Former Nashville coach Barry Trotz might want to call Scotty Bowman and ask how the greatest coach of them all, can change the spots on a scoring leopard.
In the early 90s, Bowman went about convincing his Detroit captain Steve Yzerman to park his run of 100-point seasons to become what we used to call a “two-way player” and now we refer to as playing “a 200-foot game.” Stevie Y had been around for about 10 years, had one 155-point season, but for all his points, he hadn’t won any team prize. Yzerman, aching to win, willingly changed gears and the Red Wings eventually won three Stanley Cups with the Hall of Famer Yzerman going from six years in a row of 100-plus point seasons to 69 and 74- point years when they won the Cup in ’97 and ’98. He became the ultimate two-way/leader, winning the Selke trophy in 2000. One of the game’s all-time greats.
Trotz has the same task with Alex Ovechkin in Washington. Everybody knows he’s the elephant in the room there. Two Hart trophies, four 50-goal seasons, one of 65. No Cups, nary a playoff game past the second round since he was drafted first in 2004. Ovie isn’t selfish. He’s stubborn. He longs to carry the Cup around the ice just like his Russian countrymen Evgeni Malkin in Pittsburgh and Pavel Datsyuk in Detroit.
But he’ll need a coach to tell him how, without neutering him.
Trotz, who agreed that Ovechkin gets too much credit when the Caps win and too much blame when they lose.
“Like a coach,” joked Trotz, speaking on his cell while riding in a cab to the airport in Washington Friday.
It’s finding the balance with Ovechkin. He knows the talented ones often “want to do it my way.”
“One thing he can do is score goals. He’s an exciting player. He can play a physical or a skill game,” said Trotz, who would like to add another layer, a defensively-aware team element to Ovechkin’s game.
He’s not the first coach to say that, of course. In the end, it’s up to Ovie, what he wants to do
“That’s the great challenge…winning isn’t about getting 51 goals, it’s about the (team) battles,” said Trotz.
The Caps have always had skill, but the will to win in the playoffs, win the right way, has long been lacking. They are the NHL’s ultimate tease. When they’re good, they’re really good, when they’re bad…
“I have yet to see one guy who’s not out to win the Stanley Cup. There has to be some give-and-take, some buy in…that’s a big part of it. Or it won’t sit well with me,” said Trotz, who jumped at the chance to coach the Caps when Nashville didn’t extend his contract, coming full circle after starting as a Washington scout more than 25 years ago.
Bruce Boudreau is a heckuva coach but mostly let Ovie do his thing, his coaching successor Dale Hunter reined him hard to the point he barely played him in the playoffs in his short stay there when the Caps needed to protect a playoff lead. Adam Oates convinced Ovie he’d be better off on right-wing than the left, but Oates also called out his captain for loafing on a back-check late last season.
Trotz has talked briefly to Ovechkin but wants a face-to-face meeting. “I called him in Russia…I think he was on his way to Putin’s house for dinner (after Ovechkin and the Russians won the world championship in Minsk). He called me back. We’ll have to sit down (and talk longer). You can coach the x’s and o’s but you have to coach the player. We have to talk.”
As Trotz says, “there has to be some middle ground here.”
Ovechkin has played hard. He likes to hit and be hit. He hasn’t always played smart.
He is, as we said, way more stubborn than selfish.
Heck, maybe Trotz should have Yzerman call Ovechkin and tell him how it was and how it is.
Whatever, Trotz has a large chore on his hands, changing the culture in Washington. They pack the building there, but they’re an exasperating team. They need more character guys like Joel Ward and Jason Chimera. They could use more skill guys who play like Ryan Callahan. They could use some saves from their goalies, especially Braden Holtby who went backwards last year after being invited to Canada’s Olympic camp in Calgary last August. They need a much better defence. They, again, need their captain to show the team the way, two-ways.
But Trotz is a coach, thrilled for the opportunity to be back behind a bench after 17 years in Nashville. There was no interview for the Preds job. He was the only one interviewed for the Caps’ job. “I didn’t have to sell myself. He believed in me,” said Trotz.
In Washington, he didn’t know who else was in the running, but the longer he talked to Caps’ president Dick Patrick, he got the feeling they liked what he had to say. Trotz is always on point and to the point.
“Some guys will come to interviews with a 50-page binder on their thoughts…they try to impress you with fluff. I did my homework,” said Trotz.
He gave the Caps a mixed review, knowing the Predators didn’t play them that often.
“This year we played them two times. Very talented but not hard to play against,” he said.
He nailed it.
