Another island

Once an Islander, Trottier makes his way to Manhattan

On Thursday the Rangers filled their vacant head coaching position with Bryan Trottier. After the announcement, CNNSI.com caught up with Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy, who said that while in some ways Trottier is a natural fit for this position, he still doesn’t have a good feeling about it.

CNNSI.com: What is the world coming to when a Hall of Famer player for the Islanders ends up coaching the Rangers?

Kennedy: Glen Sather may be the Rangers general manager but he’s not steeped in Rangers tradition. If you think about it, he took the Cup away from Trottier’s Islanders when he was with the Oilers. Are the Dennis Potvin chants going to stop? No. But that’s the question: How is Trottier going to handle the fact that he’s so identifiable with the Islanders? We’ve seen Dave Maloney go to the Islanders. Pat LaFontaine played for both teams. To me it’s a small piece of the puzzle. I don’t think people are going to be affected by Trottier’s allegiance to or relationship with the Islanders.

CNNSI.com: How prepared is Trottier for a head coaching job, in New York, no less?

Kennedy: Hard to say because he’s almost impenetrable. In my life, Trottier and I have spent a lot of time talking professionally, but he’s a tough nut to crack.

His name came up for the Capitals' job and he has some respect that way. But he’s only been an assistant coach in the NHL so he’s never had to lay himself out other than in the minors. Honestly I don’t know whether he’s ready for it or not. I will say that I don’t have a good feeling about it. Why? The Rangers could have had Pat Burns or Ken Hitchcock, and now they have Bryan Trottier. It’s a bit odd.

CNNSI.com: Trottier has worked with superstars before and he’s won Stanley Cups, but how did he stand out from some other of the candidates in what became a not-so-secret search?

Kennedy: Slats likes winners. He believes in guys like Mark Messier, almost deferring too much to them. He just believes there is something about a winning approach and a winning attitude. Trottier certainly was a great leader on the ice; his teammates followed him. And he was head of the players’ union. He always had a larger perspective on things, he wasn’t just a great player or dressing room presence. He was more than that and Sather shares with him that larger perspective, and that’s appealing to Glen.

We also talk about Trottier as a winner. Any time you’re with a championship team, it helps. He had something to do with the success with the Penguins in 1991 and '92 as a role player and with the Avs as an assistant. His reputation there speaks for itself.

CNNSI.com: Are the nuts and bolts of being an assistant coach transferable to the position of head coach?

Kennedy: Hard for me to say in Trottier’s case because I’ve never sat down and really discussed his take. His main role in Colorado was, in my opinion, to help out a coach who hadn’t played in the NHL. When you’re a coach who didn’t play in the NHL as Bob Hartley is, you look to get an assistant coach who has, a guy who can relate to the game that way. In Trottier’s case you’d see him come into the room, go around to individual players after games, talking quietly. You’d always see him in the room addressing certain things. He can relate to playing in big games.

In that way it’s a natural fit because a lot of games are big games for the Rangers. Trottier knows what it’s like to play in New York and what it’s like to play in big games. I think he’s going to have that advantage.

CNNSI.com: Is there anything Trottier can learn from the Ron Low era?

Kennedy: Trottier can crack the whip a little bit. Just because players are veterans and have accomplished some things in their careers doesn’t mean they should get a free ride. He was a player who thought that way, that some players deserved that treatment, but if there’s one thing to have learned over the past few seasons it is that if you play well, you get ice time. If you don’t, you don’t.

CNNSI.com: The Rangers started out well last season before the unraveling. Which team is more likely to come out under Trottier?

Kennedy: There’s definitely something there; there's a lot of individual talent. Something does have to come out. I mean, the Islanders when Trottier played with them, weren’t star-studded. They had a few very good players, but guys like Bob Nystrom probably got more ice time than their talents deserved because of how hard they worked. Trottier knows a lot about sacrifice, too. If he can get that message across and if they get goaltending, the Rangers are a playoff club.

That’s the thing that he has to do from the start: Get the players to understand that nothing counts beyond what they do this year. As a team they can accomplish a lot. If he can teach that to the Rangers, they will be a much better team than they were last year.

CNNSI.com: What’s the hardest part about coaching the Rangers? The expectations? Developing chemistry? The media? And how do you think Trottier will respond?

Kennedy: The expectations aren't so much different in New York than they are in a lot of markets; Toronto, Detroit, anywhere there’s a tradition. The expectations are big for the Rangers, but what makes the job harder is that a lot of people don’t really like the team, all the money it has, the way the organization goes about things, the perception of buying players it needs. The Rangers have to fight off that resentment. Trottier has a thick skin. He can take some abuse and not let all these factors get to him. He won’t be intimidated by the treatment the team gets from the fans or the whole culture of hockey that seems to root against them.

CNNSI.com: Will this impact the moves Sather makes going forward?

Kennedy: Trottier will have some input, but this is Sather’s show. He was hired to be the general manager. There’s a good chance Bobby Holik could come to New York.

CNNSI.com: You said earlier that you weren’t really comfortable with the move, but you do have some very positive thoughts about Trottier in New York. Is this a good move or a bad one?

Kennedy: I like the idea of giving a guy a fresh start. Trottier is sort of a remote figure and he might just be a little too abrasive or standoffish to succeed in a high-profile NHL job. We’ve talked about some of the reasons he is equipped to do well with the Rangers, but I don’t know enough to say he can lead. It’s one thing to do it as a player and an assistant, where you can be a friend to players, but as a head coach you have to manage these guys and sometimes do so coldly. I just don’t feel confident he’s up to it. If I’m a Rangers fan, I’m not crazy about him as a head coach, particularly because there were guys out there who have proven they could turn things around. Trottier will lean on his experiences, but it’s not the same as being able to manage 20-odd guys, including 10-15 very healthy egos.

I look at the guys out there, and Hitchcock is one I think they should have named as coach. So I don’t feel like the Rangers have their man. At the same time, and for the sake of Rangers fans, I hope Trottier succeeds. I know it sounds like I'm nay-saying, but this is his first head coaching job and he deserves the chance to sink or swim.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy covers the NHL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.

 

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