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NHL News: Barry Trotz stepping down as GM of Predators
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Photo credit: © Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images
Cam Lewis
Feb 2, 2026, 18:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 2, 2026, 15:55 EST
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The Nashville Predators are set to undergo significant changes in their front office.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Barry Trotz will be stepping down as the team’s general manager.
The Predators confirmed the news during a press conference on Monday afternoon, announcing that Trotz is retiring from his role and that the 63-year-old is in good health. The two-time Jack Adams Award winner also made it clear that he will not be leaving management to return to coaching, effectively closing the door on a return behind the bench.
Trotz told reporters that he informed majority owner Bill Haslam in December that he planned to step away from the position once his contract expired at the end of the 2026-27 season. After further discussions, both sides agreed it was in the organization’s best interest to begin the search for his replacement now rather than wait until the end of the deal.
“After some discussion, we elected to begin a search for my replacement now, but I am happy to work in my current role until we make a new hire, however long that might be,” Trotz said.
The Predators have had remarkable stability at the top of their hockey operations. David Poile served as general manager from the franchise’s inaugural season in 1997-98 through the end of the 2022-23 campaign. Trotz took over ahead of the 2023-24 season, transitioning from a legendary coaching career into the front office.
Trotz’s history with the organization runs deep. He was Nashville’s first-ever head coach and spent 15 seasons behind the bench, compiling a 557-479-60-100 record while guiding the Predators from expansion afterthought to perennial playoff contender. After leaving Nashville, Trotz joined the Washington Capitals in 2014-15 and led them to the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history in 2017-18. A four-year stint with the New York Islanders followed, and he finished his coaching career fifth all-time in NHL history with 914 wins.
“I’ve been in pro sports in some shape or form probably for 40 years now,” Trotz said. “There comes a time when you realize that a lot of the stuff you’ve done and you’ve been immersed, you can’t be sometimes present in both places. You can’t be present in your job and you can’t be present at home. I just felt there’s an end date.
“There’s a responsibility that I feel to my family. I think you see your kids grow up, I’m very proud of my kids. Now they’re getting married, [I’ve] got grandkids now. You’re missing a lot of the dates. In this business, our kids very seldom have their birthdays on their birthdays; seldom am I present even at their birthdays sometimes. Those things that we always had to change, we did all of that. Now you’ve got grandkids, you’ve got all that, it becomes a little bit more real. A little bit of mortality, if you will … I don’t know if I’m going to be here tomorrow, and so I want to have some of those things with my family.”
While Trotz is a virtual lock for the Hockey Hall of Fame as a coach, his short tenure as a general manager did not deliver the same results. Nashville reached the playoffs in his first season in charge in 2023-24 but exited in the opening round against the Vancouver Canucks as a wild-card team.
That momentum did not carry over. The Predators fell to a 30-44-8 record in 2024-25, missing the playoffs by a wide margin, and currently sit outside the postseason picture again as the league approaches the Olympic break in 2025-26.
The defining moment of Trotz’s time as general manager came in July of 2024, when he committed heavily to a win-now approach. Nashville signed Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault to multi-year contracts and added Brady Skjei on a long-term deal, committing more than $100 million in total salary. Despite the aggressive spending, the Predators finished seventh in the Central Division and 14th in the Western Conference.
With Trotz stepping aside and a new search underway, Nashville now faces its first true front office transition in the organization’s history. How the club chooses to reshape its leadership will play a critical role in determining the next phase of Predators hockey.

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