Trotz Ties Arbour on NHL Wins List

On Saturday night, the New York Islanders' current coach found himself sharing a pedestal with the franchise's best bench boss.
Barry Trotz picked up his 782nd career win when the Islanders beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0, tying Al Arbour for fourth on the NHL's all-time wins list.
It's another milestone marker on Trotz's stellar coaching resume. The 56-year-old already has a Stanley Cup, a Calder Cup (AHL title), a Jack Adams Award, an AHL Coach of the Year title and is one of the winningest coaches of all time.

Truth be told, Trotz finds the air in the NHL's coaching pantheon to be a little uncomfortable-he's flattered to be talked about in the same breath as the game's greats, but being the humble man he is, he would never compare himself to the Al Arbours or Scotty Bowmans of the world.
"You have no idea how awkward those things are for me," Trotz said. "I grew up admiring the Al Arbours, the Punch Imlachs the Scotty Bowmans."
"I use the word awkward - but I don't have another word to describe it," Trotz said. "It just means I've been blessed to be in the game a long time and have had some really good teams and have people to believe in what we do and fortunate that I've crawled up the wins list."

PASSING ARBOUR:

Trotz, who is fourth in all-time games coached (1561) was destined to pass Arbour eventually on the wins list, but there's a little fitting about doing it with the Islanders.
"I'd never really met Al, but I admired what he did," Trotz said. "He was a good coach, he had a human side and he just wanted you to win. He would hold you to the fire when you needed to and be there when you needed other stuff too. Just a complete human being and a really good coach. That's what I really admire about him."
Arbour's name obviously carries a lot of weight on Long Island. He guided the Isles to four straight Stanley Cups and his banner hangs in the rafters of Nassau Coliseum. The Hall of Fame coach is just as celebrated a figure as the Isles stars like Denis Potvin and Mike Bossy.
"You want to aspire to be like people you admire," Trotz said. "[Al] would be a great one to aspire to."

TROTZ'S BEGINNING:

Trotz's journey to one of the game's most winningest coaches began long before he debuted with the Nashville Predators in their inaugural season in 1998-99.
The Dauphin, MB, native didn't initially set out to be behind the bench and sort of fell into coaching after his playing career didn't pan out.
At 20, Trotz was invited to the Washington Capitals training camp. He approached David Poile, the future Nashville GM who would give Trotz his first NHL coaching job, and Jack Button to introduce himself, but the conversation took an unexpected turn. Button told Trotz he'd been brought in to be a minor league leader or future coach and that he didn't have a chance to make the Caps.
"That wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I'm glad he said it," Trotz said.
Button later hired Trotz as an area scout for the Capitals while Trotz was working as an assistant at the University of Manitoba. Trotz credits Wayne Fleming, the head coach at the University of Manitoba, with helping him make the transition into the coaching realm.
"He was really a good teacher. I give a lot of credit to him," Trotz said of Fleming. "He sort of helped me [catch] the coaching bug when I wasn't able to play anymore. He was the one who got me on the path."
Trotz holds Fleming and other Canadian university coaches in high regard. He remembers how Clare Drake, the winningest coach in Canada's collegiate circuit, made time for him and shared his philosophies on coaching. It's easy to draw a parallel from Trotz's biggest mentors and the effect they had on him, to the approachable nature he has come to be known for. Trotz even made time to teach media members in Nashville some intricacies of the game - almost unheard-of in the NHL.

Trotz has borrowed from everyone, from the university coaches, to the Roger Neilson coaching clinics - another idol for Trotz - and even controversial figures like Bill LaForge, the OHL coach who demanded 50 hits from his players per game or else they'd crash into each other in practice.
He's continued learning even into his NHL days, growing during his time in Nashville and in Washington. The veteran of 1561 games said one of the biggest things he's learned to do is listen.
"When you're a young coach you think you invented the game," Trotz said. "As you get older, wisdom tells you that you didn't invent the game and it keeps evolving and your way might not be the best way. It's okay to listen, take in information and make your own analysis of what is said. I listen a lot more than I ever did when I was young."
That covers everything from systems to managing personalities...though he's pretty confident in his current process--the one that yielded a Stanley Cup in Washington and taken the Isles from being one of the worst defensive teams in the league a year ago to one of the best.
"Coaching is not just changing lines. That's the last thing you really concern yourself with," Trotz said. "It's a big part of getting the right people on the ice at the right time, but coaching is about getting a group of young men to play better and understanding the why and how so it helps them be successful."

Trotz's next win will move him into him into sole possession of fourth on the all-time wins list, breaking the tie with Arbour. Edmonton Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock is third with 832 career wins, Joel Quenneville is second with 890. Bowman is at the top with 1244 career wins.
Trotz may not like to think of himself in that class, but the numbers don't lie and he's among them. Even if it feels a little awkward passing some of his coaching heroes, it's still an honor.
"You pass some people that you learned the game from and it seems strange sometimes - in a good way," Trotz said. "Those people - even when you pass them - I've always held them very, very high above me."
"It is [a good feeling], I just don't look at myself that way," Trotz said. "I look at my day to day, I look at my family. This is my job, but it doesn't feel like a job. There are some days you wish you would sleep a little more, but it's never felt like a job. It's something that I like [to] do [but] I'm proud of my family and think of myself as a family man. Nothing too exciting."