<
        >

          Cross Checks Blog

          Caps coach Barry Trotz back in Nashville

          Even before fans were allowed into Bridgestone Arena on Friday, there was a crowd waiting to see Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz.

          "There weren't this many people when I got hired," Trotz joked as he entered his news conference, according to The Washington Post.

          After coaching the Nashville Predators for 15 seasons -- their first 15 seasons as a franchise -- Trotz will be on the visitors bench for the first time.

          Trotz has the Capitals playing very well. Since a Dec. 2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, Washington has gone 14-1-4 and sits in third place in the Metropolitan Division.

          But the Predators have been one of the surprises of the season. Fighting for a chance at the Presidents' Trophy, Nashville leads the Central Division and is sparking award discussion for defenseman Shea Weber, goaltender Pekka Rinne and coach Peter Laviolette.

          You would think the Predators' turnaround from missing the playoffs last season would be a cause for jealousy from Trotz, but the coach insisted that isn't the case.

          "Everybody thought that I might be a little jealous, but I must have matured," Trotz told The Canadian Press. "I'm not jealous at all. I'm actually cheering for them."

          While Trotz has said it was time for him to leave the Predators to give himself a new challenge and the team a new voice, Nashville will always be his home and his legacy will stand in the city.

          "When I look back at it now, I think, 'That was crazy,' you know?" Trotz said of being hired by the Predators in 1997, according to The Canadian Press. "When I went there, I was just trying to survive that first year. I never thought in a million years that I would be there that long. I just wanted to coach for a year, and I found a home in Nashville, Tennessee.

          "The great game of hockey's going to be in Nashville for hopefully another hundred years. I look at myself as part of a building process."