Nashville Predators: Andrew Brunette on the Hot Seat as 2025-26 Season Tightens

The Nashville Predators organization finds itself at a crossroads heading into late 2025, with head coach Andrew Brunette facing mounting scrutiny over his job security. What began as a promising tenure has devolved into a pressure-cooker situation, as the team stumbles through another disappointing season despite significant financial investment in veteran talent. Fans and analysts alike are now openly questioning whether a coaching change has become inevitable, with the phrase “hot seat” appearing in nearly every discussion about the Predators’ future.

General manager Barry Trotz made a public show of confidence in Brunette as recently as May 2025, but the deteriorating on-ice results have made that support increasingly difficult to maintain. The Predators’ struggles represent more than just a bad stretch—they expose deeper questions about roster construction, coaching philosophy, and whether the current leadership can salvage a season that appears to be slipping away.

The mounting pressure on Andrew Brunette’s position in 2025

The pressure on Andrew Brunette has reached a boiling point that few could have predicted when he was hired. Through the first 20 games of the 2025-26 season, Nashville has posted a dismal 6-10-4 record, anchoring them to the bottom of the Central Division. A recent 1-6-2 slide has done little to quell the panic inside Bridgestone Arena, where expectations were sky-high following an aggressive offseason spending spree.

NHL insider Frank Seravalli has noted that the Predators are in dire need of “significant changes,” identifying a coaching switch as one of the easiest logistical options available to Trotz. Sources close to the team describe the atmosphere as possessing a “toxic energy,” with morale hitting an all-time low. The disconnect between the roster’s paper potential and actual performance has created a scenario where something must give—and in professional sports, the head coach is almost always the first domino to fall.

A disastrous season that sealed the narrative

The 2024-25 campaign served as a harsh wake-up call for Nashville, concluding with a disappointing 30-44-8 record that saw the Preds miss the postseason entirely. This marked a stunning reversal from the previous season’s success, when the team posted a 47-30-5 mark with 99 points and earned a playoff berth. The roster remained largely intact, yet the results fell off a cliff.

What makes this record particularly damning is the context in which it occurred. General manager Barry Trotz had just orchestrated one of the franchise’s most ambitious free-agent hauls, bringing in high-pedigree veterans like Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei. The mandate was clear: win now. Instead, the organization finds itself mired in a regression that has baffled analysts and enraged a fanbase hungry for success.

The heavy investment gone wrong

The Predators’ front office committed significant financial resources to veteran talent, with the express purpose of competing for a Stanley Cup. Stamkos, Marchessault and Skjei were brought in to provide leadership, scoring, and championship experience. On paper, Nashville looked like a formidable contender. On the ice, the integration has been clunky at best, catastrophic at worst.

These players were sold on a vision of immediate competitiveness. As their careers enter their twilight years, that urgency creates a razor-thin margin for error. When a team loaded with veteran talent starts sliding, the pressure cooker effect is immediate. The veterans are frustrated, the system isn’t clicking, and the results have simply not materialized in any meaningful way.

Why the Nashville Predators coaching change talk is heating up

The conversation around a potential coaching change has shifted from whispered speculation to open debate across hockey media. The fundamental reality of the NHL is that when a roster underperforms this dramatically, the head coach becomes the path of least resistance for organizational shake-up. You cannot fire the entire team, and many of the veteran contracts are practically immovable.

This creates what analysts have termed a “casualty of war” scenario. As David Pagnotta has framed it, if Trotz cannot move veteran contracts to reshape the team, he must demonstrate to the fanbase and the locker room that management is “at least doing something.” In this context, Brunette’s job security becomes less about his specific tactical failures and more about his utility as a sacrificial lamb to quell organizational unrest.

The “casualty of war” scenario

The business side of hockey often dictates moves that seem unfair on a personal level. Brunette’s contract status—signed through next year with a team option—offers little protection if the losses continue to mount. Public votes of confidence from management have become the dreaded precursor to dismissal, and Trotz’s May endorsement may ultimately follow this pattern.

The Predators’ upcoming schedule could serve as the catalyst for change. The team recently participated in the NHL Global Series in Sweden, creating a natural break point where a coaching switch could provide a “change in voice” to inject life into a listless squad. Organizational consultants often recommend making such moves during distinct breaks in the schedule, and the Global Series represented exactly that opportunity.

