Trotz on dinner with Ovechkin: 'You're not going to go to battle with someone you don't know'
As Barry Trotz prepares for his first season behind the bench in Washington, one of the firsts things on his 'to-do' list was breaking bread with Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin. The pair met in Las Vegas prior to the NHL Awards in June, and Trotz relayed Dan Rosen of NHL.com the importance of having the dinner date.
You're not going to go to battle with someone you don't know. It doesn't matter what walk of life it is, whether it's business or in war. In sports it's usually a coach and player, so he understands where I'm coming from and at the same time the player recognizes where you're coming from so you get a comfort level and you can work together better. If we're going to be successful in Washington, [Ovechkin] has to be a big part of that. It's not only him, but he's a main component, a big personality, and I have to sell my vision of the team to him because he's one of the top players. In today's sport, coaches are in a partnership with their top players.
So was there a connection made at the table?
I think it went OK. I learned a lot from that, how he thinks and how he sees the world. I know he comes from a different culture and I learned about how he views himself, how he views his job with the team. It was good. I told him what I expected. I had a bunch of questions written down and we sort of went through them. I didn't know if there would be a language barrier so I made him read the questions and try to answer them. We had some dialogue. I learned about his family, who is important in his life.
It was good. We spent probably four hours together, and I've talked to him a couple of times on the phone as well. I think not only coaching the player but coaching the person is very important.
Trotz also further qualified earlier comments that Ovechkin has "a little too much glide in his game":
I think you look at it as what's going to help you win, and Alex playing a little more on both ends of the ice, a full 200-foot game, will enhance our chance to win.
I don't want to take away from the tremendous offensive gift that he has; I actually want to enhance it. He's a lot more dangerous when he's skating, when he's moving, when he's got a little bit of room to operate. I have found him standing still a lot on the film that I'm watching, very easy to cover, and he still got 51 goals.
Trotz's relationship with Ovechkin and the success of the Capitals under his watch will be a major talking point over many a dinner table around the League next season.
The full interview can be read here.