Barry Trotz: Expansion season with Nashville, leaning into getting uncomfortable celebrating Cup wins in the streets
We have a great show for you this week! Barry Trotz, a Stanley Cup champion and two-time Jack Adams award winner who is third on the NHL’s all time wins list with 914, joins us for episode 189. You're going to need a notepad for this one.
While most should be familiar with his long list of accomplishments, what truly stands out about Trotz is that he is regarded as one of the true gentlemen in our sport.
Trotz grew up in Dauphin, Manitoba, and began his coaching journey as the head coach of the local junior team, the Dauphin Kings, when he was just 23-years-old. By 25, he was the head coach of his alma mater, the University of Manitoba.
From there, Trotz began scouting for the Washington Capitals and was eventually named an assistant coach with the Baltimore Skipjacks, Washington’s then AHL affiliate, a position he held for half a season before being promoted as the team’s head coach. Trotz continued to lead Washington’s farm team for five more seasons, which included a relocation to Portland, Maine.
Then in 1997, David Poile, then General Manager of the Capitals, was named GM of the expansion Nashville Predators and offered Trotz the chance to be an NHL head coach. Fifteen years later, he was the longest active tenured coach in the NHL.
Following his time Nashville, Trotz returned to Washington to lead the Capitals to their first Stanley Cup Championship in 2018. The next season, he joined the NY Islanders and guided them on back-to-back Cinderella runs to the Eastern Conference Championship, losing the Tampa Bay Lightning on both occasions.
In this episode, we discuss his expansion season with the Predators, leaning into getting uncomfortable, and why you should always take the party to the streets following a Stanley Cup Championship.
