{"id":454317,"date":"2026-02-07T10:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T10:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/454317\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T10:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T10:41:10","slug":"barry-trotz-the-only-head-coach-to-lead-the-capitals-to-a-stanley-cup-honored-during-predators-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/454317\/","title":{"rendered":"Barry Trotz, the only head coach to lead the Capitals to a Stanley Cup, honored during Predators game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Days after making a huge announcement in his career<\/a>, Barry Trotz traveled north for the Washington Capitals\u2019 game against the Nashville Predators, Thursday.<\/p>\n

With 11:51 remaining in the first period, Trotz\u2019s presence was announced to the Capital One Arena crowd during a stoppage in play. Not only did the Predators\u2019 GM receive a loud ovation from fans, but Capitals players and coaches, including Spencer Carbery, also showed their respect from the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease join us in recognizing the head coach who led the Washington Capitals to their first-ever Stanley Cup championship in 2018, Barry Trotz,\u201d Capitals PA announcer Wes Johnson said. \u201cAfter 26 years in the National Hockey League and 40 years working in hockey, we congratulate him on his upcoming retirement and an incredible career defined by leadership, integrity, and character. We wish him all the best in his next chapter. Caps fans, let\u2019s hear it one more time, a big round of applause for Barry Trotz.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trotz\u2019s honor from the Capitals comes four days after he announced he would be retiring as Predators GM. During a press conference, the 63-year-old said he would remain in his role while a search for a replacement was conducted and would stay with the team as an adviser.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in pro sports in some shape or form probably for 40 years now, and there comes a time when you realize that a lot of the stuff you\u2019ve done and you\u2019ve been immersed, you can\u2019t be sometimes present in both places,\u201d Trotz said per NHL.com<\/a>. \u201cYou can\u2019t be present in your job, and you can\u2019t be present at home. I just felt there\u2019s an end date.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a responsibility that I feel to my family. I think you see your kids grow up, I\u2019m very proud of my kids. Now they\u2019re getting married, [I\u2019ve] got grandkids now. You\u2019re missing a lot of the dates. In this business, our kids very seldom have their birthdays on their birthdays; seldom am I present even at their birthdays sometimes. Those things that we always had to change, we did all of that. Now you\u2019ve got grandkids, you\u2019ve got all that, it becomes a little bit more real. A little bit of mortality, if you will \u2026 I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to be here tomorrow, and so I want to have some of those things with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trotz served as head coach of the Capitals for four seasons from 2014 through 2018, compiling a 205-89-34 regular-season record and leading the team to its first Stanley Cup in 2018. During his tenure, Trotz led the team to three Metropolitan Division titles, two Presidents\u2019 Trophies, and never finished with fewer than 101 points. He was also named the winner of the 2015-16 Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year.<\/p>\n

Before arriving in DC, Trotz was the inaugural head coach of the Predators, spending 15 years in Music City. Trotz also served as a scout for the Washington Capitals for four seasons (1988-1991), and coached the AHL\u2019s Baltimore Skipjacks and Portland Pirates in the 90s.<\/p>\n

Ahead of his honor on Thursday, Trotz was spotted by some fans roaming the Capital One Arena concourse alone.<\/p>\n

\"Barry\ud83d\udcf8: Jeremy A. (@jmalexander21\/X)<\/p>\n

\u201cI shook his hand firmly and said, \u2018You took us somewhere I never thought we would ever be. Thank you,’\u201d Jeremy A. said. \u201cI was so star-struck like a little kid meeting Taylor Swift, but I think he said, \u2018It was quite the ride.’\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Days after making a huge announcement in his career, Barry Trotz traveled north for the Washington Capitals\u2019 game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-454317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}