Roster construction disconnect

Perhaps the most damning indictment of the current situation isn’t that Brunette is a bad coach, but rather that he is the wrong coach for this specific group. There is a growing consensus among analysts that a fundamental incompatibility exists between the roster Trotz built and the style Brunette prefers to play.

Trotz, transitioning from a legendary coaching career to the general manager’s chair, has admitted to being “old school.” Yet, he hired Brunette specifically because he viewed him as “forward-thinking” and representative of the future of the game. The friction arises because Trotz may have inadvertently constructed a “Barry Trotz roster”—heavy, grinding, structured—for a coach who thrives on speed, transition, and offensive creativity. It is a classic case of management not knowing what they didn’t know, and the players are caught in the middle of this philosophical divide.

Potential successors if Brunette is dismissed

As the hot seat conversation intensifies, names of potential replacements have naturally begun to circulate through hockey’s rumor mill. The Predators would face a decision between hiring an experienced NHL bench boss who can immediately command respect, or taking a chance on a rising star from the developmental ranks. Each path carries distinct risks and rewards.

The timing of any potential change adds complexity to the decision. If Nashville makes a move during the season, they would likely need an interim solution before conducting a full coaching search in the offseason. This two-step approach has become increasingly common in the NHL, allowing organizations to stabilize the current season while thoroughly vetting long-term candidates.

The proven NHL veteran option

Peter DeBoer has emerged as the most frequently mentioned candidate to potentially replace Brunette. The former Dallas Stars head coach enjoyed significant success before a messy departure, posting three straight seasons of 100-plus points with the Stars. His track record includes multiple deep playoff runs and a reputation as a results-oriented leader.

DeBoer represents the recycling trend that dominates NHL coaching circles—proven winners tend to get second and third chances. While his tenure in Vegas ended ugly and he lost the Dallas locker room over pulling franchise goaltender Jake Oettinger, his winning percentage speaks for itself. For a Nashville team desperate for structure and accountability, DeBoer’s old-school approach might provide the “hard reset” the locker room needs.

The internal promotion candidate

Milwaukee Admirals head coach Karl Taylor presents an intriguing in-house option. With six seasons as Nashville’s AHL affiliate leader, Taylor boasts an outstanding developmental track record and deep familiarity with the organization’s prospects. Fans have warmed to the idea of promoting from within, seeing Taylor as a coach who understands the Predators’ culture and player pipeline.

However, elevating Taylor carries significant risk. He has never proven anything at the NHL level, and AHL success doesn’t always translate to the game’s highest level. The Predators would be gambling that his prospect development skills and system familiarity outweigh his lack of big-league head coaching experience. Skipping over Taylor for an external candidate could also damage internal morale.

What a coaching change would mean for Nashville’s future

Making a coaching change mid-season would signal that the Predators’ front office still believes this roster can compete. It represents a bet that new leadership and a fresh voice can unlock the potential that has remained dormant under Brunette. For veterans like Stamkos and Marchessault, it would be management’s way of saying, “We haven’t given up on this group.”

Conversely, standing pat with Brunette through the season’s difficulties would suggest the organization views the problems as structural rather than coaching-related. This path likely leads to major roster surgery in the offseason, potentially including trading core veterans and reshaping the team’s identity around younger players like Matthew Wood, who has emerged as a lone bright spot.

The true indicator of management’s thinking may come at the trade deadline. If Nashville begins selling off veteran pieces, that would constitute a white flag on the season and likely spell the end for Brunette, even if the actual termination comes later. If they stand pat or even buy, it suggests they believe a coaching change could spark the turnaround needed to salvage playoff hopes.

The Predators sit at a franchise-defining moment. The heavy investment in veteran talent combined with poor results has created an unsustainable dynamic. Whether the solution comes behind the bench or through roster reconstruction, Nashville cannot afford to remain stagnant. Andrew Brunette’s future—and perhaps Barry Trotz’s as well—depends on finding answers to questions that have plagued the organization for nearly two full seasons.

The clock is ticking in Smashville, and the coming weeks will determine whether Brunette gets the chance to coach his way out of this mess or becomes the inevitable casualty of a season gone wrong. Either way, the Nashville Predators organization must decide what kind of team it wants to be and who is best positioned to lead that vision forward.