After 23 years in the NHL Barry Trotz has called it a career. At a press conference this past Monday, Trotz announced he plans to step down as General Manager of the Nashville Predators and retire from his career in hockey once the team finds his successor. Trotz is best known for serving as head coach of the Nashville Predators for the first 15 years of the franchise’s existence in which he coached nearly 1,200 games; which is an NHL record for most games coached by the first coach of an NHL expansion team. Even though Nashville failed to reach the postseason in their first five years, they stuck with Trotz and he delivered by guiding them there seven of the next eight season. He oversaw the development of key players such as David Legwand, Martin Erat, Marek Zidlicky, and Pekka Rinne, while continuing to put forward a competitive team each year. At the conclusion of the 2013-14 NHL season, the Predators announced that Trotz would not return as head coach; though the team did invite him to work in their hockey operations department he declined as he wanted to continue coaching.
A month later Trotz was hired as the head coach of the Washington Capitals. After three straight seasons of second round playoff losses, Trotz and the Capitals finally broke through in the 2017-18 season by defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in five games to hoist the Stanley Cup. However, after the season Trotz would resign from Washington over a contract dispute. Trotz became a hot commodity on the coaching market and was then hired by the New York Islanders. He spent four seasons on Long Island in which he guided the Islanders to two conference finals appearances. He was fired from the Islanders after his fourth season for missing the playoffs.
After taking a year off, Nashville came calling on Trotz again and made him their General Manager at the beginning of the 2023-24 season. During his tenure as GM, the Predators signed a lot of high priced veteran players (Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Brady Skjei), but were unable to improve upon where they sit in the standings. They made the playoffs in Trotz’s first year but were eliminated in the first round. After 2 ½ years of mediocre hockey, the Predators and Trotz agreed to end Trotz’s tenture as General Manager. Trotz will end his career ranking fourth all time NHL coaching wins and a lock for the Hall of Fame.
Written By: Brian Finnigan
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