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Dauphin native Barry Trotz, making a point with an official last season, is the only head coach in the history of the Predators.
As the only coach in franchise history, Barry Trotz has been there for every step of the Nashville Predators’ evolution.
Now, the 49-year-old Dauphin native hopes to help the team reach a new level in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Predators open the playoffs tonight (7 o’clock, CBC) as the fourth seed in the Western Conference, earning a first-round matchup for the Detroit Red Wings.
While the Predators have been the model of consistency in the post-lockout National Hockey League, winning at least 40 games every season since 2005-06, last year was the first time the team won a playoff series, beating the Anaheim Ducks before falling to the Vancouver Canucks in the second round.
"A lot of the time, you don’t get that opportunity to be a part of that next stage of development of the team," said Trotz, who is the second-longest serving head coach in the NHL, behind Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres. "… I’ve been extremely fortunate to be around. We’ve gone from being an expansion team (in 1998-99) to a competitive team to a playoff team and now I think we’re at the point where we’re considered a Stanley Cup threat all the time."
On March 30, Trotz reached a major milestone as the Predators beat the Wings 4-1 for his 500th career victory, making him only the fifth head coach in NHL history to win that many games with a single team, joining an elite club that includes the likes of Al Arbour (New York Islanders, 740 wins), Ruff (526), Billy Reay (Chicago, 516) and Toe Blake (Montreal, 500).
It’s an accomplishment that Trotz, now up to 503 wins, seems almost embarrassed about discussing.
"I haven’t really thought about it a whole lot until just recently when the media keeps bringing it up," said Trotz, a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach in both 2010 and 2011. "I mean, it’s something you don’t dwell on. I don’t, anyway. … It’ll be something more probably when the season’s done or maybe when my career’s done as a coach. You look back and you think, ‘Wow I did that, too.’ Right now when they bring it up, it feels a little awkward because of some of the names that are there."
Trotz’s success as a coach is all the more remarkable considering the way he fell into the career. A steady, but undersized, defenceman for the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats, Trotz dreamed of making it to the NHL as a player. It was a dream that was never meant to be, however.
Trotz said he just plain wasn’t good enough and having badly injuring his back after a cross-check from behind during a WHL game, his playing days began to grind to a halt.
Trotz ended his junior career in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League with his hometown Dauphin Kings before enrolling at the University of Manitoba. When he was no longer healthy enough to play, then-Bisons coach Wayne Fleming invited him to join his staff as an assistant.
"I just sort of watched and moved pucks for him most of the time," Trotz admitted. "I really didn’t do much coaching, but I watched and learned."
It wasn’t long before the Kings came calling again, offering Trotz their head coaching position.
"Usually what happens in a small town, the team’s in debt and they’re looking for sort of a cheap out and they go back to the local guy and they ask me," Trotz said. "... Me and my wife were talking about getting married and she said ‘Why don’t you get it out of your system? Give it a whirl before we get settled and have kids and go for it.’ So I went and worked very cheaply for the Dauphin Kings and got my feet wet. I think we got it turned around and saved the team there. We were OK. I wouldn’t say we were great, but very young."
After his stint with the Kings, Trotz was hired by the Portage Terriers but never coached a game there before being brought back by the U of M when Fleming went on sabbatical. That lasted only a year before Fleming returned and Trotz was looking for work again, landing a scouting job with the Washington Capitals.
From there, he worked his way into coaching positions in the Capitals organization, winning an American Hockey League Calder Cup with the Portland Pirates in 1993-94. His success prompted Predators general manager David Poile to hire Trotz as the coach of the expansion Nashville franchise in 1997 and Trotz joined another elite fraternity — former Kings coaching in the NHL.
"There were three guys from a little town that ended up coaching in the National Hockey League," marvelled Trotz, whose coaching career has overlapped those of fellow Kings alumni Ron Low (Edmonton, 1995-99 and New York Rangers, 2000-02) and Butch Goring (Boston, 1985-86 and New York Islanders, 1999-2001). "The odds of that are pretty astronomical."
» rhenders@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition April 11, 2012
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As the only coach in franchise history, Barry Trotz has been there for every step of the Nashville Predators’ evolution.
Now, the 49-year-old Dauphin native hopes to help the team reach a new level in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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As the only coach in franchise history, Barry Trotz has been there for every step of the Nashville Predators’ evolution.
Now, the 49-year-old Dauphin native hopes to help the team reach a new level in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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