Trotz returns as Isles need to start winning
Barry Trotz was smiling on the ice at Islanders practice Saturday morning.
It was the first day back for the head coach in a week. On New Year’s Day, about 90 minutes before the puck dropped against Edmonton, Trotz left the team to tend to a personal matter. His mother, Iris, had died.
“It is very meaningful [being back] for a couple reasons,” Trotz said Saturday. “The way the organization reacted, allowing me to go home and take the necessary time. The players reaching out and then just watching them today, the effort and the work ethic, detail that they’ve put in.”
The only game Trotz missed was against the Oilers, which the Islanders won in overtime. Associate coach Lane Lambert coached that game and ran practice in Trotz’s absence, but the Islanders are in the midst of an 11-day stretch without playing after a road trip was postponed due to attendance restrictions in Canada.
According to an obituary for Trotz’s mom, Iris was 78 when she died Jan. 1. She’s survived by her husband, Ernie; two children; six grandchildren; and a great grandchild. Iris and Ernie raised Barry and his sister, Kim, in Dauphin, Manitoba.
“Everybody loves their mom,” Trotz said. “I love my mom. Some of the things I look back on that she did over the years, molded me and my sister just as my dad did. Any success that we’ve had as a family, I’ve had personally or my sister has is from our parents. You only have two of them, birth parents anyways, from that standpoint.
“This is the first time I’ve lost a parent. It’s very difficult. I have a better understanding of when it happens to someone else. I just want to thank everybody who’s reached out, not only with the Islander organization. Fans, what have you, have reached out, it’s very heartwarming to me and comforting.”
Saturday, Brock Nelson said Trotz quickly addressed the team before running practice.
“It’s nice to see him,” Nelson said. “I think it just shows he enjoys being here every day, to be a leader and win for us.”
At 10-12-6 and barely having played for the past three weeks, the Islanders are readying for what could be a season-defining stretch upon their return. They are hanging on to playoff hope by a thread, and have games in hand over the entire league — but that will all slip away if they can’t put together a winning run.
The team has continued practicing through the break, trying to keep focus through the doldrums.
“They have taken this opportunity and made the most of it,” Trotz said. “They’re dialed in. I watched them work today. No one’s cutting any corners, put it that way.”
Anthony Beauvillier admitted he wishes the Islanders were playing. It’s tempting to look at the standings, which aren’t pretty for the last-place Islanders, but with them having played at least four games fewer than every other team in their division, there’s upward mobility.
“It’s been a little bit of a different start to the season for us, we’re in a little bit of a hole,” Nelson said. “But can’t look at the standings every day right now on break and get too worked up, but also realize once we get back into it, it’s gonna be a sprint with a lot of games in a short span.
“We’re gonna need to get on a roll right away and bank some points.”