by Jenna Ciccotelli
EDMONTON – If the Nashville Predators had a different general manager, the team's Thursday road win over the Edmonton Oilers would not have stood out among the night's array of NHL action. Sure, the victory furthered the Predators' winning streak – now up to six games – and it made their first-place position in the Central Division standings all the more secure, but it was what could be expected from a team looking to avenge last season's loss in its first-ever Stanley Cup Finals appearance.
But the general manager in Nashville is former Northeastern men's hockey captain David Poile, who picked up his 1,320th win Thursday to pass Glen Sather and become the winningest general manager in NHL history.
"He's really good at what he does," said Predators head coach Peter Laviolette. "I think it's his communication skills to ownership, to the people in the office, to the players, to the coaches, he's just so well-respected throughout our organization and works incredibly hard at his job and he's very good at it."
In his 36th season as a GM – and his 20th with the Predators – Poile, whose performances from 1967 to 1970 still rank in the Huskies' record books, is also the longest-serving general manager in the NHL's 100-year history. He began his hockey administration career in 1972 as an administrative assistant with the Atlanta Flames, becoming an assistant GM when the Flames moved north to Calgary eight years later. In 1982, he was hired as general manager of the Washington Capitals, where he earned 594 wins in 15 seasons.
Poile was named the first general manager of the Predators when NHL hockey was brought to Nashville in 1997. In his decades-long career with the team, Poile has amassed 725 wins in 1,504 games with the Predators and has been a four-time finalist for the NHL's General Manager of the Year Award, the most of any GM. He won the award in 2017 after leading Nashville to its first conference championship in franchise history.
Over time, he has boosted the star power of an expansion organization that began with a humble payroll of $15 million, the lowest of any team in the NHL, by packing rosters with 23 All-Star Game selections. He added highly-touted center Ryan Johansen and defender P.K. Subban in 2016 and Kyle Turris and Ryan Hartman this season in deals that proved successful, as Nashville appears primed to make a playoff run for the second consecutive year.
"David has done a great job of putting together a great hockey environment and any new guys that come to this team understand how great this environment is," Subban said. "It's an easy place to work and to come and give your all every day, and you go home just as excited to come back and do your job again the next day."
A two-time Northeastern's men's hockey Most Valuable Player, Poile recorded 82 goals and 36 assists across three seasons to tie for 30th on the Northeastern all-time scoring list with 118 points. In 1987, Poile, the program record-holder in hat tricks (11), was inducted to the Northeastern Varsity Club Hall of Fame for his contributions to the sport of ice hockey at the collegiate and professional levels.
