ELMONT, N.Y. — If it were up to Barry Trotz, he would have hidden somewhere within the bowels of UBS Arena on Saturday night rather than be the subject of Islanders fans’ adoration.
“I was hoping I wouldn’t get any reception, quite frankly,” Trotz said. “I don’t mind being sort of anonymous. Maybe I would have been able to watch the game underneath so they wouldn’t see me anyway. I’m more about getting the opportunity to say hi to some good old friends.”
Of course, that was not the case. The former Islanders head coach, who spent four seasons with the team from 2018-2022, was given a standing ovation by the UBS Arena crowd after a 45-second tribute video midway through the first period of Saturday night’s game against the Nashville Predators — the team that Trotz now oversees as general manager.
“I had a great team with the Islanders,” Trotz said. “It’s good memories. I got to see one or two friends that I made here…
The @NYIslanders welcome back their former head coach Barry Trotz in his first trip back to Long Island. 👏 pic.twitter.com/jRG1XEbtyG
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 6, 2024
Trotz will forever be remembered as the man who helped turn the Islanders’ fortunes around, perhaps more than president and general manager Lou Lamoriello — both arrived on Long Island simultaneously ahead of the 2018-19 season after Trotz won the Stanley Cup as the head coach of the Washington Capitals.
They were taking over a team that just lost their star captain in John Tavares and did not have a long-term home secured as they split games between the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and their renovated, smaller, former home, the Nassau Coliseum, before securing UBS Arena, which opened in 2021.
“When I came here, Lou had a really strong vision that he wanted, the Islander pride,” Trotz said. “A big part of that was where we were playing. We were a little bit nomadic. I feel very fortunate that I got to experience all three venues, which was unusual. You really saw the commitment of the organization and ownership and all that. To be a part of getting the Islanders pride back [was one of my fondest memories].”
Despite a roster that appeared to have a litany of holes, Trotz’s defense-first system maximized the team, leading them to just their second playoff series win in 26 years when they swept the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In each of the next two seasons, he helped lead the Islanders to the Stanley Cup semifinals under unusual circumstances — first in the COVID bubble in Toronto after the 2019-20 season was cut short due to the pandemic where the organization made its first appearance in a semifinal since 1993. They lost in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“It was a strange time,” Trotz said. “I will tell you this, the time I will remember most will be the COVID years. In the bubble, we did a really good job and our players understood that would be a unique time… We were blessed. I think our team took the attitude that it was a blessing. We weren’t going to jail… We were getting maybe two months that you’ll remember for the rest of your life… The attitude of the group was exceptional.”
The following year, they made the playoffs following a 56-game, geographically-driven schedule and downed the Penguins and Boston Bruins to make a second-straight semifinal only to lose to the Lightning again, this time in seven games. They fell just one goal short of making a first Stanley Cup Final since 1984, losing that final game 1-0 on a shorthanded goal — the only time that season they allowed such a goal.
But that was not before they closed Nassau Coliseum with one of its benchmark moments when Anthony Beauvillier scored an overtime winner in Game 6 to force that winner-take-all seventh match. That venue never saw another hockey game again.
“The emotion that the whole community felt was terrific,” Trotz said. “Being the last game there, that was pretty special. I remember more was the full beer cans coming down as we tried to get off the ice… It reminded me of a game from 70s. It was one of my best hockey memories.”
After missing the playoffs in UBS Arena’s inaugural season which included a 13-game season-opening road trip and the roster being decimated at times due to COVID, Trotz was fired by Lamoriello. He returned to the Predators — a team he coached from 1998-2014 — after a year away from the game, taking over as general manager where his side sits in fourth place in the Western Conference.
Around these parts, however, he will be remembered as the second-greatest coach in Islanders history behind the man who authored the dynastic team that won four Stanley Cups in a row from 1980-1983, Al Arbour.
“Being a part of something… those nostalgic-type things, I love that stuff,” Trotz said. “I love the history of the game, hearing the old stories of dynasties and players… When I came to the Island, I was hoping we could get the franchise back… I hoped to put an imprint on them. You teach some young men some life lessons. I was always a culture guy and if the culture and some of those life lessons have stayed, then I’m the happiest man.”
