Back to face Predators, Barry Trotz comes full circle
When long-time Predators forward David Legwand played his first game at Bridgestone Arena as a member of the visiting Ottawa Senators, he was called for tripping and promptly skated to the penalty box.
The wrong penalty box.
Barry Trotz can relate.
"That's your first experience going back," Trotz said. "Your natural instincts take over."
With that in mind, Trotz will be careful on Friday night. He'll exit the locker room, take a right and step through a portal to the visitors' bench.
In the process, he should find a bit of closure. For 17 years, Trotz was the only coach in the Nashville franchise's history. On Aug. 6, 1997, at age 35, he was hired before a roster for the NHL expansion franchise had been assembled. Last April, he was fired.
Six weeks after his firing, he was hired by the Washington Capitals, the team he will coach against the Predators.
"It's full circle for me," he said. "… I need to go see my friends. I need to go stand on the other bench. I don't think I need to prove anything."
Predators center Mike Fisher said the situation "will be weird for Barry, with all that he's done here."
Trotz is certain to get a warm, warm welcome. This is, after all, a city where thank-you messages were posted on billboards on the route he took as he drove from his Brentwood home to the arena for his farewell press conference the day after he was fired.
"Not a typical parting of the ways, if you will," Trotz said.
He is remembered — fondly — as much for helping sell the NHL to a non-traditional hockey market as for winning 557 games and taking the Predators to the playoffs seven times in an eight-season window.
"To start a franchise like this one, I don't think we could have had a better person than Barry Trotz," said Predators General Manager David Poile, the man who hired him and the man who fired him.
"He had a great commitment to this organization as well as to the city of Nashville. He worked as hard in the community as he did with the Predators. He did so much for this franchise."
It was a labor of love. Grateful to be an NHL head coach at such a young age, he jumped head-first into his role of chief hockey ambassador. At his introductory press conference all those years ago, Trotz invited members of the media to fire away with any question that came to mind.
"There are no stupid questions," he said.
After patiently answering questions from some of us in the media who didn't know a forecheck from a cashier's check, Trotz reassessed his stance.
"Maybe there are stupid questions," he said with a wry smile.
Trotz's exit from Nashville and his return as Capitals coach is a sports oddity: a true win/win situation. The Predators own the best record in the NHL. The Capitals are 13-1-4 in their last 18 games and have pulled within three points of the Metropolitan Division-lead New York Islanders.
Beyond that, each organization has a new sense of purpose. With an upgraded roster, the Predators have blossomed under Peter Laviolette. The Capitals no longer rely so heavily on star power and have learned to grind out tough wins.
"To me, it was time," Trotz said. "I'm glad David made the move. … It was time for a new face in Nashville and new challenges for myself as well. It's a fresh start for me. It's reinvigorating."
Indeed, things had grown a bit stale in the last two seasons on Trotz's watch with the Predators. His message didn't always get through. Likewise, the franchise was ready for a different direction with a different style.
"There are a lot of things, a lot of variables, that go into a decision like that," Poile said. "The good thing is it's worked out so well for both sides. … Barry will always have a very important place in the history of this franchise."
In time, this family reunion will give way to a hockey game. When the puck drops, Trotz will be locked in to his current job, not his old one.
"I'm a Washington Capital and we're the visitors," he said.
Something tells me he'll find his way to the correct bench.
David Climer's columns appear on Friday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. Reach him at 615-259-8020 and on Twitter @DavidClimer.
NEXT GAME
CAPITALS at PREDATORS
When: 7 p.m. Friday
TV/radio: Fox TN/102.5-FM