How former Predators star sent retiring GM David Poile out with standing ovation at draft

David Poile's first Nashville Predators captain gave the outgoing general manager his final NHL draft pick.

Poile's first Predators coach came up with the idea.

Tom Fitzgerald, general manager of the New Jersey Devils and Nashville's first captain, traded his team's seventh-round pick to Nashville for a 2024 seventh-round pick Thursday. Barry Trotz, who's succeeding Poile as GM, came up with the plan on the fly, Predators assistant GM Jeff Kealty said.

"(Trotz) had a great idea to go talk to (Fitzgerald) about it," Kealty said. "Of course he was very gracious and wanted to do it.

"To kind of bring it all together like that at the end of the week, I thought it was so fitting ... to cap off David's career. We saw the reaction not just organizationally but the whole arena. It was a really special moment."

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All eyes inside Bridgestone Arena were cast in Poile's direction in the middle of the draft floor when the trade was announced.

After thanking everyone, Poile leaned toward the microphone in front of him.

"For my last pick of all time, Aiden Fink from Brooks," Poile said.

A standing ovation from every team on the floor and every fan in the stands followed, capping Poile's 40th and final draft.

Poile’s GM career began on June 8, 1983, in Montreal, when he selected Tim Bergland with his first pick, which came in the fourth round (75th overall). It was the first of Poile's 15 seasons in that job with the Washington Capitals.

With no seventh-round pick this year, Kealty suggested to Trotz that the Predators "try to put a couple things in place," and it gave Poile one last pick in the Predators' arena.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NHL draft: David Poile goes out to ovation, thanks to Tom Fitzgerald