Even when Barry Trotz was removed from the head coaching job back in 2014, it was at the end of the season when his contract would not be renewed. Monday night, Nashville Predators General Manager David Poile made an uncharacteristic move by firing Head Coach Peter Laviolette at the halfway point of the 2019-20 season.
Assistant Coach Kevin McCarthy, who’s been with Laviolette since his days with the Carolina Hurricanes back in 2003, was also let go.
No replacement or interim was named so the team may be close to working out final details with an external hire prior to Tuesday’s game against the Boston Bruins.
Laviolette’s time appeared to be running out. After taking the Preds to the Stanley Cup Final in his third season with the club, his team got eliminated by the Winnipeg Jets in the second round in 2018 and then thoroughly disappointed in their first round exit at the hands of the Dallas Stars last season. Despite signing prized free agent Matt Duchene this past summer, Nashville is just 19-15-7 this year, good enough for sixth in the Central Division and 11th in the Western Conference, far from the potential.
With names like Ryan Johansen, Duchene, Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, Mattias Ekholm, Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros on this roster, the Predators should be a Stanley Cup contender. Instead, they’re just a single point away from the Central’s basement and that is not okay.
For a couple seasons now, fans and experts alike have wondered if Nashville’s Stanley Cup window closes when Pekka Rinne retires. At 37 years old, the Kempele, Finland native is not having the season he’d like to have which has prompted to wonder if next season (when his contract is up) will be his last. If so, it’s a race against the clock to set him up for success enough to where he could potentially hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup before the sun sets on his time in the NHL.
But what about Poile?
Poile will be 70 next month and has been chasing the Cup for the entirety of his 36-year career. Actually, his father, Hall of Famer Bud Poile, never won a Cup either so, put another way, the family has been trying to etch the Poile name into the chalice for six decades. How many more years does David have left? Two? Three? Seven? Fans talk about Rinne but, really, they should be talking about Poile too.
Perhaps this is what prompted this unorthodox move. His long, storied history suggests he would never fire a coach mid-season so maybe this is a clear sign that he knows he can’t afford to wait until summer to make a change. Sure, in the grand scheme of things, the organization can wait — what’s another four months? — but he himself only has so many swings left at the plate. He can ill afford to waste one by letting Laviolette finish out this campaign.
Some fans thought the move was overdue but the timing actually makes sense. With NBC cameras around the team for the past few weeks filming their Road to the Winter Classic series, Poile is not the type to embarrass someone by firing them while that spotlight is illuminated. On top of that, after the game itself, the Preds headed out west to play the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks. Poile is hardly one to fire coaches at all, certainly it’s logical that he wouldn’t do it on the road.
Which brings us to Monday. The team was back in Music City — and the final episode of Road to the Winter Classic was set to air on NBCSN which means filming was over — and the news broke in the afternoon.
Laviolette did some amazing things here. He won 248 of his 451 regular season games, led the organization out of the second round for the first time and came within two wins — and two controversial calls — from bringing a Stanley Cup to the state of Tennessee. But, in the end, a drastically underachieving squad with sky high expectations was his undoing.
Nashville plays Boston at home Tuesday night and, since there’s been no announcement on a replacement or interim, it’ll be interesting to see who’s behind the bench.
Some names that are being thrown around as possible replacements are Milwaukee Admirals Head Coach Karl Taylor (the Ads have the best record in the AHL at 24-6-4-2), former San Jose Sharks bench boss Peter DeBoer, recently fired New Jersey Devils Head Coach John Hynes (who has a history with Poile via USA Hockey), Mike Vellucci who led the Charlotte Checkers to the Calder Cup last year and Hockey Hall of Famer Phil Housley despite his current status as an Assistant Coach with the Arizona Coyotes.
Another outside-the-box candidate could be ZSC Lions Head Coach Rikard Grönborg. Nashville has a long history of finding diamonds in the rough overseas (Pekka Rinne in the 8th round of the draft, Viktor Arvidsson in the 4th round, Patric Hornqvist in the 7th round and Mattias Ekholm in the 4th round) so what’s to stop them from looking across the Atlantic for coaches as well?
Grönborg is highly decorated having been behind Team Sweden’s bench more times than one count and at every level of International play (World Juniors, World Championships, Olympics, etc.). He’s familiar with the gluttony of Swedes on the Preds roster as he’s coached Forsberg, Ekholm, Jarnkrok and Arvidsson at different stages of their careers.
Whether there’s a replacement named or not, Poile’s press conference is Tuesday morning at 11:30am Central.
—
PHOTO: Casey Gower (used with permission)
