Trotz and Kovalchuk: Separated at Birth?

Okay, maybe not. But...

It's become readily apparent that the Nashville Predators’ Barry Trotz is the Ilya Kovalchuk of NHL coaches.

Now, bear with me as I try to explain the superficially outlandish comparison between the two. Trotz, the only coach the Nashville Predators have ever had over their 11-year history, has never made it past the first round of the playoffs despite four appearances. Meanwhile, New Jersey Devil Kovalchuk has also never made it past the first round. This despite being a perennial Maurice Richard Trophy contender. But, wait, there’s more!

Nevermind that both have spent significant portions of their careers toiling in American Sun Belt states, not even able to show off impressive sunburns for their trouble... or that they kind of sort of look alike, if Kovalchuk was maybe a few years older and a few pounds heavier. Perhaps by the end of his new 15-year contract the resemblance will be more obvious, but you can at least see it in their eyes, even as Trotz’s become more and more overwhelmed by despair with each passing year. There’s little reason why they wouldn’t, at least following the team’s seemingly annual fire sale.

Case in point would be this past off-season, during which the Preds traded captain Jason Arnott for prospect Matt Halischuk and a second-round pick, with general manager David Poile conveniently looking past the offer of two Steve Penney hockey cards and the half-chewed stick of bubblegum I offered up a few hours beforehand.

Then there’s the trade in which the Preds picked up the Montreal Canadiens’ dirty laundry in Sergei Kostitsyn en route to the local laundromat. Nashville may have sent soon-to-be unrestricted free agents Dustin Boyd and Dan Ellis the other way, but, due to the reported headaches Kostitsyn is likely to cause, he isn’t even worth the skidmarked underwear he would be if he were an actual article of clothing.

Newsflash to Mr. Poile: if goalie Carey Price tells a player that they need to work harder, it’s a bad sign. You don’t need to be doing other teams’ household chores, let alone favours to that degree. All it does is put you next in line for the annual Mike Milbury Award, as unofficial as it is.

Finally, on Tuesday, the Preds completed this gem: acquiring defenseman Shane O’Brien for fellow blue-liner Ryan Parent. Now, Parent may or may not pan out, but his potential alone makes him worth keeping around, especially when your only other apparent option is taking on a career seventh defenseman, whose only real asset is his ability to use his God-given size to his advantage. He’s earned congratulations at least on finding a useful outlet for his talents... as well as apparently not being born a  slow-footed sloth.

Despite goalie Pekka Rinne continuing to baffle the league’s scoring elite, with Dan Hamhuis now gone the team’s defensive corps is now sorely lacking to competently back him up... even with Shea Weber and Ryan Suter in the mix. O’Brien will not replace Hamhuis and is maybe best described as a cheap man’s Mike Komisarek of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Even at $1,600,000 per year (compared to Komisarek’s $6,000,000 2010-2011 salary), though, he may be too pricey for the Preds and their self-imposed salary cap, which also claimed Arnott.

As such, the $3.5-million-per-year addition of Matthew Lombardi is curious, not just because it meant actual money being taken out of the traditionally frugal team’s bank account, but because Lombardi is clearly an overrated player made richer as a result of the low supply and high demand of the NHL’s free-agent market. Martin Erat and David Legwand join him as the team’s most notably overpaid forwards, while it remains to be seen just how well Patric Hornqvist and Colin Wilson will work out with the added responsibility they’re due. Needless to say, success this year is far from written in stone, but it isn’t out of the question either.

Therein lies the beauty of Trotz, as the Preds have a nasty habit of staying in the mix of the playoff race until the last few games of the regular season, no matter who is on the team. As such, he’s more like Kovalchuk than most would care to admit. But it goes way beyond job security. They’re each their respective teams’ most valuable components, with only Kovalchuk likely to fold under the pressure.