David Poile, the only general manager in Nashville Predators’ history, is retiring after this season, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Tennessean on Sunday.
Poile, the NHL’s winningest GM and a U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer, will be replaced by former Predators coach Barry Trotz, the third-winningest coach in NHL history, effective July 1. In the meantime, the 60-year-old Trotz, who spent the first 15 seasons of Predators history as the team’s coach, will serve as an advisor to Poile.
When Trotz takes over, Poile will shift into an advisory role to the new GM.
Poile, the longest tenured active GM in the league and the third-longest in league history, became the winningest general manager in league history when he earned the 1,320th victory of his career in March 2018. Poile was 1,519-1,162-192-176 in his career going into Sunday.
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Poile joined the expansion Nashville Predators in 1997 from the Washington Capitals and presided over the 2017 team that made the franchise’s only appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. Poile was named the NHL’s GM of the year in 2017. The next season, Nashville won the only Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history after compiling the best record in the regular season.
The Predators have made the playoffs 15 times under Poile, including the past eight seasons.
Trotz was 551-479-60-100 in 15 seasons as Predators coach, and made the playoffs seven times. After he was fired by the Predators, Trotz spent four seasons as head coach of the Capitals and four more in the same position with the New York Islanders.
He won a Stanley Cup with the Capitals in 2017-18 and was named NHL coach of the year in 2015-16. His 914 wins put him third all-time in NHL history behind Scotty Bowman and Joel Quenneville.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: David Poile, Predators GM, to retire; Barry Trotz will replace him
