Trotz Saying The Right Things For A Coach (But The Wrong Ones For A GM)

The Nashville Predators currently sit in last place in the NHL with a 6-12-4 record. They finished 30th last season (30-44-8). And Barry Trotz remains adamant that the players –– not the coach –– are to blame.

“I need more [expletive] from them,” Trotz told The Tennessean on Monday. “I need more.”

Trotz has said before that head coach Andrew Brunette’s job is safe, and his latest comments indicate that that hasn’t changed.

“I’m watching the game systematically,” Trotz said. “I know who makes mistakes. When the puck is on someone’s stick, and they pass it right to [the other team], that’s not [Brunette’s] fault.”

Trotz is right about one thing: the Predators’ problems do not fall solely on Brunette. This roster isn’t scoring, isn’t defending, and isn’t showing enough pride in the details. That’s not coaching in a vacuum — it’s personnel, commitment, habits, leadership, roster construction, accountability… all of it.

On paper, Brunette didn’t suddenly forget how to coach a power play or run a transition-heavy system. And yes, Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault having four goals apiece by late November is not what Nashville paid for.

But even if Trotz’s assessment isn’t wrong, the way he’s saying it absolutely is.

This is where the disconnect lies: Barry Trotz, the coach, could say these things. Barry Trotz, the general manager, can’t.

Not anymore.

The GM Has a Different Job — and a Different Audience

When Trotz was behind the bench, his job was to deflect, shield and insulate. His job was to be the wall between the roster and the outside world. Back then, blocking out the noise was part of his DNA. He could take aim at players publicly and call out effort because he was the one whose job was on the line alongside them.

But as a GM, Trotz no longer stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the team on the bench. He’s no longer the heat shield. He’s the architect. The decisions are his. The weaknesses are his to solve. The messaging reflects on his stewardship, not his willpower.

And right now? Trotz sounds like a coach desperately trying to revive a struggling group — not a GM who needs to show solutions upstream.

**The Messaging Problem: It’s What Trotz Isn’t Sa**ying

Trotz’s frustration is understandable. Watching players throw pucks into traffic, hang Juuse Saros out to dry, and lose battles they’re paid to win? Of course he’s furious. Predators fans are, too.

But Trotz’s comments keep missing crucial context fans need to hear:

Roster construction is a Trotz project. If the team lacks overall speed, defensive structure, center depth, or net-front presence, that’s not on Brunette.
The post-2023-24 pivot toward “veteran leadership” hasn’t translated to consistent play. That’s not on Brunette.
The team still doesn’t have a first-line center. Not on Brunette.
The defense has regressed two seasons in a row. Not on Brunette.

When Trotz deflects too heavily toward the players, the message reads as: “I built a good team. You all are ruining it.”

Whether or not that’s what he means, that’s what fans hear.

He’s not entirely wrong — Brunette has made questionable choices, the team does float between systems, and the players’ compete level has dipped into the unacceptable.

But in the public arena, the balance is off.

The U2 Story Was Cute the First Time… Now It’s a Crutch

The Predators qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the first wild card in Brunette’s first season behind the bench in 2023-24 and lost to the Vancouver Canucks in the first round. Trotz famously cancelled a team trip that season to see U2 at Sphere in Las Vegas, after which his players responded with an 18-game point streak.

“What did I do a couple of years ago when they weren’t playing well? What did I do?” Trotz said. “I said you’re not [expletive] going to see [expletive] U2. Then it became a little of the ‘F-U’ tour, instead of U2. It got them to say, screw you.”

Bringing up the infamous cancelled U2 trip again makes sense in one context: motivating a team. It does not make sense as GM messaging while the team sits dead last.

Fans don’t want reruns of “remember that one time I got results by humiliating them just enough?” They want a vision. They want accountability, and they want a plan broader than a Pavlovian punishment anecdote.

The U2 story was fun because the Predators won afterwards. The 2025-26 Predators are not on the cusp of an 18-game point streak. They’re on the cusp of another bottom-three season.

And if your team is in the NHL basement two years in a row? That’s not because nobody took them to a concert venue.

The Players Deserve Criticism — But the GM Must Own the Blueprint

Trotz believes that he should not have to fire his coach to make the team play better.

“Over the next few weeks, across the League, someone’s getting fired. You’re going to see it, it’s just going to happen,” he said. “And what you’re going to hear out of every [expletive] player is, ‘Oh man, we just underperformed, he was a really good coach, we’ve just got to be better.’ And it takes everybody off the hook. They go, ‘Well, it was him, not us.'”

Trotz is right that firing a coach often gives underperforming players a convenient excuse. But the flip side is also true: protecting a coach with blanket statements risks giving the front office the same excuse.

If Brunette isn’t the problem, then the roster is. If the roster is the problem, then the decisions that built the roster are. And that chain ends at one person: Trotz.

Fans look at a team that doesn’t score, a team that collapses defensively, a team that appears mentally fragile and a team with no defined identity –– and they want to know what the GM plans to do about it, not whether he’s disappointed in the players’ “grease level.”

You can’t preach accountability downward without reflecting it upward.

The Message Fans Need to Hear From Trotz

It’s not that Trotz is wrong. It’s that he’s incomplete. Here’s what a more effective GM message sounds like:

“The players need to be better, the coaching staff needs to be better, and I need to be better as the architect of this roster. We’re evaluating everything — lineups, assignments, personnel, and organizational direction — to ensure we’re not repeating the same mistakes as last season.”

That still protects Brunette without dismissing fans’ legitimate concerns. That’s accountability without deflection. That’s honesty without condescension.

Trotz Isn’t Wrong, But He’s Not Reading the Room

Trotz the coach demanded more from his teams, but Trotz the GM must give more to his fans.

He’s allowed to be frustrated, he’s allowed to be angry, and he’s even allowed to swear his way through an interview. But if he wants buy-in from a fanbase that’s lived through two straight bottom-tier seasons and a franchise that’s drifting, he needs to adjust his messaging to the job he holds, not the job he once held.

Because Nashville doesn’t just need more from the players. It needs more clarity, more direction, and more transparency from the GM as well.