Barry Trotz Always Believed in His Nashville Predators Team

Nashville Predators General Manager Barry Trotz felt good about his team entering the season. In his first season as a general manager, he knew his team would give the fans something to cheer for each night. And he was right.

Speaking with Full Press Hockey before the season started, Trotz said, “It was going to be a fun year in Nashville. We have a team people are going to want to watch.”

Making the playoffs might have been a stretch, but here are the Predators back in the Stanley Cup playoffs. But here the Predators are. And, through two games in the series, the Predators probably should be up 2-0 heading back to Nashville.

However, the series is tied at 1-1, and Nashville is playing with all the belief that they can win this series. The Predators are doing it with the right guys in the room. And when we say right guys, we are talking about character guys.

Barry Trotz moved out Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen and brought in Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn, and Gustav Nyqvist. He wanted his team to play a certain way, and with the addition of Andrew Brunette as the head coach, the Predators would be built in his vision.

The Predators have been playing playoff hockey since the second half of the season, and it shows on the ice. An 18-game point streak of 16-0-2 allowed the Predators to secure the first wild card spot and change the direction of what the Barry Trotz and the Predators would do at the NHL Trade Deadline.

Adding players like Jason Zucker and Anthony Beauvillier at the deadline has sparked the Predators. Beauvillier and Zucker played vital roles in the Predators’ Game 2 victory. Beauvillier, especially, has a knack for the playoffs dating back to his days with the Islanders.

“I coached against Beau enough and we were in the bubble and played in the playoffs against him, and he was really good, really effective,” Brunette said after the game. “It was a hard transition for him I think coming in here. We were rolling and you’re trying to fit him in a little bit and you kind of want to break up different lines. You try to get him in and accustomed to the way we play. It’s a little different. It’s a little uncomfortable, so I think it took him a little while, but I thought he had a great response tonight. And to get that secondary scoring for us was huge.”

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As with Beauvillier, it took some time for the Predators to come around to Brunette’s system, but they are playing with a lot of confidence. As the games get deeper into the series, Nashville will have to continue to muck things up and close games out a little better.

“We put a game away, but it’s not always going to be pretty. It’s going to be muddy. Game 1 was the same thing. It’s a muddy game, and (the Canucks) do a good job defending, Brunette said. “We’re gonna have shifts in our own zone. It’s not going to be perfect. I think we have some work to do a little bit, but at the same time that’s good for our group.”

Defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who played in two Stanley Cups and three trips to the finals with the Tampa Bay Lightning, knows it only gets harder. You have to improve each time. You may not win every game, but their play has to be consistent from game to game.

“That’s the level that we needed to raise from Game 1, that’s what we talked about,” Predators defenseman Ryan McDonagh said post-game. “So, that’s a great sign and we’re going to need to just keep building on that. And obviously we probably spent a lot of time in our zone, but it doesn’t have to be pretty at this time of year and our group will be better next time in those situations.”

The Predators are also on the right side of the goalie advantage. No Thatcher Demko for the Vancouver Canucks for the immediate future. Usually, the Nashville Predators have lost their number-one goalie entering the playoffs. It is a big reason why they failed in previous playoff appearances.

The belief is there with a healthy Juuse Saros and Nashville at full strength, like in 2017 when the Predators went to the Stanley Cup Final.