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.

Thrashers Look like a Pretty Good Team... No, Really

There is no team in the NHL marred by as inappropriate a name as the Atlanta Thrashers. Over their first 10 seasons in the league, they have more accurately been thrashees.

A simple illustration of this fact: The team has earned a winning record in just three seasons and has made the playoffs only once, getting swept in the first round.

Perhaps as expected, they’ve also taken a serious spanking over the turnstiles, finding themselves in the bottom ten places in league attendance every year this decade. In their inaugural 1999-2000 season, they actually managed to place 10^th, but ticket sales have suffered an almost perpetual decline since. Attendance has dropped in each of the last four years despite two of those winning seasons during that span.

There is hope, though, that the situation isn’t irreparably damaged down South. The Thrashers may have turned a corner, with last season comprising an undeniable overall success. However, it should be taken into account that low expectations serve as a pick-me-up in the direst circumstances, which in the Thrashers’ case amounts to constant mediocrity.

"That's what you get for trading me, a better team."

The team finished over .500 with a 35-34-13 record, just five points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. More interesting to note is that after trading Ilya Kovalchuk to the New Jersey Devils, the Thrashers went 11-11-5, doing just as well without a legitimate superstar. And, in addition to underrated Swedes Niclas “Anti Forsberg” Bergfors and Johnny Oduya, Atlanta also got a prospect and draft picks in return. There’s no doubt about it, there’s an air of change in Atlanta. But this time it’s no New Coke... this time it’s actually for the better. The Thrashers are now free to play a team game instead of “Pass the Puck to Kovalchuk”, which, rumour has it, was about as popular in Georgia as the Thrashers themselves. Needless to say, no PS3 versions were sold.

With the ability to build a more well-rounded team, new general manager Rick Dudley wasted no time, acquiring Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Akim Aliu, Ben Eager, and Brent Sopel from the Chicago Blackhawks, who at the time were a team as desperate as a crack addict a day into his most recent bid to get clean. Dudley also signed forward Fredrik Modin and number-one goalie Chris Mason via free agency. Modin should serve more of a checking role, while Mason will help to insulate arguably the team’s most important prospect, Ondrej Pavelec.

And on Wednesday came reports that former Calgary Flame Nigel Dawes, who must have mistakenly called gm Darryl Sutter by one of his brother’s names to warrant the contract buy-out, signed a two-way deal with Atlanta. If true, Dawes constitutes a veritable steal, one that adds to an already deep group of forwards.

Perhaps the team’s biggest strength, however, is its defense, which boasts proven puck-movers in Tobias Enstrom and Ron Hainsey, the unsung Oduya and Sopel, and superstar-in-the-making Zach Bogosian.

All in all, the team is young, talented, and poised to turn at least a few heads... and this year it won’t be because of a car crash on the ice. However, despite the team having a bird for its mascot, it’s disappointing to say, but the sky won’t be the limit.

At this stage, the best the Thrashers can hope for is a playoff berth... but it is a realistic goal. So it’s time for fans in Atlanta to get all aflutter as they will likely get a chance to celebrate the team’s first-ever postseason victory this season. It’s not much, but it’s something for a team that could just as easily have been called the Trashers.