Predators Announce Appointments To Hockey Operations Staff

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Bridgestone Arena. Photo: Courtesy of the Nashville Predators

Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations & General Manager David Poile announced several appointments to the team’s hockey operations staff ahead of the 2022-23 season.

“I’m proud to announce the latest additions to our ever-growing hockey operations staff prior to the start of this season’s training camp,” says Poile. “Alongside our homegrown management staff of Assistant General Managers Jeff Kealty, Scott Nichol and Brian Poile, these individuals all bring different, valuable and innovative skillsets to a group that is dedicated each day to bringing a Stanley Cup to Nashville. We are excited to see how they complement each other and work on and off the ice to make our entire organization better.”

Joining head Coach John Hynes’ staff as a Skills Coach is Sebastien Bordeleau. Entering his fourth season with the organization, he previously served as Forward Development Coach from 2019-22, aiding Nichol in following and evaluating forward prospects drafted and signed by Nashville. He also assisted with their maturation process into NHL players by focusing on nutrition, off-ice workouts and conditioning, practice habits and game performance. Bordeleau spent three seasons with the Predators as a forward from 1998-01 where he tallied 68 points in 146 games. Since 2014, he has also worked as a skills and skating coach for the Canadian Women’s National Hockey Team.

Nathan Gerbe has been hired to replace Bordeleau as the team’s Forward Development Coach. He will assist Nichol in following and evaluating forward prospects drafted and signed by Nashville. A veteran of 13 professional seasons, Gerbe played parts of 11 campaigns in the NHL with Buffalo, Carolina and Columbus, tallying 151 points (63 goals, 88 assists) in 435 games. He closed out his playing career with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters from 2017-21, serving as captain for two seasons. He also skated two seasons in the Swiss league from 2016-18.

Former NHL player Brett Carson has joined Kealty’s staff as a North American Amateur Scout, working in the western part of the United States and Canada. The 36-year-old played 16 seasons of professional hockey from 2006-22, including parts of five campaigns in the NHL with Carolina and Calgary, tallying 13 points and in 90 games. A defenseman from Regina, Sask., Carson spent the previous nine years in Europe, skating four seasons in the Finnish Liiga, three in Austria, and one in the Swedish Hockey League, Slovakian league and German second league.

Ronda Engelhardt has also joined the scouting staff as a North American Amateur Scout based out of Minnesota. The first female scout in team history, she comes to the Predators organization after serving as head coach of the Premier Hockey Federation’s Minnesota Whitecaps for four seasons from 2018-22, where she won the Isobel Cup as league champions in 2018-19. Prior to her time with the Whitecaps, Engelhardt was the women’s hockey head coach at the Breck School, a Minnesota high school, from 2013-18, and was an assistant coach on the women’s team at the University of St. Thomas (Division III) for four seasons from 2003-07.

After spending the previous 17 seasons as strength coach of the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, Jason Nordby will move to the Predators to become the Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach and Biometrics Coordinator. Working under Predators Strength & Conditioning Coach David Good, he will assist with the team’s strength and conditioning programs and track player biometric performance during games, practices and off-ice workouts. During his time with Milwaukee, the team made the Calder Cup Playoffs 13 times, finishing first in their division on five occasions.

Michael Bingham joins the Predators’ equipment staff as Equipment Coordinator under Head Equipment Manager Pete Rogers and Assistant Equipment Manager Brad Peterson. This will be his first season with the NHL team after working the 2021-22 campaign as Milwaukee’s assistant equipment manager. The season before, Bingham served as equipment manager for the USHL’s Tri-City Storm.

Rounding out the additions in Nashville, the 2022-23 season will mark Jon Sherman’s first with the organization as the Hockey Operations Coordinator and Analyst. He will work alongside Hockey Operations Coordinator Alexis Bazydola, who was hired last season out of the University of Connecticut after previously interning in the Predators’ hockey operations department.

Along with his primary duties, which involve player research and database management, Sherman will assist Hockey Analytics and Operations Manager Matt Hamann and Research and Data Development Engineer Dalton Linkus in Nashville’s analytics department and help in an administrative capacity. Sherman previously worked in various roles with the Washington Capitals, Arizona Coyotes, Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL), Dartmouth University (ECAC) and Boston University (Hockey East).

Steven Boero
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