Predators Sign Hynes to Two-Year Extension

No major changes will be coming behind the Predators’ bench in the near future. 

On Thursday afternoon, Nashville Predators GM David Poile announced that the club has agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension with coach John Hynes, keeping him locked in with the team through the 2023-24 season. 

Hynes was hired by the Predators on Jan. 7, 2020 after former coach Peter Laviolette was let go, leading the team to playoff appearances in each of his three seasons as coach and amassing a 92-64-10 record in 166 regular-season games. 

While today’s news certainly demonstrates the Predators’ commitment to Hynes as the man they want to lead their roster, it doesn’t mean the stakes haven’t been raised, either. 

Hynes has won just three playoff games during his time in Nashville — none of which came this season. 

The Predators barely squeaked into the postseason in 2021-22 with a 45-30-7 record as the lowest-seeded team in the Western Conference. And after the Colorado Avalanche handily swept them in four lopsided games of their first-round series, the pressure is now on Hynes to ensure the Predators don’t repeat such a drubbing next year, with the expectation likely being to finally win a round. 

It remains to be seen whether Hynes can do that. 

But with his shiny new extension and a vote of confidence from the organization’s brain trust, he’s been given all the tools to make it happen. 

Now all he has to do is go out and prove it.