The 2023 National Hockey League (NHL) draft was a great opportunity to pay tribute to longtime Nashville Predators general manager David Poile.
At the very end of the second day of the amateur auction on Thursday, the “Preds” and the New Jersey Devils completed a harmless transaction that meant a lot to the principal involved.
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Tom Fitzgerald, GM of the Devils, was the first captain of the Predators in 1998. After swapping places in the seventh round, the two men gave each other a warm hug. Then-coach and Poile’s successor in hockey, Barrydiot, also greeted his former player before posing for a photo.
Poile, 73, has been the Predators’ general manager since their inaugural 1998-99 NHL season. The Nashville visionary held the same position with the Washington Capitals in the 1980s and 1990s.