Barry Trotz Threatens His Team in New Interview: Nobody is Safe as He Considers a Massive Rebuild
Barry Trotz isn't happy with the start that his Nashville Predators are off to this young season, and the general manager hinted he's ready for a possible rebuild.
Their general manager, Barry Trotz, did little to dissuade impressions that the Nashville Predators might be on the cusp of a rebuild if they can't improve from their lousy 4-7-1 start to the season. After spending $111 million on free agents Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, among others, to make a deeper playoff run, the Predators have yet to find their footing. That such a notion is being discussed this early is a surprise to many, considering how proactive Trotz was during the off-season to get their roster into some respectable shape.
Since taking over in July 2023, Trotz has walked a tightrope between competitiveness and preparing for the long term. As he said to 'The Tennessean', it's not quite as simple as just committing to a rebuild. That's a three-year window where he said the team will be collecting draft picks and prospects en masse, but he's committed to trying to keep the Predators competitive in the present, too, knowing he can't put the fan base through an extended rebuild period.
Trotz has a core of maybe 10-12 young players with Tanner Molendyk, Andrew Gibson, Teddy Stiga, Reid Schaefer, Joakim Kemell, and Matthew Wood on it. And there will be more perhaps. With just one or two of these players even 20 years old, there is a lot of time for things to work out. But that's the problem in this timeline as it applies to this current roster continuing to struggle. That's Trotz's goal, to accelerate the process of those prospects, and get a competitive core in here without having a full teardown.
Currently, a large area of concern is the second line of the team, since Nashville has shuffled players like Tommy Novak, Juuso Parssinen, and Colton Sissons to see who fits best at center. An option for Trotz may well be to make a trade and get that position shooed up in order to complete his roster and give more depth to the offense. He was thrilled to have head coach Andrew Brunette work on making the team competitive, but some players are working subpar, and Trotz will have to make changes to the roster.
What Barry Trotz described as a rebuild is less of an active decision than it is a contingency plan. He's trying to balance developing the young talent within his roster while tending to the competitive culture, keeping present struggles offset against future potential. Whether it will be enough depends on the current roster's ability to rebound and as the prospects' progress toward becoming Nashville's next core stars.
