The Nashville Predators clinched the Western Conference championship on Monday night, ousting the Anaheim Ducks in six games. The final score in the last game was 6-3, perhaps a final score that cloaks the fact that the game was competitive until late in the third period. With the win, the Predators are into their first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history. In a lot of ways, that doesn't really make former coach Barry Trotz look all that good.
Trotz did nothing in Nashville
Trotz is currently the head coach of the Washington Capitals. However, before moving to the American capital he served long term as the head coach of the Nashville Predators.
During his tenure there, which lasted from 1998 to the end of the 2014 season, the Predators did nothing of significance. They didn't win any division titles and they never made it out of the second round. With Trotz gone, it's Washington that's he losing in the 2nd round with now, but the Predators are enjoying success under Peter Laviolette.
With Laviolette doing something in a short stint with Nashville that Trotz couldn't do in over a decade and a half of work there, it kind of does look as though Barry Trotz just isn't the man for the job when it comes to putting together a team that can do a lot of damage in the post-season. That's certainly a sad statement given how close his second-round losses have been.
A couple years ago, the Capitals lost in Game 7 overtime to the New York Rangers. This year they went to a decisive 7th game in the second round as well. However, in the bottom-line world where results speak louder than anything else, nothing matters except for actually winning, and Trotz has never made even the Conference Finals, let alone the Stanley Cup championship series.
Hockey not loved in Nashville
A question with Trotz is why does he get work? He has coached in the NHL since 1998 and that will trump nearly all other active coaches. Likely a big reason for why he has served long term is precisely that he was a coach in Nashville. The city isn't exactly booming with ice rinks and hockey will take a back seat to all of baseball, NBA basketball, and football.
Could it be that a city like that is where a coach that isn't getting much done can sit around for more than a decade without being pressured into succeeding? The NHL, in most years, is a major afterthought in the southern parts of the USA.
Trotz was able to survive in that environment long term because good results weren't necessary to hold down the fort. However, with Laviolette taking the Predators to unchartered territory in his third season with the franchise it should now be clear that if a franchise wants to make it deep into the playoffs, they'll need someone other than Washington's current coach.
