Andrew Brunette's Nashville Predators will be worth watching, but there's a downside | Estes

He’s new, but not really. Andrew Brunette is only starting to coach the Nashville Predators, but he knows them. Didn’t even have to say so. It's as clear as the hat on his head as he sits down for a conversation.

It reads: “Partner.”

And that means something at Bridgestone Arena. Those who’ve spent time on the event level know “Partner.” He’s a locker room attendant whose real name is Craig Baugh, and he’s a remarkable story. His impact and friendship over the years have touched some of the biggest names in hockey. As much as anyone, “Partner” best represents the Predators. Couldn't be more perfect, that hat.

Just a hat, but it says a lot. Says that Brunette still understands the place where he once played and is now the coach.

“Even when I was moving around to different teams,” he says, “you always felt like there was part of you that was still a Nashville Predator.”

He has returned at a complicated time. The Predators enter the 2023-24 season very much in flux. A lot of new players. A hands-on new general manager in Barry Trotz. Even a new owner on the way in former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam.

The new coach paying tribute to a longtime Predators institution in "Partner" is also going to be responsible for coaching them into a strange, uncertain future, with a bold, new system and style that'll be intended to update what the Predators have been on the ice for a long time.

Sweeping change is often difficult, but why would Brunette be daunted?

He has made change look easy before.

The Nashville Predators' plan? More goals, of course

How many NHL head coaches can claim a Presidents’ Trophy in a lone season in charge behind the bench? As interim coach of the Florida Panthers in 2021-22, Brunette stepped in amid the controversy surrounding Joel Quenneville and won 51 of 75 regular-season games. Those Panthers scored 337 goals, 25 more than any other team.

And this is what Trotz preferred this past offseason in place of former coach John Hynes: More offense. More goals. Which’ll mean more exciting hockey. And more exciting hockey, cynically, makes a good insurance policy. It could mean fewer empty seats at Bridgestone Arena if it turns out this franchise in flux isn’t gangbusters on the ice for a while.

That's on the table. These Predators really might stink this season. And the next after that. And so on.

But, hey, they might not.

Optimistically, Brunette’s impact and approach could bring fast results. It could mean this franchise’s long-feared “rebuild” isn’t much of a rebuild at all. Perhaps the youthful Predators take to this new system and are a handful for opponents right away.

“You have to understand what you have and coach to what you have,” Brunette says. “But kind of the non-negotiables is that we’re going to play in your face, and we’re going to play as fast as we possibly can. We’re going to rely on the connection of the group. We’re going to pressure more. We’re going to play a certain way.

“Now everything changes once the puck drops and the season starts and you lose and you’ve got to figure that out, and that’s my responsibility and I understand that. To say that we’re going to go and be the Florida Panthers from two years ago, I think that’s probably unrealistic. But I still think we should be able to play an exciting brand of hockey that people want to watch.”

Sounds great in theory. And rather obvious, too. Goals win games, and the Predators haven’t been scoring enough or winning enough. Those facts have been related, you’d think.

While it helps to have solid defense and goaltending like the Predators have for years, with the retired Pekka Rinne giving way to standout Juuse Saros, the message Trotz sent with Brunette’s hire was that the days of riding Saros’ coattails and grinding out low-scoring stalemates at Bridgestone are meant for the rearview mirror.

REQUIRED READING: I'm buying Andrew Brunette as Nashville Predators' new coach, and here's why | Estes

“He’s bringing a lot of freshness here,” forward Cole Smith said of Brunette during training camp. “The pace of play we’re going to be playing with this year, I think, is going to be a lot of fun . . . We’re going to be flying up and down the ice.”

Or as forward Colton Sissons added: “The system should be fun, but we’ve got to win hockey games to have fun.”

We'll see about the second part

Brunette’s first training camp with the Predators was with a clean slate. He has been adamant about that. He looked back at last season, but “it was really hard to get a great feel,” given the roster turnover and injuries. Brunette has been determined to make assessments with his own eyes rather than by reputations or previous events.

It was a good plan. Because truth be told, no one — not even Brunette or Trotz — can really know what to expect from this season’s Predators. There are too many questions. Too many accomplished players have exited, replaced by younger talent with a lot to prove in the NHL.

In some ways, the same could be said for Brunette as a head coach. He caught lightning in a bottle in Florida, and he knows it.

“That team was really deep and ready to pop,” he says. “I was fortunate to have an opportunity to coach them. Every situation is different.”

This situation with the Predators, indeed, will be that. It’ll be challenging. Trotz has big plans, and Brunette features prominently in them. But both will need patience — and players, maturing or otherwise — to implement a new style of play.

REQUIRED READING: 'I love you, buddy': Craig 'Partner' Baugh has left his mark on the Predators, NHL

To that point, Brunette references his experience last season as an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils, a young, rebuilding team that stepped up and thrived in 2022-23.

“In our game now, I don’t feel it takes forever, and anything can kind of happen,” he said. “Not to say we’re in that same position (as the Devils), but my point is we just don’t know.”

When it comes to these Predators and this season, Brunette is right. No idea what to expect, and no guarantees.

This might not go well, but even so, it should be entertaining.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Predators under Andrew Brunette will be worth watching