Nashville Predators fire head coach John Hynes, expected to hire Andrew Brunette as replacement
It looks like new Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz has made his first move at the helm.
The Predators have fired head coach John Hynes after parts of four seasons with the club, and are expected to hire New Jersey Devils assistant coach Andrew Brunette as his replacement, according to Kevin Weekes.
Hynes had one year remaining on his current contract with the Predators at the time of his firing. However, with Trotz replacing longtime Predators GM David Poile this offseason, he likely has a different vision for how he wants the team run and saw a better candidate for fulfilling that vision than Hynes.
It also comes in the wake of the Predators missing the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons, and just the fourth time since the 2003-04 season. The Predators barely missed out on a playoff spot, finishing 10th in the Western Conference with a 42-32-8 record, only three points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the final wild card spot.
Brunette joins the Preds after a season with the Devils, helping them to a breakout year that saw them end a six-year playoff drought with a 52-22-8 record, good enough for second in the Metropolitan Division, and helped end their 11-year series win drought before their exit in the second round. He oversaw the power play for the Devils, which ranked 13th in the league in efficiency at 16.7% and ranked 11th in PP expected goals for per 60 minutes with 8.88.
Brunette was also the interim head coach of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers in 2021-22, replacing Joel Quenneville after he resigned from the position. The Panthers went 51-18-6 in 75 games when he was in the role, and they also saw their 26-year series win drought end before they were swept in the second round by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Brunette has also been the assistant head coach for the Minnesota Wild from 2014 to 2016, and was an assistant coach on the Panthers from 2019 to 2021 when he took over head coaching duties.
Hynes leaves the Predators after four seasons with a 134-96-18 record in 248 games, with the 2022-23 season being the only time they’ve missed the playoffs under his tenure. However, they didn’t win a playoff series during his time as head coach, losing the qualifying round in the 2020 bubble to the Arizona Coyotes, and then losing in the first round to the Carolina Hurricanes and the Colorado Avalanche in 2021 and 2022, respectively.