Pedators' GM Barry Trotz Says There's "No Chance" He's Tearing It down

The Nashville Predators are being told by pundits around hockey that they should look at blowing it up after the team has gotten off to a dreadful start, with the worst record in the National Hockey League.

But Preds general manager Barry Trotz told Pierre LeBrun in The Athletic that is absolutely not happening.

It’s not a rebuild. I’m not in the business of not winning. I’m in the business of trying to win. We’re not selling off. We are resetting. We know where we are. It’s not where we thought we would be.
But we want to move forward.

So there's no chance he'd ever consider trading one of his big offseason free agent acquisitions, like Steven Stamkos?

“There’s no chance,” Trotz said. “I believe that you have to have good players that compete in this league. This league is too good. You need the veteran players to carry the way. They have to carry a good piece of the load so that your young guys can be slotted correctly and have success and grow.”

Both Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, his other big free agent recruit, are off to slow starts, echoing the team's troubles. But Trotz told LeBrun three times during his interview that he is not tearing it down, "not dropping a grenade on this thing."

Others are figuring that with his earlier waiving of Dante Fabbro and his $2.5M cap hit, and now the dealing of Alexandre Carrier to the Montreal Canadiens for youngster Justin Barron (saving $2.6M of cap space), that Trotz is ultimately setting himself up for a big move.

Nashville is 9-17-7 for 25 points, one point behind the Chicago Blackhawks and two back of the San Jose Sharks.