This is one of the biggest lies Islander fans have simply accepted but never questioned. You have to understand, before the uber talented Caps, Trotz had a long history of producing via his system of play low scoring teams and because they were low scoring fans just assumed the team was not talented.
It's all just big mirage and Trotz developed that "pusher mentality" with the Nashville Predators of "playing not to lose" and this was considered "the Predator Way". The Predators were frequent playoff participants but were notorious for being chokers and never getting past the second round. The games were often low scoring affairs with the team relying on Rinne a world class goaltender to bail them out. Those teams had the same issues in roster development that the Islanders had under Trotz. Older players were preferred over younger players and he chose to keep offensively minded forwards off the roster while containing (like Barzal) the talented offensemen on the team. The way the Predators played was a mirror image of the Islanders under Trotz. Though they often made it into the playoffs as "pushers" tend to do, they ultimately failed against teams with a more balanced system that had more offensive plans in place.
Here is an article that explains the reasons behind why the Predators chose not to extend Trotz contract. The article ironically used the words "new voice" as well back in 2014 to describe the need to move on. You could have transposed the word "Predators" with "Islanders" in this article and it would appear like we were talking about the same teams under Trotz. Let me make it very clear- teams under Barry Trotz had a hard time scoring because of Trotz, not because of a lack of talent and while I agree a "defense first" mentality tends to win Championships, Trotz tended to preach a more appropriately described, "defense only" mentality that hurt those teams in the end success with Caps notwithstanding.
Notice how the Predators wanted a coach who emphasized developing a more offensively minded system and more offensively minded forwards. As the article reads, "How much of this inability to develop scorers has to do with the GM who drafted them, and how much does it have to do with the coach who developed them? Perhaps both sides should shoulder part of the blame." Sound familiar?
Also the article reads, "What this “new direction” means for the Predators, though, is that they want a coach who will develop his players and his systems differently. They want a guy who will develop scorers and try and find greater success through new avenues. Predators fans were happy with the scrappy nature of their team under Trotz, but he wasn't able to take them to the next level up and the city
seems ready for change." Again- sound familiar?- and this article goes all the way back to 2014.
Barry Trotz is out (Preds)
Here an article describes the pusher mentality Trotz emphasized in 2011 with the Predators and scoring just enough goals just to win. Again the way the players described their game it sounded eerily like they played for the Islanders under Trotz. As the article reads: "In Nashville, it's dubbed the Predator Way: Work hard, scrap, defend at all costs and score just enough timely goals to win." Sound familiar?
Playing not to lose
Here is a pundit talking about Trotz hesitancy while coaching the Preds to utilize players with a score first mentality or who came with the attitude to outshoot their opponents. As he wrote: "It’s worth noting that head coach Barry Trotz is not without blame here. It’s maddening to see him scratch talented players with potential like
Craig Smith in favor of
an “emotional” Rich Clune, whose contributions have been limited to getting in fights and taking penalties, and
I’ve derided Trotz’s hesitance to give more ice time to guys who are able to help the team out-shoot their opponents, even if they carry a bit of defensive risk."
The Predator Way
This was why I kept saying over every playoff round exit that Trotz system was too conservative and risk adverse and cost the team in the end. Like the Preds we needed to move on from him in a bad way.
Read the above. You fell for the Trotz trap.