News Article: Bryan Trottier's Players Tribune piece

[shureshot66]

Great stuff from his whole career.

You’ll walk in, introduce yourself, and say, with a straight face, “Listen Mario, you have to get healthy right away.â€

And he’ll look at you like, Yeah, of course I want to get healthy, you lunatic. I just had surgery.

But you’ll say, “No, really, you have to get healthy. We’re going to do this. We’re going to win the Stanley Cup.â€

Like I said, I know this seems a bit extreme. But you need to let him know you care. You need to let him know how much it means to you.

Your coach in Pittsburgh will be “Badger†Bob Johnson. Appreciate this man, because your time with him will be cut prematurely short. He’ll be the most positive human being you’ll ever meet. He will make you realize, perhaps for the first time, that you’re playing a kid’s game for a living. That every day at the rink is a good day, no matter what.

You’ll lose a game 7-1, and Badger will come into the locker room and say, “Well boys, eight goals tonight. But we scored the prettiest one. See you at practice tomorrow.â€

Hockey will be fun. When you go out on the road, Kevin (Stevens) will overtip every single waitress and doorman and cab driver. When they look at him in disbelief at the wad of bills, he’ll say the same line every time.

“Ah, come on, buy yourself a hot dog!â€

You’ll go into an elementary school in Minnesota to talk to the kids, and a third grader will yell out, in his little voice …

“Hey Bellows! You’re a superstar, Bellows!â€

And you’ll shoot the teacher a nervous glance, praying this kid doesn’t finish your now-semi-famous rant.

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/bryan-trottier-nhl-letter-to-my-younger-self/

Click to read more...

 

[Gurglesons]

That Bellows line is hilariiiious.

 

[deakka]

Man, i love these players tribune pieces!

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Yeah, The Players Tribune is absolutely fantastic.

 

[sf expat71]

Fantastic.

 

[Wes C Addle]

Great stuff.

 

[#66]

Love Trots. He gets it and seems like a top notch guy off the ice.

Trots hitting Darren Turcotte is still the hardest hit I've ever seen. Turcotte was digging around the goal in front of the net and Trottier hit him so hard that Turcotte slid to the end boards. I will never be able to do it justice.

 

[ColePens]

I don't want to take away from a brilliant piece, but this taught me why the pens were so opposed to keeping Bowman around. That quote from Badger.... That's awesome. It's tough to coach like that because you lose accountability. He was a special guy, though.

 

[Pancakes]

I don't want to take away from a brilliant piece, but this taught me why the pens were so opposed to keeping Bowman around. That quote from Badger.... That's awesome. It's tough to coach like that because you lose accountability. He was a special guy, though.

I think it's possible to be so well liked that you gain your player's respect that way. Bylsma had the same effect for a while here. We all had a ton of problems with many of the things Disco did, but you can never fault the effort that he inspired from his players. Dan's teams played HARD for him.

The problem with that approach is being so nice all the time eventually breeds complacency in the players if the players don't take it upon themselves to hold themselves accountable.

Whether that would have happened with Badger Bob who knows, but it definitely happened with Dan. Near the end of his tenure the players were too comfortable, too arrogant. Maybe they still are. If you look at how Sid is playing, it doesn't seem like he's holding himself accountable out there. And a lot of the quotes I read from the player's suggest the same things. Letang is constantly talking about how the powerplay is good but just not burying its chances. Kunitz, Dupuis, and Scuderi are all too quick to give a quote, etc.

I'm off on a tangent now.

 

[Til the End of Time]

they called scotty bowman the mushroom farmer... he would keep the players in the dark and then give them water once in a while.

no surprise here but trottier is the guy that wanted to win moreso than any other pens player in the past ~30 years... guy would have fought his mother if it meant winning.

 

[vikingGoalie]

they called scotty bowman the mushroom farmer... he would keep the players in the dark and then give them water once in a while.

no surprise here but trottier is the guy that wanted to win moreso than any other pens player in the past ~30 years... guy would have fought his mother if it meant winning.

rarely do i agree with you TTEOT, but this is truth. I think Mario in many ways was like this for much of his career. (on the ice,not his off ice habits)