Preds' Poile sees success in year after eye injury

In many ways, the morning of Feb. 6, 2014, was just like many mornings for those affiliated with an NHL team.

David Poile, general manager of the Nashville Predators, grabbed a bite to eat, held a couple of meetings and then stopped to watch a few minutes of the game-day ritual known as the morning skate.

He was standing in a hallway that led from the locker room to the bench area at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., when someone shouted a one-word warning:

"Incoming!!!"

A puck had glanced off a stick and sailed over a protective pane of Plexiglas behind the bench, hurtling toward the hallway where Poile stood.

"I was about 10 feet from the boards and standing in a place that was at an angle from the ice," Poile said. "When I went back and looked at it, it was hard to figure out a way that a puck could make it through there."

But it did.

A "Whack" sound

A few weeks afterward, Poile called it "a seeing-eye puck." Considering what happened, it's an interesting choice of words.

"It was like getting hit in the head by a baseball bat," he said. "There was a 'Whack!' sound."

The puck struck Poile just above his right eye. He didn't know it at the time, but it had shattered the orbital bone above and below the eye and severed the optic nerve. The tear duct was damaged beyond repair. His nose was broken in four places.

"Unless you were there, it's hard to appreciate just how fast the puck came flying through there," said Predators broadcaster Willy Daunic, who was a dozen feet or so from Poile that day. "You didn't see it so much as you heard it. There was no time to react."

Poile fell to the floor, not quite sure what had just happened.

"I went down," he said. "I don't think I ever lost consciousness, but I was in shock."

Incredibly, he was able to get up and walk to the training room and was treated by medical personnel. An ambulance was called, and he was transported to nearby Regions Hospital.

"While we were waiting for the ambulance, I remember that no one was talking," he said.

The next few hours are a blur. Poile remembers sitting in a hospital room when a doctor walked in, took one look at him and blurted, "Oh!"

"That's not the reaction you want to get from a doctor," Poile said.

At some point, he took a look in a mirror.

"It was scary — very scary," he said.

Two surgeries

Two surgeries were done over the next two days, one on his eye, one on his nose. About 40 stitches were required above the eye, with more stitches in the eye itself. Afterward, he flew back home to Nashville where additional surgery was performed.

For months there was hope that Poile might eventually regain some vision in his right eye. He now knows that will never happen. In time he will need an ocular prosthesis – a glass eye.

"I've never looked back and said, 'Why me?' " he said. "A lot of people have it a lot worse than I do. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's a very unlucky thing to have happened, but you deal with it and move on."

Asked how his life and his approach to his job have changed in the year since the horrible accident, Poile searches for and then finds an ironic term: "more focused."

It shows. Ever the meticulous type, Poile has locked in on every little step that has contributed to the Predators' push from a non-playoff team the previous two seasons to a legitimate Stanley Cup threat this year. Even as he was recovering from that horrific morning in St. Paul, he realized the Preds were at a crossroads.

"A year ago, there was a lot of soul-searching going on about where the franchise was," he said. "I was thinking about the possibility of having to make a coaching change, and I certainly knew there would be some personnel changes on the roster."

He traded David Legwand, the first draft pick in franchise history. He fired his coach and friend, Barry Trotz. He hired Peter Laviolette. He reshaped the roster through deals and free agency.

"Every thing David does begins with him thinking: 'What's best for the organization?' " said Trotz, now coach of the Washington Capitals. "He is very thorough, very thoughtful."

Said Poile: "I don't like to make trades just for the sake of making trades, and I don't like to fire people just to fire people. I think a big part of a manager's job is to get the timing right."

His fingerprints are all over the Preds' surge. With the trade deadline of March 2, you get the feeling Poile plans to be active as he sets the roster for what he hopes will be an extended playoff run.

"We're a young team, but we still have a more mature team than we've had in the past," he said. "We have a little more playoff experience, but I wish we had more. If you're going to play against Chicago or Anaheim in the playoffs, they have the edge on you because they've been there before.

"For the most part, I like what we've done. I like being in a situation where I honestly believe we have a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup."

Being in position to say his team can compete for the Stanley Cup is quite remarkable for someone who has gone through so much over the past year. Day by day, step by step, Poile has put things back together.

During the Christmas holidays, he and his wife, Elizabeth, flew to the Twin Cities and visited Xcel Energy Center. It was a trip they simply had to make.

"I guess we were sort of looking for closure," Poile said. "We stood down there in that hallway where it happened. She cried. I cried."

But he's moved on. Like he says, he's more focused.

Reach David Climer at 615-259-8020 and on Twitter @DavidClimer.

Poile's year

2014

Feb. 6: General manager David Poile is struck in the head by a stray puck during the morning skate before the Predators' game at Minnesota. He undergoes two surgeries on his face over the next 48 hours.

Feb. 8: Poile is flown to Nashville where he undergoes additional treatment.

Feb. 9: The NHL begins a 16-day break for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Poile, who is general manager of the U.S. hockey team, is unable to attend the Winter Games because of his injuries.

Feb. 14: Poile undergoes additional surgery on his right eye.

Feb. 19: Poile returns to his office at Bridgestone Arena, wearing a patch over his right eye.

March 5: David Legwand, the first draft pick in franchise history, is traded to Detroit for forward Patrick Eaves, forward Calle Jarnkrok and a third-round draft pick.

April 13: The Predators beat Minnesota 7-3 in the final game of the season. Their 38-32-12 record and 88 points are tied for 19th in the NHL and three points out of the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.

April 14: Barry Trotz, the longest-tenured coach in the NHL and the only coach in Predators history, is fired. Trotz exits with a 557-479-100 record.

May 6: Peter Laviolette is hired as Predators coach. Laviolette, who spent parts of five previous seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.

June 27: At the NHL Entry Draft, the Predators trade Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling to Pittsburgh for forward James Neal.

July 7: Mike Fisher suffers a ruptured Achilles tendon that will require six months of recovery and rehab.

July 15: Free agent Mike Ribeiro signs a one-year, $1.05 million contract with the Predators. The Arizona Coyotes had cut ties with Ribeiro three weeks earlier.

Oct. 9: The Predators begin the 2014-15 season with a 3-2 victory over Ottawa.

2015

Jan. 13: Goalie Pekka Rinne suffers a bruised knee in the third period of a 5-1 win over Vancouver. Carter Hutton replaces Rinne in goal.

Jan. 20: The Predators enter the All-Star break with a 2-1 overtime loss to Montreal. Their record of 30-10-5 is good for 65 points, second-best in the NHL.

Jan. 27: The second half of the season begins with the Predators' 4-3 overtime victory against the Colorado Avalanche.