Four seasons have passed since former president/general manager Lou Lamoriello informed Barry Trotz he was a former Islanders coach. That’s nearly a hockey eternity given the rapid turnover in the NHL, even for a team like the Islanders that has maintained a stable core of players.
But there remains a hint of Trotz’s legacy in these Islanders, the lessons learned from the future Hall of Famer – now the Predators GM – still informing some of their play.
And that’s a positive.
“A lot of us were young so we were learning,” defenseman Ryan Pulock told Newsday. “He was able to be a good teacher for us. In the NHL today every team is kind of doing very similar stuff structure-wise. Just some of the mindset stuff, him getting us in the right mind frame, wanting to defend and being good at it, some of those things have definitely stuck with me throughout and I’m sure [for] some other guys in here there’s little things that maybe he was able to unlock a little bit in our minds that we’ve been able to carry over.”
The Islanders carried a three-game winning streak into Saturday night’s match against the Predators at UBS Arena as they chased the Penguins for second place in the Metropolitan Division. They have a good chance of returning to the playoffs in their second full season under Patrick Roy – who replaced Trotz’s replacement Lane Lambert – after missing by nine points last season.
“The attitude that he brought, the expectation that he brought to this organization, even though where we were at the time wasn’t very good, he pushed us to be our best,” Casey Cizikas told Newsday. “That’s something that’s carried over since he left.”
“He brought an extremely good culture,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau, acquired from his hometown Ottawa Senators on Feb. 24, 2020, told Newsday. “That’s the first thing I noticed when I first came in. It was how much the team meant to him. He made us feel that when you’re wearing the Islanders’ jersey, you’ve got to take pride in it. It’s something we can always rely on when times are harder and you’re looking for motivation.”
Lamoriello fired Trotz after four seasons on May 9, 2022 saying the Islanders needed a “new voice” after missing the playoffs. The Islanders had qualified for the postseason in Trotz’s first three seasons, reaching the NHL semifinals in both 2020 and 2021. Honestly, it remains one of the most baffling moves Lamoriello made in seven seasons running the club, especially in hindsight given how Lambert seemed overmatched in trying to communicate his ideas publicly.
Trotz coached the Predators from their birth in 1998 through 2014 and his four-season tenure with the Capitals ended with that franchise’s only Stanley Cup in 2018.
But he hasn’t been behind the bench since leaving the Islanders as he was named the Predators GM in 2023.
Trotz spent nearly an hour in the UBS Arena stands on Saturday sitting next to first-year Islanders GM Mathieu Darche as both teams conducted their morning skates. That should sufficiently fan the rumor flames over a potential deal between the squads, with a report the teams discussed a deal involving forward Michael Bunting before Darche swung a deal with the Devils on Tuesday for Ondrej Palat.
Palat was with the Lightning when Darche was their assistant GM and, of course, so was Steven Stamkos, now in his second season with the Predators and, who would be leading the Islanders with the 25 goals he had scored entering Saturday’s match.
The industry expectation is Trotz will look to make multiple moves before the March 6 trade deadline with the Predators five points shy of a Western Conference wild-card spot entering Saturday’s match.
“We all feel his intensity and the grit you need to play to win,” Predators defenseman Brady Skjei told Newsday. “He wants everyone to play with that same compete level that his teams played with.”
But perhaps Trotz can still help his former team.
For a price, this time.
Notes & quotes: Left wing Jonathan Drouin (illness) was a late scratch after participating in the morning skate…Roy said rookie center Cal Ritchie (lower body) would not play before the Olympic break and likely would not skate, either. Ritchie missed his fourth game, meaning his absence will extend at least seven games through Thursday night’s road match against the Devils. “He tried (skating Friday) but not good enough,” Roy said. “So I don’t think he will until the break.” The Islanders resume their season on Feb. 26 in Montreal.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.