While Edmonton Oilers coach Ralph Krueger wasn’t around Rexall Place Sunday morning, Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz was running a practice, then cross-checking forward Zach Boychuk over and over again in a battle drill. They weren’t love taps, either. Boychuk was getting worked over, obviously with a message in there somewhere from the head man. There were eight to 10 cross-checks to the kid’s upper back.
Don’t know if I’ve ever seen a head coach do that before. Maybe an assistant, showing a player that taking some punishment is part of the game, but this was the longest-serving NHL coach giving it to a player. Maybe Trotz just had some nervous energy he wanted to get rid of; he is coaching a team that perennially is in the playoffs but is below the playoff cut line right now.
“Just wanted to show him where the boards were,” smiled Trotz, who wasn’t dressing Boychuk for the Oilers-Preds’ game. “Maybe he’s on IR (injured reserve).” Loud guffaw.
“I had to get some frustration out,” said Trotz, who used to be a rugged Regina Pats junior defenceman (224 PIMs, 70 games, including playoffs his last year), then went to U of Manitoba.
“You saw the way I played. That’s (cross-check) all I knew how to do.”
Boychuk, who scored a goal against the Oilers in Nashville in the the Preds’ 6-0 pasting of Krueger’s club March 8 just after being plucked off the waiver wire, took Trotz’s practice lashes as if he were a kid in school who’d done something wrong and was sent to the principal’s office. Grin ‘n bear it.
When asked if he’d ever had a coach work him over before, he didn’t stickhandle.
“Nope.”
“He said he was going to put all his weight into me and he said he’s about 50 pounds heavier than Lane (assistant coach Lambert) so I definitely felt it,” chuckled Boychuk. “It was just a drill.”
Was there a temptation to whirl around and slash the coach on the leg?
“It comes into your mind,” he said. “He did get me a couple of times in the head. Nah, they just want me to get stronger on my skates, and be able to take those cross-checks. Obviously, there’s guys in the NHL who are bigger and you have to get used to them (stickwork).”
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The Oilers didn’t skate so the lineup for the Predators is up in the air. The Oilers are 14th in the West (26 points), while the Predators are 10th with 28. Winger Ryan Jones, who sat out Friday’s game against Detroit with a touch of the flu, might be back in, maybe for Teemu Hartikainen. Defenceman Mark Fistric, out for 2 1/2 weeks after getting a nasty elbow cut, might return. Maybe for Corey Potter. Theo Peckham, who rocked Nashville winger Patric Hornqvist in the 6-0 loss, and suffered an upper-body injury (maybe a shoulder), is out, as is Eric Belanger (groin).
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Preds’ estimable goalie Pekka Rinne, who has given up six goals in his last 14 shots, getting hooked twice (Vancouver and Calgary), will start for Nashville. Rinne, a Vezina finalist last season, leads the NHL with five shutouts, but he’s going through a rough statistical patch. “I don’t think you can read too much into the last two games. There were tic-tac-toe goals or lost coverage (plays). Not his fault. He’s got five shutouts, wins games for us. I’m sure he’ll be ready to go tonight (Oilers),” said Nashville centre Mike Fisher.
