At the OHL draft in 1990, Andrew Brunette was hoping to get taken by his hometown Sudbury Wolves.
Growing up in Valley East, a suburb outside Sudbury in Ontario, the Wolves were the biggest team in town. As a hockey-obsessed 16-year-old, the future coach of the Nashville Predators was excited about the possibility.
But after the first few rounds ticked by, and the Wolves kept passing on him, Brunette began to get discouraged.
Discouragement swelled to disappointment when it was clear he wouldn't be playing for Sudbury. Though relieved when the Owen Sound Platers took him at No. 107 in the seventh round, at that point, the hurt had settled in.
"I mean, I knew I wasn't a great skater," he said. "But I couldn't understand why they passed on me."
Brunette was officially scorned. And it wouldn't be the only time.
It happened at the NHL draft a few years later. It happened during his playing career, forcing him to sign short-term contracts when teams didn't want to commit long term. And it happened when the Florida Panthers passed on him to be their head coach in 2022.
Andrew Brunette's inner drive fueled by an outdoorsman's spirit
Nestled in the Sudbury Basin of Ontario, Valley East is neighbor to more than 300 lakes and national parks. Parallel to its rugged, outdoor paradise is a town of 17,000 that Brunette said felt like "the wrong side of the tracks" at times.
"Blue collar, hard living, and hockey mad," as Brunette describes it.
In between hockey games, he spent most of his time outdoors. Canoeing, hiking, fishing — encouraged by his father, Dan, who worked for Natural Resources Canada.
Every summer, Andrew Brunette and his wife, Lorie, go on a weeklong canoe and camping trip in the Ontario wilderness. They'd pack everything you'd need for backcountry living, and nothing you'd need in the civilized world. No cellphones, laptops or technology more complicated than a camping stove.
"This past trip, even our stove broke," he said. "Every meal, we were gathering wood to start a fire."
"But that's life in the bush, life in the backcountry. You just find a way, right?"
Brunette's desire to "find a way" no matter the odds has come in handy during his career as an often overlooked hockey player and coach.
"Perseverance, grit, self-determination," he said. "A little belief in yourself goes a long way."
How Andrew Brunette became an early disciple of Barry Trotz
At the 1993 NHL Draft, all 26 teams repeatedly passed on Brunette. Eventually, David Poile, then the general manager of the Washington Capitals, took a chance on him at No. 174 overall.
"I wasn't concerned about being drafted that year," Brunette said. "Maybe it's ingrained from how I grew up, but I just wanted to be the best player on the ice."
When he first arrived in the NHL, Brunette needed that self-belief to keep him going. He wasn't the fastest player on the roster, but he could outwork anyone for ice time. All he needed was a coach who valued hard work.
Thankfully, he met Barry Trotz .
"My first impression was . . . don't mess with this guy. He's crazy," Brunette said.
Trotz, then the head coach of Washington's AHL team, led notoriously brutal practices. Brunette remembers shooting pucks until his hands were bleeding.
"He was always wired. He had those crazy eyes, and just kind of in your face. He had all this energy," he said.
But he also saw consistent care in Trotz's relationships with players — compassion complementing intense, agonizing workouts.
"[Trotz] was always honest, always fair," Brunette said. "You always knew he cared about you. I try to take those traits and the way I approach things, not just as a player, but as a coach now."
Now Trotz is once again Brunette's boss , the two entering their second year together as general manager and coach. Brunette says Trotz has mellowed since his early AHL coaching days.
Most of the time.
"You still see his eye twitch every once in a while," Brunette said. "I know that eye twitch when I see it."
How Andrew Brunette bridged his playing career into coaching
Brunette signed seven contracts in his career of 1,110 games. Despite consistent production — during his prime, he was good for 50 or 60 points a season playing 15 minutes per night — teams just didn't want to commit.
They would move on from him — including Nashville, where he spent one season — and he would find another team: Washington, Atlanta, Minnesota, Colorado, Minnesota again, and finally Chicago.
"You just keep moving forward and proving people wrong," Brunette said.
Along the way, he picked up on the details of coaching. He noticed Jacques Lemaire's careful game management, Joel Quenneville's ability to scheme an offense, and of course, Trotz's burning intensity.
He also observed tactics used in other sports and applied them to hockey.
"John Stockton, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley . . . I watched how they would pick-and-roll to create offense," Brunette said. "Every sport to me is a way to learn something for hockey."
His latest obsession is San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.
"I'm just enamored by how he creates space and movement," Brunette said. "He'll put guys in motion, then change things with different formations. It's amazing, he's always creating space."
So far, Brunette has excelled at creating space for his offense. During his interim coaching season with Florida in 2021-22, the Panthers led the NHL in goals per game (4.11).
Last season, the Predators finished 10th in goals per game (3.24) under Brunette, up from 28th (2.72) under John Hynes the season before.
After retiring from playing in 2012, Brunette found assistant coaching jobs with Minnesota and Florida.
He was an assistant on Quenneville's staff with the Panthers when Quenneville resigned in October 2021 while the NHL investigated a 2010 sexual assault allegation involving the Chicago Blackhawks, when he was their coach.
Florida named Brunette the interim coach, and he capitalized on the opportunity, leading the Panthers to their first-ever Presidents' Trophy in 2022. But when it came time to pick an official coach, he was passed over. The Panthers opted to hire Paul Maurice instead of promoting Brunette.
Scorned again.
"It was obviously heartbreaking," Brunette said about the decision . "But, kind of like a player, they don't want you anymore, so you move on."
Sort of like when your camping stove breaks during a wilderness retreat? Plans get derailed, everything falls apart — but you have to find a way. Time to go find some wood to get a fire going.
Which is what Brunette did. He left Florida for an assistant coaching job with the New Jersey Devils, then landed Nashville's head coaching job in 2023 after the team had moved on from Hynes.
So far, Brunette's coaching style has led to some success in Nashville , which he says is a product of the coaches he has had over the years.
There's Lemaire's defensive structure and discipline, Quenneville's high-pressure offensive attack and Trotz's fierce competitive drive on and off the ice.
"Sometimes I hear [Jacques] in my head saying, 'Slow it down, slow it down,' " Brunette said. "But it's all three, really. A sum of all the parts."
In Brunette's first year in Nashville, he took a team with little playoff hopes to the first round against Vancouver. The Predators lost in six games, but the group's determination and togetherness stuck with him. Reminded him of when he played.
"To see how they rallied after the bad [9-2] loss to Dallas," Brunette said. "It makes you proud. I loved working with that group."
Now he has a revamped roster, stocked with elite scoring talent in Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, plus a new defensive anchor in Brady Skjei.
Under the watchful — and occasionally twitching — eye of Trotz, Brunette likes the Predators' chances of being a threat this season. After the first day of training camp, Brunette did his best to channel his many coaching influences in a brief, but powerful message.
"It starts now," he said. "Today was a good practice. But tomorrow's a new day. Got to bring it again."
BRUNETTE ON STAMKOS: Here are plans for Steven Stamkos' skills under Nashville Predators coach Andrew Brunette
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com . Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How an oft-overlooked, self-driven Andrew Brunette found his way to Nashville Predators
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