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2025-26 NHL Miscellaneous Thread

Something to keep an eye on as teams head to the Olympics. Anthony Cirelli didn’t play after the first period.
 
HeyKurtz said:
Elliotte Friedman is reporting that Barry Trotz is stepping down from his GM post in Nashville.
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He’s staying until his replacement is named.

He's been an abject failure when left to his own devices. He was hired in July 2023 and the Preds made the playoffs that year as WC1 with 99 points. They lost to Vancouver in 6 games in round 1. Last year? 68 points, 30th in the league. After a tough start, they’ve been better and are 4 points out of WC2, just above NHL .500.
 
andyt said:
Something to keep an eye on as teams head to the Olympics. Anthony Cirelli didn’t play after the first period.
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As a Canadian that will cheer for that team, Cirelli left off due to injury with an incoming guy like Schiefele, Jarvis or Bedard coming in is fully endorsed by me! Cirelli always seemed like he got the “Jon Cooper I’m taking my guys” treatment.
 
andyt said:
He’s staying until his replacement is named.

He's been an abject failure when left to his own devices. He was hired in July 2023 and the Preds made the playoffs that year as WC1 with 99 points. They lost to Vancouver in 6 games in round 1. Last year? 68 points, 30th in the league. After a tough start, they’ve been better and are 4 points out of WC2, just above NHL .500.
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I respect the heck out of Trotz, but I feel like he’s a case study in needing to actually learn your craft as a GM. I know Lou involved him in personnel decision on the Island, but who are we kidding here? Lou is Lou and he’s the final word in any organization that employs him. Former GM Dave Poile ran what amounted to a one man office for a long time and stuck around as an advisor, but from what I’ve read he left Trotz alone for the most part. Keeping Poile's son Brian around as second chair was probably a mistake, but for me Nashville’s recent roster issues are mostly of the big picture variety and that stuff lands on the boss. I was surprised they let him stick around for this season, honestly … but Trotz didn’t make any real changes this summer and got 100% predictable results out of that inaction. He built an old, slow roster that counted on Saros to rediscover his magic in net in order to bounce back this season. Didn’t happen and now they’re pulling the plug. Good call.

Nashville’s Cap situation doesn’t really open up until 2027-28 considering as things sit now, they’ve got $35 million to lock up almost an entire bottom 6 and a 3rd pairing. Their cupboard isn’t bare, but it’s not brimming either, and they’ve got a lot of pretty rough contracts with term and movement restrictions. They also have two buyout slots tied up and two retention slots tied up and they traded away their best young asset for a handful of nothing and a 1st rounder (Vegas … probably in the late 20s) that they haven’t even used yet. This isn’t an easy fix scenario by any means.
 
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