Barry Trotz (left) and Lane Lambert (AP Photo/Jim McIsaac, File)
AP Photos
ELMONT, N.Y. — If it were up to Barry Trotz, he would have hidden somewhere within the bowels of UBS Arena on Saturday night rather than be the subject of Islanders fans’ adoration.
“I was hoping I wouldn’t get any reception, quite frankly,” Trotz said. “I don’t mind being sort of anonymous. Maybe I would have been able to watch the game underneath so they wouldn’t see me anyway. I’m more about getting the opportunity to say hi to some good old friends.”
Of course, that was not the case. The former Islanders head coach, who spent four seasons with the team from 2018-2022, was given a standing ovation by the UBS Arena crowd after a 45-second tribute video midway through the first period of Saturday night’s game against the Nashville Predators — the team that Trotz now oversees as general manager.
“I had a great team with the Islanders,” Trotz said. “It’s good memories. I got to see one or two friends that I made here…
The @NYIslanders welcome back their former head coach Barry Trotz in his first trip back to Long Island. 👏 pic.twitter.com/jRG1XEbtyG
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 6, 2024
Trotz will forever be remembered as the man who helped turn the Islanders’ fortunes around, perhaps more than president and general manager Lou Lamoriello — both arrived on Long Island simultaneously ahead of the 2018-19 season after Trotz won the Stanley Cup as the head coach of the Washington Capitals.
They were taking over a team that just lost their star captain in John Tavares and did not have a long-term home secured as they split games between the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and their renovated, smaller, former home, the Nassau Coliseum, before securing UBS Arena, which opened in 2021.
“When I came here, Lou had a really strong vision that he wanted, the Islander pride,” Trotz said. “A big part of that was where we were…
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