This Day in Hockey History – August 6, 1997 – Trotz to Nashville

Aug 6, 2019

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What a special circumstance when an NHL team’s first coach is someone new to NHL coaching. Newby coach Barry Trotz, hired on August 6, 1997, was able to build and guide the Nashville Predators from the season before they began playing through their 15th season. That gave him the record for the longest tenure as not only the first coach of a franchise but as the coach of one NHL team.

Trotz’s early career, like the one in Nashville, was thanks to David Poile. When Poile was GM for the Washington Capitals, Trotz began scouting for the team in his home province, Manitoba. After all, during the 1980s, he was coaching already at the University of Manitoba. Poile then, in 1992, hired Trotz to coach the Capital’s AHL affiliate, the Baltimore Skipjacks. The following year, he moved with the team to Portland, Maine, and he coached the Pirates to the Calder Cup finals in 1994 and 1996. They won the first and lost the second. Trotz had one more season in the AHL before Poile called upon him again.

In 1997, Poile became GM for Nashville’s new expansion franchise. As its president Jack Diller noted, “With an expansion team, you are building for tomorrow. The leagues does not structure it so you can put a Stanley Cup contender on the ice right away, but we believe we can build a successful organization over time.” He had to think that way because, contrary to advice, Poile chose a coach without any NHL experience.

To assist 34-year-old Trotz, they brought in 40-year-old Paul Gardner, who had been his assistant since 1992. Gardner had played (ten seasons) in the NHL as had his father and brother, and he tended to be the extrovert, allowing Trotz to focus on tactics and planning. Trotz told Nashville’s press, “It would have been a lot more difficult decision I think if Paul was not coming. I can be very intense, I’m a little more reserved than Paul, but I think it is a good mix for us.” Poile agreed, saying, “They have paid their dues. They have prepared for this day. It is the perfect time for them and for Nashville’s hockey team.”

Trotz and Gardner would focus on scouting for the expansion and entry drafts of June 1998. “This is a perfect fit for me,” explained Trotz. “I get to evaluate players, get to participate in learning contracts of the people who might be available for us to draft, I get to analyze the systems that work for coaches, I get to scout the teams we’ll be playing for a year and I don’t lose a game that season. How can you not like that?” He continued, “One of the reasons I wanted the job is that it gives us an opportunity to talk to every coach and every hockey person in a non-competitive atmosphere.”

Another thing Trotz found important during this preparatory year was educating the population in and around Nashville about hockey. “We want people to know the game and love the game. Educating people about hockey is a big part of my job and the whole organization’s job. . . . We want to build a foundation one brick at a time, and part of that is educating people in the community about the game. . . . I think this is going to be an unbelievable hockey town.”

Perhaps most importantly for those fans and the team, Trotz was the first to suggest the name Predators. Based on the stylized saber-toothed tiger logo, he found the Granby Predateurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Fans voted in the suggestion. Trotz later commented, “You sort of need a name and a face, being your logo, your brand, and then people start to know you.”

Over the course of his 15 seasons leading the Predators, they made the playoffs seven times but never passed the semi-finals. Having brought the team to a certain level, missing the playoffs in 2013 and 2014 was enough for Poile to replace Trotz (with Peter Laviolette). Trotz had coached 1,196 games (557-479-60-100), giving him the record as the longest unbroken coaching streak. He had been honored by the Nashville Association of Talent Directors and was among the finalists for the Jack Adams Trophy twice.

Although Nashville had offered a front office position, Trotz preferred to keep coaching. About a month after he was let go, he was picked up as coach of his old umbrella organization, the Washington Capitals. He was joined by two of his Predators staff, assistant coach Lane Lambert and goaltending coach Mitch Korn. Trotz led the Capitals to the playoffs all three seasons, and along the way, he finally won the Jack Adams Trophy in 2016 and the Stanley Cup in 2018. It took a record 19 seasons for him to bring an NHL team all the way to the Cup. Directly following the championship, issues working out a new contract with the Capitals led Trotz to resign. He now coaches the New York Islanders.