Nashville Predators coach Andrew Brunette is away from the team while attending to family matters, the team told The Tennessean on Saturday.
Brunette was not in attendance at Predators' practice held at Centennial Sportsplex on Saturday. Assistant coach Todd Richards was leading most of the team's on-ice activities, and he handled media availability after practice.
No other information on Brunette's absence was made available. The team said if Brunette's absence extended into Sunday's game against Montreal, Richards would handle head coaching duties.
Brunette, 51, was hired by the Predators in May 2023 when the team moved on from John Hynes, who became coach of the Minnesota Wild six months later. Barry Trotz made the hire as his first major move as the new general manager.
In his first season, Brunette was 47-30-5 and a finalist for the 2024 Jack Adams Award, given annually to the league's coach of the year. This year, the Predators have struggled under Brunette, going 27-41-8 with six games left in the seaosn.
Brunette scored the first goal in Predators history on Oct. 13, 1998.
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. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Predators coach Andrew Brunette away from team for family matters
