Andrew Brunette faces Predators job questions again

Brunette got asked the question straight up in an exclusive sit-down, and he answered it the way a coach with his seat warming up has to.

Alex Daugherty

@AlexDaugherty1

EXCLUSIVE: Andrew Brunette addresses job security amid Predators’ lukewarm start to season. “I'm working as hard as I can every day to get us better." More here: t.co/fU6pmWKPN7

The numbers explain why it came up. Nashville is 4-4-5 through 13 games, which is 13 points. That isn't a disaster, but it isn't much either. The offense ranks 23rd in the league at 2.85 goals per game. The low point so far came October 22 in Boston, a 6-0 shutout that Brunette himself called "our worst effort of the year by far." When the coach is grading his own team that harshly in October, the questions about the coach show up right behind it.

Brunette has heard all of this before, and he said so. This was supposed to be settled back in the summer, when MacFarland arrived as the new GM, inherited Brunette, and decided to keep him instead of starting over behind the bench.

Alex Daugherty

@AlexDaugherty1

MacFarland gave Brunette a vote of confidence this summer, but now Brunette is back to the same question. "I think we've had this conversation the last three years... I'm just focused on being the best coach I can every day."

"The last three years" is the part that matters. Brunette has basically coached in Nashville with his job up for debate since he got there, and every slow stretch drags it back out. MacFarland's support from the offseason was real, but a vote of confidence from a GM who didn't hire you only goes so far. A new GM who wants a younger roster built his way doesn't owe the old regime's coach anything past the first bad month.

So Brunette's other point carries weight: he says he and MacFarland are talking constantly and are on the same page.

Alex Daugherty

@AlexDaugherty1

Brunette also says that he talks with MacFarland frequently, who is "around every day" according to Brunette. "I think we see things very similarly. Like I said before, we know we have some work to do."

Elsewhere in the interview Brunette put the defense on himself, saying getting it better every day is his responsibility, and said that if he's asking his players to compete, he has to ask the same of himself. That's the right answer. It's also the answer every coach gives right up until the morning the GM calls a press conference.

What to watch is simple. A 4-4-5 team has plenty of overtime points to turn into wins, and if the offense climbs out of the bottom third, this goes quiet again. If November looks like Boston, a GM who's around every day won't have to look far to make a change. For now, Brunette is still the guy, and he knows exactly how many people are asking for how long.