WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Maybe Barry Trotz didn’t want to admit it, but there had to be a little extra perspective on his soon-to-be Hall of Fame career when he returned here, to his first hometown in what has been a string of many.
It was here in the noble northern plains of Canada where Trotz grew up, about three hours north in Dauphin, Manitoba. That was where his father was a mechanic for the Central Manitoba Railway, and where, in summers, young Barry would travel all the way to Saskatchewan nailing rivets into the railways.
“My first season in junior [hockey], I weighed 145,” Trotz said here on Wednesday. “The second, 185. But it was all upper-body — and you can’t skate on your hands.”
That was a long time ago compared to last summer, when Trotz returned to Dauphin with the Stanley Cup, using his day with the trophy as the victorious coach of the Capitals to show the appreciation he has for the place where he grew up. It’s where he first fell in love with hockey, watching the WHA Jets teams of Bobby Hull and Ulf Nilsson — when Nilsson was still known as a great young center more than the inspiration for a chant in the Garden.
This is a place he still holds dear to his heart, even if there have been many, many “hometowns” in between. That now includes Long Island, where Trotz lives in his first year as the coach of the Islanders, a team that has surprised just about everyone by being so close to clinching a playoff berth, with another chance to move closer coming here on Thursday night against the brawny and powerful Jets.
“I think Barry deserves a ton of credit, and his staff does too,” captain Anders Lee said. “It’s definitely a group effort, from top to bottom. But it starts with him and the message and how he sets the tone. He’s the first person to speak in every meeting. He’s the coach. He deserves a lot of credit for our success.”
Trotz is a confident man, but he gets a little sheepish when his own accomplishments are brought up to him. Just like on Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum, when he became just the fourth coach in NHL history to surpass the 1,600-game mark, and his response was about getting the two points.
So he nibbled on the finger of his glove Wednesday after practice when he was first asked about returning to this place. It was easy to see the memories running through his mind.
“I’ve got a cousin that works down here, I’ve got another cousin that works for the Jets, I’ve got friends and family that always come in,” he said. “You run into people you went to school with. It becomes a smaller community. So it always is [special].”
A short rundown of places Trotz has called home could start at the boarding school known as Notre Dame College in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, followed by playing junior hockey for the nearby Regina Pats, and then back to Dauphin and then to coach at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg proper. From there, he went to scout in Regina, British Columbia, the state of Washington, and then of Portland, Ore.
“When it comes to hometowns,” he said, “I’ve had a few.”
For a man with such strong Canadian roots, the place he has lived for the longest period in his life is Nashville, Tenn., where he was named the first coach for the expansion Predators in 1998 and didn’t leave until 2014. When the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg to revive an organization with the Jets’ name in 2011-12, the first time Trotz came in with his Predators, he had so many visitors they overflowed the guest room.
“I was in Nashville for 16 years, so it was double what I was in my hometown, which I consider Dauphin, Manitoba. So when you say that, it just brings me back to when I was a lot younger, and the friends and all the stupid stuff you used to do when you were young,” Trotz said. “You get some great memories and some great friends from back here that are friends to this day.”
