How did Nashville Predators make the NHL playoffs? GM Barry Trotz decided they could

The odometer reads "around 300,000 miles" on the "sort of tan with black trim" 1998 Chevrolet Suburban.

That SUV, which resides in Vernon, British Columbia, is proof that Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz isn't allergic to nostalgia. The purchase was complete when it arrived at his Nashville home on Oct. 9, 1998, the day before the first game in Predators history.

It was the first of two new automobiles Trotz has bought during his almost 62 years on Earth. His family drove it that night to Nashville Arena, where Trotz made his NHL coaching debut.

Trotz drives the truck to this day.

"I wonder if I have a picture of it," he said Wednesday at his office at Centennial Sportsplex, scrolling through the photo album on his phone. "I still pull my boat with it."

A "sort of tan with black trim" Chevrolet Suburban with "around 300,000 miles" on it doesn't mean Trotz is seduced by nostalgia, either.

"It's funny you say that," he said. "Almost all the houses I ever bought, we've always remodeled."

Including his house in Arlington, Nova Scotia, which is a "1924 Sears Roebuck type."

Trotz has proven during his first season as a GM that he appreciates the lasting effect of things that are well-built. He also has proven he's not afraid to make drastic changes.

The 2023-24 Nashville Predators, the team he has been remodeling, are headed to the NHL playoffs against the Vancouver Canucks.

Barry Trotz as the new boss

Barry Trotz is a nice guy. Barry Trotz did not come back to Nashville to be Mr. Nice Guy.

The Stanley Cup champion who spent 15 seasons coaching the Predators came back to try to make Stanley Cup champions out of them.

Trotz, the first head coach in franchise history, spent four months last season as David Poile's understudy. That head start helped jump-start his vision.

He wasn't going to spare change. He wasn't going to waste time. He wasn't going to abandon things that worked for the sake of abandoning them.

"In the first two months, they allowed me to start changing some stuff," Trotz said. "But I didn't know how fast I wanted to go, or how much (I wanted to change) because (Poile) is still the boss."

By title only.

Trotz recalled trying to trade Matt Duchene last season.

"There were teams that showed interest, but I wonder if I was so aggressive that they were wondering, 'OK, what's wrong with him?' " Trotz said with a laugh.

Barry Trotz: 'Smashville. There is such a thing.'

Trotz pocketed five draft picks plus a player from the Tampa Bay Lightning for tough guy Tanner Jeannot. He traded a Predators mainstay, defenseman Mattias Ekholm, to the Edmonton Oilers. He got rid of Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund. Bought out Duchene. Traded Ryan Johansen.

Fired coach John Hynes. Hired Andrew Brunette.

He did all of this before his first official day on the job. On that day, July 1, "the training wheels were off" and Trotz signed veteran free agents and Stanley Cup champions Ryan O'Reilly and Luke Schenn. He added Gustav Nyquist.

He did all of this while he was picking out paint colors and tile designs and new decor for outside the Predators' locker room.

"That's part of the presentation," he said. "There is a 'Smashville.' There is such a thing."

The details matter to Trotz.

There's a captain's wall immediately outside the door to the locker room. The word "Smashville" is spelled out in giant, illuminated letters down the hall. There's a wall of trophies.

All of it is symbolic. All of it is calculated.

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"I told the players at the start of the year, because we were just starting that process, it's going to be a metaphor for our team," Trotz said of the remodeling.

Barry Trotz: What should happen, and when

The progress was evident a little more each day.

The same was true of the team on the ice. A 5-10 start suddenly, and somewhat surprisingly, turned into a 47-30-5 finish and the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

"I created some clear lanes where there's a time this should happen, and a time this should happen," Trotz said. "If you work in this department, this is where you should be.

"There were a lot of people in areas who didn't have any reason to be there."

As the season wore on, Trotz began to believe there was no reason the Predators couldn't be in the playoffs.

He continued to find his footing in his new job. The tile was now laid. The walls were now painted.

Barry Trotz ready to go skydiving

Barry Trotz sat tucked in a corner, alone at the top of the bleachers at Centennial during the Predators' first playoff practice Wednesday. His left hand pressed his phone to his ear. The soundtrack of skates slicing the ice played in the background.

His team practiced under his watchful eye while his ear dealt with other concerns. The man whose 914 wins puts him third all-time among NHL coaches, warned before the season that the Predators would be either "not so good" or "sneaky good."

Some failure is probable on Trotz's planned path to success. He knew a lot of things needed to change.

"The problem is knowing what's right in here," Trotz said, his index finger pointing toward his heart. "Following through with it is the hard part.

"You want to skydive. It sounds like a good idea at the time. You're looking at it and you're going, 'I don't know.' You have to know if it's the right thing to do, to jump."

Barry Trotz jumped. Right in. Said he doesn't want players to come to Nashville "to retire," but rather to win.

Lou Lamoriello, the man who hired Trotz to coach the New York Islanders, taught him that.

"He said, 'If you're studying for a test and I asked you, 'Did you study enough?' " Trotz said. "If you say, 'I think I did,' you probably didn't. If you go, 'Absolutely. I know it inside and out,' there's no doubt."

Barry Trotz on U2 concert: 'It didn't feel right'

Barry Trotz studies everything. He wants his players to have the best trainers, his trainers to have the best resources. He wants the best practice facilities.

"We're working on that," he said.

Wanting the best means making decisions about a lot more than draft picks or trades or buyouts or paint colors.

The decision to call off the team's trip to see U2 in Vegas, which begat a franchise-record 18-game points streak that turned the season around?

Trotz's.

"It didn't feel right," he said. "I talked to 'Bruno' and he didn't feel right going. We tried to do what's right.

"You can't be scared of those tough situations, right?"

Right.

Buying out Duchene with a $17.8 million total cap hit through 2028-29 was one of them. Retaining half of Johansen's salary — $4 million — for two years was another.

From a talent standpoint and a financial standpoint.

Barry Trotz: 'Expectations are probably going to be higher'

A magnetic whiteboard hangs on the wall to the left of Trotz's desk.

His thoughts marinated more with each step he took toward the board, which lists line combinations and defensive pairings for the Predators and AHL Milwaukee Admirals.

He's always thinking three steps ahead. He's always thinking about today.

"We may have six new players on our roster (or in the lineup) next season," he said, rearranging magnets with names on them such as Yaroslav Askarov and Philip Tomasino and Cody Glass and Juuso Parssinen.

"That's about 25% of your team."

Because of salary cap restrictions and retained salaries, the Predators most likely will have to "hold serve" for the next two seasons. They will have to rely on what's in-house.

He moved more names around on the board, explaining the purposes and consequences of each.

"If we don't make this move, this is what we have left," he said, pointing to blank spots on two line combinations.

He turned away from the board and headed back to his desk, his Apple laptop flipped open. Videos of possible 2024 draft picks bookmarked.

"We got in (the playoffs). Expectations are probably going to be higher," he said. "It's going to be really hard to hold those expectations. But our players are growing. We've got a good culture. We have good leadership."

Trotz is certain he has a lot more miles left in him.

Just like that 1998 — with "around 300,000 miles, sort of tan with black trim" — Chevrolet Suburban.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Barry Trotz remodeled Nashville Predators into NHL playoff team