panthers at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Monday, are last in the NHL. They finished 30th last season (30-44-8).
“I need more [expletive] from them,” Trotz told The Tennessean on Monday. “I need more.”
Trotz has said before that Brunette’s job is safe, and he made clear that he is putting the blame on the players. Nashville is last in the League in goals per game (2.32) and 30th in goals against (3.68).
“I’m watching the game systematically,” Trotz said. “I know who makes mistakes. When the puck is on someone’s stick and they pass it right to [the other team], that’s not [Brunette’s] fault.”
Brunette is in his third season as Predators coach. They qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the first wild card in 2023-24 (47-30-5), losing to the Vancouver Canucks in six games in the Western Conference First Round. Trotz famously canceled a team trip that season to see U2 at Sphere in Las Vegas, after which his players responded with an 18-game point streak.
“What did I do a couple years ago when they weren’t playing well? What did I do?” Trotz said. “I said you’re not [expletive] going to see [expletive] U2. Then it became a little of the ‘F-U’ tour, instead of U2. It got them to say, screw you.”
Trotz said he should not have to fire the coach to make the team play better.
“Over the next few weeks across the League, someone’s getting fired. You’re going to see it, it’s just going to happen,” he said. “And what you’re going to hear out of every [expletive] player is, ‘Oh man, we just underperformed, he was a really good coach, we’ve just got to be better.’ And it takes everybody off the hook. They go, ‘Well, it was him, not us.'”
Trotz added that it comes down to the players giving more, including the players getting “greasier” and making sure they get in front of the net. His two big forward signings after the 2023-24 season — Steven Stamkos (four years, $8 million average annual value) and Jonathan Marchessault (five years, $5.5 million AAV) — have scored four goals each this season.
But the GM admitted there may be more action needed, albeit not firing the coach, should things continue going in the wrong direction.
“We’ve got some pieces,” he said. “The roster is not perfect. Some of that is, a little bit, the roster construction. I’ll take responsibility. I think the coaches take a little bit and I think the players do, too. Everything is a partnership.”
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