Barry Trotz poised to step down as Nashville Predators GM

Barry Trotz is expected to announce Monday, February 2, 2026, that he is stepping away from his role running hockey operations for the Nashville Predators, closing a short but high-profile front-office stint that followed his long coaching legacy. The move lands at a delicate point in the season: roster decisions are tightening, and the league calendar is about to compress around an Olympic pause and the trade deadline.

A decision that reshapes Nashville’s front office

The Predators scheduled a 1 p.m. ET news conference on Monday, and the organization is expected to confirm that Trotz will step down while remaining in place until a successor is hired. The timing matters: even a steady “stay-until-replaced” transition changes how other teams engage in trade talks and how Nashville sets its short-term priorities.

What’s publicly clear so far is the structure—Trotz stepping aside, a search for a replacement, and a bridge period where he remains involved. What’s not publicly clear is the length of that bridge and whether he plans to stay connected to hockey in another capacity once a new general manager is in place.

The backdrop: big bets, mixed results

Trotz took over as Nashville’s second-ever general manager in 2023, succeeding David Poile after decades of continuity. His tenure has been defined by willingness to spend and accelerate the team’s competitive timeline rather than slowly rebuild.

A centerpiece was Nashville’s splash in the 2024 offseason, when the club committed significant money in free agency and added established veterans, including Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei. The expectation was clear: raise the floor immediately and push back into contention.

The results have been uneven. Nashville’s 2024–25 season was widely viewed as a major disappointment, and this season has been a grind as well—competitive enough to stay within reach but inconsistent enough that every decision now carries extra weight.

Why the calendar makes this urgent

Even if day-to-day operations remain stable during a handoff, the next several weeks create a narrow decision window. The league is heading into a transaction freeze tied to the Olympics, followed by a short sprint to the trade deadline. That means teams often treat early February as a “soft deadline” for moves they don’t want to postpone.

Here are the key dates looming for Nashville’s decision-makers:

For a club hovering near the playoff cut line, that sequence can force clarity: buy, sell, or hold—and how aggressively to do it. A front-office transition doesn’t make those calls impossible, but it can slow them down or raise the internal bar for risk.

Trotz’s legacy in the organization

Trotz’s name is deeply tied to Nashville hockey. He was the franchise’s first head coach and spent years behind the bench shaping the identity of an expansion team into a respected program. Later, he moved on and reached the sport’s summit as head coach of the Washington Capitals, winning the Stanley Cup in 2018, and then led the New York Islanders.

His career totals put him among the most accomplished coaches in league history by games coached and wins, and his reputation has long been that of a structure-first leader who can raise a team’s defensive baseline quickly. That history is part of why his move into management drew attention: it wasn’t a typical executive track, and the expectations were naturally high.

What happens next for Nashville

In the immediate term, the most important question is succession: who takes the job, how quickly, and what mandate they receive. That choice will signal whether ownership wants continuity with Trotz’s accelerated approach—or a pivot toward a longer timeline and more conservative cap planning.

On the ice, Nashville’s direction may hinge on where the team sits in the standings as the freeze lifts in late February. If the Predators stay within striking distance of a playoff spot, the pressure to add help rises. If they slip, the incentive to preserve flexibility and future assets becomes stronger.

For now, the practical reality is simple: a major leadership change is arriving at one of the most time-sensitive points of the NHL season, and the ripple effects will be felt in every roster conversation Nashville has between early February and March 6.

Sources consulted: Reuters; The Associated Press; National Hockey League (Key Dates document); PuckPedia