Barry Trotz
My oldest daughter got married, she had a wedding in Hawaii and a reception in Nashville, and in between I had a Cup date in Dauphin, Manitoba.Collection: Wedding
Anytime you go to the All-Star Game, you recognize that it's special. It's an experience that you don't want to pass up.Collection: Experience
One of the things you look for is leadership, and it comes in different forms. There's vocal leaders, there's quiet leaders, there's leaders that lead by example.Collection: Leadership
If you know anything about Lou Lamoriello, his background and what he does, he will do what it takes to win.
I love what I do in Washington.
I think I have a lot more respect for someone who will be bold enough to say, 'I'm the leader of the hockey team, we're going to go there and give our best game and we're going to win the hockey game.'
There's too much parity in the NHL.
You don't have that good team effort without good goaltending.
There's stuff in this world, everybody pretends they understand. But we don't understand. It's important to listen.
If you have to change some laws, get that done. If it's getting schools, the next generation, to understand love and understanding, let's get that done.
In an 82-game season, you're going to have some dry spells where goals are harder to come by, and other times they're just going to come in bundles.
I'd love to go in the foxhole with guys who will stick their neck out and say, 'I'm going to deliver for you.'
You're looking for that prototypical second-line center man. They're not out there. They're just not out there. No one's selling them. No one's giving them away. So we have to produce our own. That's the best way to do it.
I think I'm very adaptable.
When you get everybody going in the right direction you can do some great things, and that's in any business.
Hopefully my time in Nashville has helped me. We've had a lot of different things happen to our hockey club, seen a lot of different situations and different types of clubs from an expansion team to a Stanley Cup playoff threat. I think any coach that's gone through those things, you become a better coach.
The team that can be consistent - for the most part all year - is going to be the team that is going to get into the playoffs.
You need balance, and if you have dynamic people - I've always tried to assess the talent and say, 'Okay, how can we get better as a group and how can we win hockey games?'
The great thing about David Poile and Nashville is they believe in the people that they hire and they stick with the people that they hire.
Winning is not easy. There's an investment that has to be made night in and night out.
Sometimes you get blinded by results rather than the process.
Just like all young players, there is a difference between being involved and just participating.
Missing a game or getting a little bit of a bump up or getting a scolding once in a while puts everybody in their right place.
What happens when you have to use your top guys so much, they're going to hit a wall at some point, and they'll go four or five games where they just don't have the juice to play at the level that you need, and therefore your team suffers a little bit.
You get mentally fatigued and you get physically fatigued, too. Usually that's when bad things happen on the ice and then you're more at risk for injury.
Sometimes when you start playing games you don't get as many practices and you don't get as many touches. People think you have the puck the whole time during a game - you really don't.
It's life, it's hockey. You just can't worry about it.
I think a lot of times what practice can do for you when guys are playing a lot of minutes, it sometimes takes away a little bit of their sharpness, because they have the puck a lot and all that.
The guys who don't get a lot of minutes, you get a lot more practice, you're on the ice, you're getting maybe a better workout, though you might not be getting all of the game stuff.
If you're not playing really well, practices can sort of correct it.
Practices for me, when your team is not going really well, it can stake a lot of stink out of the air.
As a coach, you look for the elements. Sort of like a chemist, you want to say, 'Okay, here we have all of the parts,' and make what you think will be a successful line.
Back-to-back Presidents' Trophies, I don't think that happens too often.
You go the whole distance as a player, the last thing you probably want is the coach to say, 'Okay, you've gone this far, I'm going to take you out.'
It's hard to score in this league when you don't get on the power play and don't play special teams.
As I have evolved as a coach, I was a guy who was all about the game and a person who focused on the wins and losses.
Hopefully when I make it to 80, I can go to a hockey game and watch the Predators and Capitals play with my grandkids. That's probably my legacy on the hockey side.
As a parent, your biggest fear is having our child not loved.
We might have, with Hockey Canada, an Aero Bar, a chocolate bar. 'Okay we're going to play for this chocolate bar.' Here you have guys who made millions of dollars, they're professional athletes, and they will fight tooth and nail to win. It's not necessarily for the chocolate bar. It's the competitive spirit.
All of my life, my wife's been the rock. She's made the right decisions.
For my size, I think I played bigger than my size. I tried to play bigger, which is probably why I got as injured as I did.
There's times I blow my gasket. One thing I learned is I don't hold any grudges.
There's times where I go off the rails like anybody else. For the most part, I try to keep it, 'Hey, this is what we're dealt and this is the situation, so let's make the best of it.' Keep a positive attitude.
A new challenge, to me, is really exciting.
You can't take your foot off the pedal; you've got to get pucks to the next level.
Injuries happen every season. We can't rely on that being a crutch. It's up to all of us to do our best to fill those voids as coaches and players.
My son and I ride a tandem bike. We turn the music on and just enjoy riding through our neighborhood.
That's what they hired me to do in Washington, change a little bit of the culture, try to win a Stanley Cup.
It's good to be wanted.
Goaltending can steal you a series.