Main Photo: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
The Nashville Predators announced today that the only General Manager in the club’s history is retiring from his post. After 39 seasons as an NHL General Manager, and a remarkable 24 of them with Nashville, David Poile is calling it a career. Currently, he is the President of Hockey Operations and the GM, but will likely move into only a consulting role after the season. Despite never having a team reach the Stanley Cup finals as a GM, he will go down as one of the greatest architects in NHL history.
Big breaking story out of Nashville: after 26 years as the Predators’ architect — the most consistent presence in franchise history — David Poile is retiring from President of Hockey Operations & GM position, effective June 30. Expectation is he will remain in a consulting role.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 26, 2023
Nashville Predators GM David Poile Retiring
Poile had a short-lived playing career. He played three years at Boston’s Northeastern University from 1967 to 1970. During that time, he had seasons of an astonishing 31 and 37 goals. He still holds a school record for most career hat tricks with 11. Next, his front office career began in 1972, when the Atlanta Flames hired him as an Administrative Assistant. Moreover, his first chance as General Manager in the NHL came with the Washington Capitals in 1982. Also noteworthy, his father, “Bud” Poile was in the game a long time as well. He won the 1947 Stanley Cup with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a player. Furthermore, in 1967 became the first GM of the expansion Philadelphia Flyers.
| TEAM | Years | W | L | T | RT |
| Capitals | 1982-1997 | 594 | 454 | 132 | – |
| Predators | 1998-2023 | 926 | 708 | 60 | 116 |
Along with Poile’s longevity, his ability to grow the game for a franchise in the state of Tennessee will go down as his legacy. As mentioned, even though he never lead a team to the Stanley Cup finals, he still had a major influence. The year he left Washington, and George McPhee took over, the Capitals did reach the finals. However, they did find themselves on the losing end to the Detroit Red Wings. In addition, he does have some international hockey claim. He was the GM of the 2014 Winter Olympic Team USA.
What Poile Has Accomplished and What this will mean for the Nashville Predators
For his time in Nashville, he has been the only General Manager the franchise has known. Back in 1997, the ownership group, led by Craig Leipold hired Poile to be the club’s General Manager. His accomplishments over his career are nothing sort of amazing. In March of 2018, he recorded his 1320th career win as GM, surpassing Glen Sather, the longtime Edmonton Oilers GM, as most in NHL history. Additionally, he became the first GM to reach 3000 career games, eclipsing the mark earlier this season. As the organization looks ahead to the future, they already appear to be looking at Barry Trotz as his successor. One thing is for sure, there have been few before him and will be few after him, to have sustained success and influence on hockey or any sport, quite like David Poile as he retires.
