What would actually be fixed if the Nashville Predators fired Andrew Brunette?

As the Nashville Predators season continues to grow weaker and lower in points, there is nothing about this team that is getting better. Obviously the expectation was that the team would make the playoffs clearly and go deep. Therefore, it is completely disastrous for the organization to be at this point.

That leaves everyone wondering what needs to change, and no one has been more annoyed by the Predators’ woes than head coach Andrew Brunette. It makes sense to want a fresh start, because sometimes when a team is getting worse and worse, it just needs a new voice, and there’s a valid argument that that team shouldn’t delay the inevitable when it comes to their job security goes.

But at the same time, the Predators are plagued by problems that go much deeper than just coaching, and I refuse to believe that another coach will step in and turn the team around like that. In this article, I’ll look at some of the biggest allegations against Brunette’s coaching this year that will show us how much blame he deserves for the Predators being as terrible as they are.

Firing Brunette might not solve the problems the way people think

Let me start this section by saying that it is not accurate to say that Andrew Brunette is “not the problem” on this team. When a team is as bad as the Predators, almost no one should be absolved of blame, and as I’m about to say, there are several things Brunette could do better with this team.

But of all the things that can be pointed at him, the one thing I really like about him and only him is the too many men on the ice and the penalties. These are bench evasions and when they happen repeatedly it can sometimes be due to players not fully engaging in hectic moments, but ultimately it is due to the general organization on the ice and ultimately the head coach.

Now the same thing happened early last year and has improved, and my personal guess is that this could be partly due to how much skating is involved in Brunette’s system and it takes time to sort it out. Anyway, that’s just a guess, and in this area the responsibility is still his, so I’m in no way suggesting that last year’s events make him look better now.

One of the other things Brunette has been criticized for is the development of the younger players, and particularly Dante Fabbro and Philip Tomasino at this time. Both were often scratched and mysteriously healthy with the Predators, and now they’re finding instant success on their new teams.

This is a terrible sight for the franchise and the criticism of Brunette in this regard is entirely justified. People have been particularly annoyed that players like Fabbro and Tomasino were and are held to different standards than the established veterans, which is obviously not fair.

But it’s clear that Barry Despite Brunette agreed with these players’ assessments, both in words and actions. So it’s true that Brunette was part of this problem. It’s also true that there’s a huge philosophical problem with the organization that needs to be solved, but it’s also true that the problem goes deeper and goes beyond Brunette himself, and firing him alone won’t solve that.

Another point of criticism against Brunette this year has been the power play, as the Predators currently rank 20th in the NHL with a success rate of 18.8%. The team has taken steps this offseason, particularly Steven Stamkos, to fix exactly that, making staying where they are unacceptable.

However, I would argue that the deficiencies on the power play are more indicative of another problem that I have spoken about at length: a lack of performance from staff and players. As for the former, everyone knows that it refers to the absolute graveyard in this squad, namely the center position and lack of speed.

Despite all the individually talented players on the roster and on the top power play unit, they obviously don’t have an elite playmaker in the middle of the ice. The lack of speed also hinders them because they never force the opponent to chase after them or draw attention to themselves while moving the puck effectively and dynamically, something all the best power play units in the league have.

We also see that they often struggle to get consistent zone entries with the man advantage, and the fact that they don’t have a quick puck carrier on the roster is a big reason for this. It seems like we overestimated what the power play should have been capable of this year, but it should still be better than what it has been so far.

Of course, not only is Brunette off the hook for this, but at some point you have to blame the players for not being good enough. And when it comes to the power play, we’re not talking about younger players and their development being mismanaged, but rather veterans of this league like Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Ryan O’Reilly, Filip Forsberg and Roman Josi.

Great players are expected to be your best players to shine no matter what, and the players mentioned have been signed up to do just that. Sometimes they just need to get better, coaches can only take care of these guys so much and we need to see more of these guys on the ice.

The last thing I would like to mention in Brunette is the constant changing of lines as it makes it extremely difficult for players to find chemistry and find a rhythm. Marchessault recently spoke about this and how difficult it was for him, which is more than understandable.

At the same time, this speaks to the much bigger problem, namely personnel. The fact is, the Predators don’t have a roster good enough to play the same lines night after night.

Could Brunette do better and not change them as often as he does? Sure, but every head coach in the league often tried different combinations with the players available. Of all the things you can accuse him of, I definitely wouldn’t accuse him of this nearly as much.

So ultimately, there are a multitude of problems with this Predators team that no one can solve, including firing the head coach. If they start anywhere, hopefully it will be in filling the glaring roster holes that plague this team from a roster standpoint.

And as mentioned, Brunette and Despite will have to do some soul-searching together when it comes to the use of these young players and the standards that are being held to them. Seeing these guys suddenly find their groove somewhere else shows that the Predators are missing something in what they’re doing, and if that’s not a wake-up call to make adjustments, I don’t know what is.

Once again, I understand that if the Predators fire Brunette, sometimes a change is just needed when a team is falling apart, and this team is in that situation right now. But I would be shocked if it only changed this team’s prospects, as almost every coach would struggle given their composition.