Poile, Preds Confident in Team's Future After Quiet Trade Deadline

As David Poile stepped to the microphones on Monday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena, 90 minutes after the 2020 NHL Trade Deadline had come and gone, one of his first statements said it all.
"As they say in GM 101," the NHL's winningest general manager began, "sometimes the best trades you make are the ones that you don't."
The Predators weren't completely quiet on Monday, but they weren't nearly as active as many other clubs around the NHL either. But when Poile weighed all of his options after speaking with all of the 30 other teams - and evaluating his own group's play as of late - he determined the best course of action was to stay the course.

"Our play this year has caused me some pause and how we approach the deadline this year versus other years," Poile said. "Having said that, the flip side of that is our recent play has actually shown me that we have a really good chance to make the playoffs."
Nashville made one trade on Monday afternoon when they acquired defenseman Korbinian Holzer from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenseman Matt Irwin and a sixth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. A 6-foot-3 blueliner, the 32-year-old Holzer has skated in a career-high 46 games with the Ducks this season, tallying a goal and four points while averaging 16:14 of ice time.
"We made one small trade, and we really felt our bottom-end defense needed to have a little bit of a change," Poile said. "Holzer just brings a different kind of an element. He's a bigger-body player that plays pretty gritty, pretty physical, and he can play on our penalty kill, which certainly can use some help. So, a small deal, but hopefully an important deal as we go along through the remainder of this season."
The Preds also signed forward Rocco Grimaldi to a two-year, $4 million contract earlier in the day, a deal Poile and his staff were happy to make.
"If you're looking at the bright spots [this season], Rocco was right at the top there in terms of a driver on our team," Poile said. "That's a really solid signing for us for the next couple of years."
Ultimately, however, the day didn't include a seismic move on either end of the buyer or seller scale. It wasn't for lack of trying, but at the current pace, the Predators believed keeping players like upcoming unrestricted free agents such as Craig Smith and Mikael Granlund in the fold was the best decision at this juncture.

"Being very open with everybody, I certainly entertained offers on, and was open to talking about, a lot of our players, including our free agents [like] Granlund and Smith," Poile said. "But the fact that I'm standing here and didn't do anything just tells you at the end of the day, I felt that our team was playing well enough [to not be a seller]… [We decided to keep] Craig Smith and [keep] Granlund with maybe the hope that we could continue discussions a little bit further and possibly have them sign with us during the offseason, with the clear direction that we're geared up to make the playoffs. That was the final decision."
Poile also stated his conversations with Head Coach John Hynes played an important role in his decision making. The GM says he knew there would be an adjustment period with the coaching change he made back on Jan. 7, and although there have been ups and downs, Poile has seen enough positive signs over the past few weeks to give him hope for what's to come.
"Overall, I think we're going in the right direction," Poile said. "And again, it all comes back to the same thing in terms of making big moves or making no moves… For the most part, we've only had a couple of changes in the last couple of years, so everybody knows everybody. The systems are changing a little bit, but my hopes and thoughts are today that the way we're playing, we should be a playoff team."
Only time will tell if Poile's line of thinking proves to be correct, but in this business, the right move is rarely crystal clear. Instead, the Predators will have to trust the personnel they have assembled to become the team everyone in the organization believes they can be.
The deadline has passed. This is the group moving forward. Let the playoff push officially begin.
"All in all, we're heading in the right direction," Poile said. "We're playing better as a team, and for the most part, individuals are playing better. We need to rise up. This is our playoff push for everybody, and it starts with individuals rising up to their and our expectations. If we do that, then the team will rise up and we'll be happy."