Over two decades after taking his first NHL head coaching job with the Nashville Predators, Barry Trotz finally won a Stanley Cup.
Too bad it was with Washington.
Twenty-one years ago today, Predators GM David Poile announced Trotz as the first head coach in franchise history. Trotz helped build the organization that we all know and love, from the ground up, and delivered Nashville 15 great seasons of hockey, before being replaced in 2014.
He signed on to coach the Predators in 1997, coming off many years of coaching, playing, and scouting, in and around collegiate, independent, and minor league hockey.