from David Climer of The Tennessean,

With Peter Laviolette now in place as coach, the Preds have shifted gears. General manager David Poile dealt for skilled forward James Neal and has added veteran center Olli Jokinen in free agency. And Poile keeps hinting he’s not done.

It’s about time the Preds rolled the dice. Changing coaches and systems was a start. Acquiring players that don’t treat the goal like a no-fly zone is the next step.

Look, I have nothing but respect for the job Trotz did with the Preds. He consistently got more out of his team than the sum of its parts. The Preds’ failure to make the playoffs in the last two seasons was due to shortcomings on the roster and injuries, not Trotz’s strategy.

But things had grown stale. It was time for a fresh start and a new philosophy, one that doesn’t begin and end with strong defense and quality goaltending.

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