Why Barry Trotz is a Great Coach
As a result of COVID-19, many of the professional sports schedules have been delayed since the global shutdown mid March 2020 with the exception of the NFL who started their season as they planned, albeit with no exhibition games that many have argued were not meaningful other than to generate gate revenue as starters would not play until the game before the season started.
Although some of the professional sports have had challenges finishing or starting seasons, once the NHL figured out the bubble format and the cities to host them in, since the beginning of the NHL qualifying round and subsequent Stanley Cup Playoffs there have been no positive COVID-19 cases reported so they have set the bar for others as we continue to deal with the pandemic.
One of the annual events that was impacted as a result of no large gatherings (although you would not know it with certain NFL cities have fans in the stands, others not), was the annual NHL awards ceremony, where Barry Trotz, Bruce Cassidy and John Tortorella would have been seated in the auditorium waiting for their names to be called out to receive the Jack Adams Award for the best coach.
John and Barry have both been recipients of the award two times so was their third nomination, and this was Bruce’s first year which he nominated and also the recipient of the coach of the year award for the great job he has done with the Boston Bruins.
Although I feel Bruce deserved the award, it was Barry that I wanted to highlight this week due to the fact that he not only was nominated a third time, but had he been the recipient, it would have been his third, a feat only done by one other coach in the history of the NHL.
The Early Years – AHL and Nashville Predators
Barry’s initial coaching experience that lead him to the NHL was coaching the Baltimore Skipjacks and Portland Pirates of the AHL, and in 1994 he lead Portland to the AHL championship title where he received he first coach of the year award, the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award, the AHL equivalent of the Jack Adams trophy Barry has now won in the NHL
After a few more years in the NHL, when the expansion Nashville Predators were looking for their first head coach, GM David Poile decided to bring Barry along to be their first head coach in 1997 before their first NHL season in 1998-1999
He went on to coach the predators for 15 seasons, the longest tenure for any coach of an expansion franchise and their most successful season was in 2006-7 where they accumulated 110 points, second in the western conference and third overall.
During many of those seasons, the payroll that Nashville allocated for player salaries was significantly lower than all other franchises, yet year after year Barry and his coaching staff were able to lead their teams to the playoffs.
Many would say that Barry was able to get the very most out of his players in order to do so.
Washington Capitals
In 2014 Barry was replaced by Peter Laviolette and soon after the Washington Capitals came knocking, who had offered Barry his first opportunity to coach their minor league affiliates in the AHL.
He was offered a 4 year contract, and in his 4th year he lead the Capitals to their first ever Stanley Cup, and also his first Stanley cup after coaching in the NHL for 19 seasons.
Sadly, the Capitals did not opt to extend his contract so Barry resigned and within a few weeks was recruited by the New York Islanders GM Lou Lamarello, former GM for the New Jersey Devils.
New York Islanders
Barry became the head coach in 2018 and in his first season as head coach swept the Pittsburgh Penguins in 4 games, then lost to Carolina in the second round but was nominated and received his second Jack Adams award.
During the COVID-19 season, he has now lead the Islanders to the eastern conference final, and as the day of this being written are down 2-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightling, although had a much better game in game two than the first and I suspect will come out flying in game 3.
So how has Barry accomplished so much, when many say, with so little (the early years with Nashville, the egos on the capitals, and the young up and coming roster of the Islanders?
#1 – He truly cares about his players.
In all of the surveys I have done over the years, the #1 characteristic shared by coaches is the greatest coaches they had cared about them as people first, athletes second.
#2 – His Philosophy
In the video that we shared in our newsletter, Barry shares he core values;
When I stand behind my team it means something.
It means having respect, integrity….
It means responsibility.
Coaching is about caring about people.
Like many high level coaches, Barry is very knowledgeable about the systems, tactics (X’s and O’s) but what separates the good coaches to the great coaches is having core values that recognize the importance of coaching and caring about the person which I have shared with all coaches for years.
#3 – He makes the players believe
Like he did with Nashville leading them to the playoffs for numerous years, he lead the Washington Capitals to their first ever Stanley Cup after many coaches before him with their high payroll star lineup had not often been knocked out in the first round.
Now with the New York Islanders, a young team that many felt would be bottom dwellers after losing their best player, John Tavares, to free agency before his first season, he lead them to the playoffs with a mix of young up and coming players and veterans and has gone even deeper this year.
Based on how he has guided his teams over the years, developed his players into such great people, and is passionate about his core values, I believe that Barry may just get the nomination a third time and potentially win his third Jack Adams as a result which has only been done by one prior coach, Pat Burns, who won the award coaching three different teams.
I imagine that he, like all the others in the bubble since the qualifying round started, is looking forward to when his family can join him so he can give them all a hug, including Nolan who was there by his side during the Capitals great Stanley Cup run just a few years back.
