GM says Predators to evaluate from top in effort to improve

?Everything is not perfect, or we wouldn?t be standing here,? Poile said to reporters in summing up the Predators? eighth season overall.

?And I need to know what the plan is going forward. What players think. What they believe. What coaches think and believe. I need to get evaluated myself if you will from (owner) Craig Leipold, and I believe that?ll be next week.?

Poile will be meeting individually with players this week, then with the coaches and Leipold next week to assess what went right and wrong this season. Trotz, the only coach this franchise has ever had, and his assistants are not under contract past this season.

The general manager said not to read too much into that because he spent the season focused on trying to compete for a Stanley Cup, leaving contract talks until the last game had been played.

?This is sort of like a poker game this year. We were all in,? Poile said.

The Predators finished with a franchise-record 110 points and 51 victories. But they lost in the Western Conference quarterfinals to San Jose in five games for a second straight year.