Predators' Trotz: Team to retain head coach Brunette
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Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz told reporters Monday that the team will stick with head coach Andrew Brunette for next season.
"Andrew Brunette, to me, is a good young coach. That's why I hired him. He's a good young coach, had a tough situation this year in terms of our team, maybe our make-up, how we came together or didn't come together," Trotz said Monday.
"Good young people when you believe in them, just like a good young player, you stick with them."
Trotz said he likes that Brunette will serve as an assistant for Team Canada under head coach Dean Evason at the IIHF Men's World Championship later this month, saying he believes Brunette will add a couple tools to his toolbelt.
After a big offseason where the Predators signed free agents Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei, Nashville struggled when play started, finishing third from last in the NHL with 68 points and a 30-44-8 record.
In his first year with the team in 2023-24, Nashville went 47-30-5 and made the playoffs before bowing out in six games to the Vancouver Canucks in the opening round. Under Brunette, the Predators have gone 77-74-13 in 164 total regular season games.
The 51-year-old started his post-playing career as a special assistant to the general manager in 2012-13 with the Minnesota Wild. After seven seasons in Minnesota, he moved on to the Florida Panthers, where he was hired as an assistant coach. He took over as the interim head coach on Oct. 28, 2021, after Joel Quenneville resigned.
After Paul Maurice was hired as the head coach in Florida, Brunette spent the 2022-23 season as an associate coach with the New Jersey Devils before being hired by the Predators as their bench boss.
Brunette played 1,110 career NHL games, scoring 268 goals and 733 points with the Washington Capitals, Wild, Atlanta Thrashers, Predators, Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks.