There are so many things that I could write about this week as two of the top 5 professional sports concluded their seasons but I would be remiss in not talking about the legacy of Clare Drake, former coach of the University of Alberta Golden Bears for 28 seasons and the impact he had on Washington Capitals Head Coach, Barry Trotz.
Check out prior post It’s amazing what you can accomplish for more insight on Clare
Barry was one of Canadian top coaches that pushed for Clare to be inducted in the hall of fame, along with the $50 Million Man, Mike Babcock, and Ken Hitchcock, who have cumulatively have amassed over 2200 NHL wins in their coaching careers.
Barry, however, just achieved the milestone that eluded the Caps since their francize inception over 40 years ago with only one trip to the Stanley Cup in 1998 losing out to the Detroit Red Wings coached by Scotty Bowman, whom Ken Dryden compared to Clare Drake “I can think of only one other Canadian hockey coach at a high level how had such a record of long term success – Scotty Bowman” in this Edmonton Journal Article.
Barry started out his coaching career in university at the university of Manitoba and would fear any time his teams would meet Clare’s University of Alberta Golden Bears.
“Clare was one of those iconic coaches when I was growing up that won at every level, but to me, he was a teacher of the game….If you were an opponent or you were a young kid, he was a guy that would try to teach and show he didn’t care if you were the opponent.” Trotz said in this oilers nation article.
Ken Hitchcock shared with the National Post “The last time we attended clinics ..together, he was still in the front of the front row taking notes at the age of 78.”. This is why Clare was called Canada’s John Wooden of Hockey, passionate about his craft and was still learning well after he retired.
After 3 years coaching in Manitoba, where he also served as a part-time scout for the very same Washington Capitals, he became the head coach of the Capitals minor league team, the Baltimore Skipjacks in 1992 then the franchise moved to Portland, Maine where he lead the team to two Calder Cup Finals, winning the cup in their inaugural season.
The Capitals ties continued, when former Caps GM David Poile was hired as GM for the Nashville Predators and he reached out to Barry to become the expansion franchise first head coach and struggled in their initial seasons as they built their team thru the draft with a very frugal budget for player salaries even before the salary cap to ensure that all teams are on a even playing field.
Unlike the Vegas Golden Knights, who benefitted from a restructured expansion draft format to choose unprotected players to be competitive out of the gate, where former Capitals GM George McPhee strategically put together a team that made it to the final in their first season only to fall short to the Caps coached by Trotz.
For 15 seasons, Barry coached the Predators, leading them to the playoffs almost every year, although they had one of the lowest budgets compared to all their affiliate NHL clubs. He was credited by many in the NHL as doing the most with the least and then when the Caps came calling again, he became their head coach and lead the team to their first Stanley cup in their 40+ year history (est. 1974) and his first in his 19-year coaching career.
Although almost all the media attention is on how Ovie FINALLY won his Stanley cup after 13 seasons, had 165 teammates over that time period, winning every other trophy possible like his counterpart Sidney and was able to get the monkey off his back and leading his Caps to knock their longtime rival, Pittsburgh, lead by Sid out of the playoffs for a potential three-peat.
Each of the subsequent series they came back from behind, also falling 2-0 to Columbus, then 1-0 to the Knights.
How did Barry help the Caps get the monkey not only off Ovie’s back but the franchise that he had been involved with on one way or another over going back to the beginning of his professional coaching career?
He did so by believing in his players.
Believing in the Great 8 (Ovechkin) – who not only scored from his wheelhouse on the power play but even strength, was physically dominant in every game, relentless on backchecks and even blocked shots.
Believing in Lars Eller, who under Trotz’s leadership, flourished after he was traded from the Montreal Canadiens to the Caps. Eller had his best season EVER since being drafted in the first round by St Louis and traded to Montreal, scoring 18 goals and 20 assists in the regular season but it was the playoffs where he truly excelled, scoring 7 goals, 11 assists, including the game-winning goal in game 5 to win the Stanley Cup, the first player from Denmark to do so.
When asked by the media about his contributions to the Stanley Cup Run, he stated “ he was feeling at home since the day he got there, organization and coaching staff believed in me”
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Believing in Devante Smith Kelly (yet another former HAB) who scored as many goals in the playoffs in 24 games, as he had in the regular season (75 games), 7, including the tying goal in game 5.
Believing in Evgeny Kutznetsov, Ovies Russian counterpart who EXPLODED under Trotz’s Watch, who many felt was a candidate for the Conn Smythe (MVP of the playoffs), with 32 points (12 goals and 20 assists).
Believing in Nicklas Backstrom, the player that Ovie handed the Cup to after he celebrated, who had been with Ovie all but one year when he went to the KHL, who contributed 23 points in the playoff run although he missed a few games due to a hand injury.
In the 3 years under Barry, Braden Holtby, starting goaltender, also backstopped the team to over 40 wins each season vs. two prior seasons of 23.
He also believed in all of his other players and demonstrated as many of the top experts, coaches, Olympians have shared with me that I have talked to for our inaugural For the Love of the Game Digital Summit what the characteristics of great coaches, one being coaches believing in their players.
Now the big question facing the Capitals is whether they will renew his contract that has expired, where he not only won the Stanley Cup but lead the team to the NHL’s best record in 2016 and 2017 seasons (Presidents Trophy winners).
General Manager, Brian MacLellan, has already stated publicly if Barry wants to continue in his role as head coach, he will be offered a contract (which all indications are will be a WEE bit of a raise on his current 1.5M/Yr salary).
Ironically, this is just a year after he stated he was doing a thorough evaluation of the team, including Barry’s future, after they lost in the second round of the playoffs for the third consecutive year last season (two of which after they won the Presidents Trophy).
If Brian, the owner Ted Leonsis, and the rest of the organization don’t sign Barry, he could potentially become the next highest paid free agent coach along with his other Clare Drake mentee and Stanley Cup winning coach, Mike Babcock.
This all took place in the same season after Clare was FINALLY inducted in the NHL hall of fame when he was 89 years old (suspect was still taking notes) and then a few months later sadly passed away.
Remember youth sports coaches, just as Clare, all the players and coaches that he taught the game to, our calling as coaches is to make a difference by developing youth into adults.
Please ensure your legacy is a positive one like Clares and you are not a Kids Last Coach.
Let’s all work together to bring the game back to the kids … where it belongs.
