Langway
In den Wolken
- Jul 7, 2006
- 32,524
- 9,250
Trotz has been behind an NHL bench for 17 seasons now, though. That's more than anyone ever has taken to finally win it. He's ninth all-time in wins with only Quinn ahead of him to have never won a Cup and he'll pass him next season unless he gets axed at some point (rather doubtful).How about Keenan (8), Sather (7), Burns (14)? The list does go on. And the point someone else put out there was winning a Cup (after 9 years) which I've debunked easily, not making a Conf Final or any other round.
If you think Trotz will never get it done, why watch at all? I'm not sold that he will, because we're the Caps, but I'm not ready to say never. He going to be here a while, better get used to it (unless they miss the playoffs).
Sure, he took over an expansion team that was also a budget team but he can't get never being out of the second round at any point completely written off. You'd think some of those Nashville teams could have squeaked out two rounds at some point if defense alone was the thing of champions. Not so much and there's nothing to suggest he's really all that more balanced on a more fundamental level. It is unfortunately more likely, barring a staff/organizational change, that they continue doing what they do and maybe upgrade personnel a bit.
I probably won't watch them much next year in the regular season, especially if they don't take on more of an internal developmental approach in trying to become a fundamentally smarter team offensively. While there's a fair argument to be made for organizational stability and its perks, there also needs to be accountability and a sense that until they win it all they still have much to improve upon. It's been obvious during both runs that they do and yet just being close in games seems like enough for Trotz.
As much as he blasts the team and their lack of killer instinct, he's never ever had a team or been in a situation where he's had it either. He deserves credit for building Nashville along with Poile but he also never had the expectations like there is here. I don't know if it's intentional or based on regular season success over an internal standard but his conduct in the playoffs seems a lot like a guy that still believes he's an underdog and is expected to lose. He wants to keep it close and as long as that happens, well, that's just hockey. It's not good enough. They play way too much on their heels and that's ultimately on him more than anyone.