NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Barry Trotz never put a label on whether he was rebuilding, retooling or simply trying to reset the Nashville Predators during his first season as general manager.

Revival might be the best word to describe what he has done.

Not only has Trotz helped the Predators reclaim their “Smashville” identity, Nashville is back in the NHL playoffs a year after the franchise missed the postseason for the first time since the 2013-14 season. That was Trotz’s last year as the only head coach the expansion team had ever known. His new stint with his old team has been a rousing success so far.

The Predators won’t learn their first-round opponent until later this week. The postseason opens this weekend and it will be the ninth time in 10 seasons Nashville has reached the playoffs and 16th in the last 20.

Captain Roman Josi, who played his first three NHL seasons under Trotz, said it was awesome hearing that Trotz was returning as their new GM. Trotz, who coached the AHL Portland Pirates for four seasons and won the Calder Cup in 1994, took over for David Poile, who retired last summer as the NHL’s longest-tenured and winningest general manager in league history.

Josi said he can’t imagine it’s easy to switch from being coach to a general manager, yet believes Trotz has made an amazing transition after coaching Washington to the 2018 Stanley Cup championship and also coaching the New York Islanders before returning to Tennessee.

Trotz fired John Hynes as coach last May and replaced him with Andrew Brunette, the man who scored the first goal in Predators history. Trotz signed top two-way center and 2019 playoff MVP Ryan O’Reilly, rugged Cup-winning defenseman Luke Schenn and winger Gustav Nyquist.

He also traded Ryan Johansen and bought out Matt Duchene, making Nashville big winners in NHL free agency.

Nashville started the season slowly at 5-10 before climbing to .500. The Predators struggled after the All-Star Game, bottoming out with a 9-2 loss Feb. 15 on home ice to Dallas. Trotz canceled team plans to see U2 at the Sphere in Las Vegas and the Preds then went 16-0-2.

CAPITALS: Ryan Leonard is not joining the Washington Capitals for the playoffs after all, and will return to Boston College for his sophomore season.

General Manager Brian MacLellan confirmed that, saying the organization’s top prospect expressed a desire to play another season at the NCAA level before making the leap to the NHL.

WILD: The Minnesota Wild signed goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to a one-year, $2.5 million contract extension, bringing back the veteran for his age-40 season.

Fleury, who turns 40 on Nov. 28, has had a prolific season in which he passed Patrick Roy for second place behind Martin Brodeur on the NHL ‘s all-time list in career goaltending wins. Brodeur (691) is still 130 ahead of Fleury, but don’t expect him to stick with that long-shot pursuit.

“I’m not doing this again,” Fleury told reporters after practice. “No, this is it.”

Fleury is 17-14-5 with an .895 save percentage that is the lowest of his 20-year career, and his 2.98 goals-against average is his worst in seven seasons, but his performance behind a depleted group of defenseman has belied his surface-level statistics. He has two shutouts for the Wild, who were eliminated from contention for the playoffs last week.

CANADIENS: The Montreal Canadiens exercised the two-year option of the contract of Coach Martin St. Louis, committing him to the team for the next three seasons.

Montreal hired St. Louis on an interim basis following Dominique Ducharme’s dismissal in February 2022.

St. Louis, 48, was named head coach at the end of that season, taking on his first role behind an NHL bench. He has posted a 75-100-26 record as coach while the Canadiens undergo a rebuild.

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