How is former Nashville Predators GM David Poile handling retirement? Better than expected

David Poile never was much for libraries.

Until recently.

Never was much for reading books that weren't about hockey.

Until recently.

"Matthew McConaughey," he said of his latest read. " 'Greenlights.' Awesome book."

The former Nashville Predators general manager and his wife, Elizabeth, recently visited the "most beautiful library in the world," the Klementinum Library, which has ceilings painted by a German artist named Jan Hiebl.

The library houses leather-bound books born in the 1300s. Took almost 200 years to build and opened in 1792.

Swallows almost a city block in Prague.

If not at a library, you can find the couple walking or bicycling on streets where the Romans once wandered.

Or visiting Budapest, Hungary. Or Bratislava, Slovakia. Or Vienna. Or Berlin.

The couple did all of that during a recent two-week cruise that included stops at those four capital cities.

Elizabeth, Poile's high school sweetheart, has waited 52 years for this.

"It's a big world out there," Poile said. "There's a ton of things to do."

David Poile is anything but tired of being retired.

David Poile discovers 'normalcy'

The Poiles' life is more predictable now.

He and Elizabeth go to bed about the same time every night now. Get up around the same time.

"I always say there's the crisis of the day, something that's going to take you in a new or different direction," David Poile told The Tennessean on Friday, five days before he was to be recognized on "David Poile Night" at Bridgestone Arena.

"I don't have that anymore. In fact, what I have is what we call normalcy."

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They have much more freedom. Much more time together.

"I kept hearing from quite a few people, 'Did you ever hear anybody say after it was all over, I wished I worked one more year?' " Poile said. "No."

But life without work has been an adjustment, one that many say Poile has handled better than expected.

"We've been looking forward to this for a long time," Elizabeth said. "David's head space is not so full of hockey that he doesn't have space to think about other things."

David Poile on hockey: 'I miss it'

Make no mistake: David Poile still is involved with hockey. He watches every Predators game. He's a regular in a group chat with the team's management. He offers insight when he's asked in his role as an adviser.

He keeps in touch with Barry Trotz, the man he hired to replace him.

"I miss it," he said. "There's no question about that."

And hockey misses him.

Especially his son, Brian Poile, who worked next to his father for 13 years, including five as an assistant general manager for the Predators.

"I don't talk to him as much as I used to," Brian said. "I think he and my mom are enjoying it.

"I think so far, so good. I'm sure he's probably trying to find his groove with everything. From what he tells me, he's enjoying himself."

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He's spending more time with his children and grandchildren.

As he stood inside Centennial Sportsplex after a recent practice, Brian Poile took inventory of his childhood.

To when his dad introduced him to Wayne Gretzky. Brought him into locker rooms and training rooms and to the draft. To morning skates and meetings. From second grade through every grade.

Something Brian tries to do with his son Wyatt, an 8-year-old second grader.

"He was great about taking me everywhere with him," Brian said. "I don't think a lot of dads do that."

He helped bring Brian's imagination to life.

"Myself and my buddies would be trading hockey cards all the time," Brian said. "I had a chance to meet those people in person."

A phone first

David Poile's phone battery is in better health these days.

Sometimes he goes days at a time without plugging it in.

"Every week you get your stats and five months ago it was, 'Your usage is up 15%,' " he said. "Now it's down 15% every week. I'm going to get a message saying, 'Are you still using your phone?' "

His days of interrupted dinners and leaving his golf foursomes in the middle of a round are over.

"All of a sudden you retire and, as he would say, 'Nobody calls me anymore,' " Trotz said.

Poile said he's OK with that.

David Poile: 'I have lunch at home a lot'

David Poile happened to walk by when Predators CEO Sean Henry was waxing poetic about him late last week.

It was only the second time this season Poile had been in the offices at Bridgestone.

Henry, for one, hasn't been surprised with how well Poile has handled not being a general manager since July.

As far as Henry is concerned, Poile — the winningest general manager in NHL history and a U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer — has a legacy set in stone. Like his father, Bud, Poile helped launch an expansion franchise as a general manager.

The man who helped bring hockey to Nashville, who helped keep it here, still has a home here. Still has family here.

His heart will never leave here.

"If you had a Mount Rushmore (of Nashville hockey) and you said you'd only put one head on it, it would be David Poile's," Henry said.

But now Poile has books to read. Other places to go. People to see. And time to do it.

Finally.

"We married for richer or poorer, but not for lunch," he said. "I have lunch at home a lot."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What former Nashville Predators GM David Poile says about retirement