Barry Trotz
Barry Trotz
Barry Trotzis the head coach of the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals and the former head coach of the NHL's Nashville Predators. He was previously the coach of the American Hockey League's Baltimore Skipjacks and Portland Pirates, with whom he won an AHL championship in 1994. That same year, he won the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award, which is awarded to the outstanding coach in the AHL as voted upon by the AHL Broadcasters and Writers. On February 20, 2013...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth15 July 1962
CityWinnipeg, Canada
It's a fun time. You come to the rink with something on the line every night.
It is hard, even as a coach, to say who's going to win it. There's so many teams that are a lot closer than you think. The point totals, disregard them. It's what teams are playing well, what teams aren't.
But he thinks the game so well, and you don't have to skate as well if you're a real intelligent player. And we found out he was a real intelligent player, and he's been quite productive to this point. He's probably exceeded any expectations that we have.
I learned a lot about our character. We didn't back off. We didn't get off to the start we wanted. In the first period ... we took some undisciplined penalties and we didn't skate. But in the second and third periods we did skate and we played the way we have been playing and it showed in the final result.
It sort of validated what we've been trying to do for a long time. And hopefully it allows us to turn the corner and take the next step. That next step being making the playoffs consistently and being a threat for the Stanley Cup every year.
His game shot up to a higher level. He started slowly, but he built up until he got hurt. I'm hoping he can start the year like he finished it when he was still healthy, and maybe even take it to the next level.
They threw a lot of rubber at us. The 21 shots in the first period were embarrassing.
There's no way we should've gotten a point tonight and we did.
I can't really say a whole lot that you can print. Any time you give up three power-play goals in a game, your chances of winning aren't very good. We had a lot of guys who were taxed by all the penalties these last two games.
It was our energy and bang line that was out there. They are supposed to generate energy and they didn't do that.
That's a spooky thing. It's just one of those quirky stats and I can't explain it.
It's a real good opportunity for him and our team to make a statement that, 'Hey, we're more than one player,' and I think people tend to forget about that.
He made a great pass on ( Scott Walker 's) goal (last Sunday). That's what experience brings. He sees the game at a little slower pace than some of the young guys.
There were a couple of times I thought they could've changed the course of my situation. But they've worked through it with us and I think that's made us a better organization.