Written by Pierre LeBrun at ESPN.com
If we’ve learned one thing over the past 13 months, it is to keep an eye on Nashville Predators general manager David Poile, a cagey veteran who seems ready to dial up a blockbuster at a moment’s notice.
From the Seth Jones-for-Ryan Johansen deal in January 2016 to the Shea Weber-P.K. Subban swap heard around the world in June, Poile has been making aggressive moves in an effort to get his team to the promised land — the Stanley Cup finals — for the first time in franchise history.
(All of which has triggered my Spidey senses when it comes to auctioning offMatt Duchene in Colorado, but more on that later.)
First, I caught up with Poile after the board of governors’ meeting on Saturday in Los Angeles to gauge his frame of mind ahead of the March 1 trade deadline. His team began the post-All-Star break sitting in a playoff spot, four points clear of the danger zone. So, are the Predators going to be an aggressive buyer at the deadline?
“We’ve had our pro meetings and we’re organized in terms of what we think we might need or want, and looked at certain teams that might be traders,” Poile said. “But I don’t know. Two weeks ago, I might have had a bit more of an aggressive answer, but in the last two weeks we’ve played a lot better and won some games. We seem to be jelling as a team more than we’ve had at any point in the season.”
Poile is wary of altering his team’s chemistry. That’s interesting because it’s exactly what Washington Capitals GM Brian MacLellan alluded to last week when we chatted about his team’s trade deadline approach. He expressed concern that any big move might alter the tremendous chemistry the Caps have going.
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