Predators hold year-end press conference

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Monday and for the first time in nine years the Nashville Predators will be on the outside looking in.

The Predators held their final news conference of the season before heading home for the summer.

There is disappointment in the locker room after the team missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014. The team has a standard in Nashville and that’s to play in the postseason.

With that being said, the sense of pride is extremely high for what this young group did in the last 15-20 games of the season making a playoff push that had them playing meaningful hockey until the final two games without a handful of their veteran players.

“The first 50 games were really a grind. I think the last 15 to 20 games were really fun,” outgoing general manager David Poile said. “The energy was renewed in our locker room, on the ice, in the stands and our team was fun to watch.”

Barry Trotz, the Predators’ first head coach who will become the team’s second general manager later this summer, said he was disappointed in the team not reaching the playoffs.

“I’m just disappointed like everybody else that we didn’t get there, but we will, and we’ve got a really good ceiling set up by what David has done,” Trotz said.

The Predators traded several veterans prior to the trade deadline and received several draft picks in future drafts.

Several of the young Predators were optioned back to Milwaukee after the regular season so they can participate in the Admirals’ playoff run.

“There are some important discussions to have with the players, the veteran players now, and getting a plan together with them to make sure that we have the right answers to moving forward the right way,” head coach John Hynes said. “I would say the first half of the season, overall, was just a lack of consistency in the way you need to play to have success night in and night out.”

There was no indication in Monday’s press conference that Hynes would not be returning to the team for the 2023-24 season. He has one year left on his contract.

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