From the Archive: After Horrific Start, Trotz & Co. On Verge of First Playoff Party

After a late loss Saturday afternoon to the Dallas Stars, Predators fans may feel disappointed, but in this week's article from The Hockey News Archive we take a look back at a time when Barry Trotz was coaching an up and down Predators team in 2003.

This was supposed to be the season the Nashville Predators stepped up to the plate. Their owner, Craig Leipold, guaranteed they would make the playoffs or season-ticket holders would be refunded last summer’s increase in ticket prices.

The post-season is still possible, but the odds aren’t favorable.

With 17 games remaining, the fifth-year Predators were in a dogfight with Edmonton, Phoenix, Chicago and Los Angeles for the eighth and final playoff spot.

“We’re not in a playoff race until we actually get a playoff spot,” insisted coach Barry Trotz. “Until then, it’s a chase, not a race.”

For the first half of the season, the Predators were like a dog chasing its own tail. They worked hard, but didn’t get the results they wanted.

Much of their bad luck can be traced back to some serious injury problems. Key players such as captain Greg Johnson (44 games with a concussion), Vitali Yachmenev (18 games with a broken thumb) and Scott Walker (17 games with a torn rib cage) missed extended periods of time. And youngsters the team was counting on to take the next step - in particular, forwards Denis Arkhipov, Martin Erat and Scott Hartnell - struggled badly. Arkhipov, who scored 20 goals and 42 points last season, had just seven goals through 62 games.

What it all added up to was a disastrous start. The Predators, who opened with 14 of their first 20 games on the road, won just once in October. They managed just two wins and three ties (with 14 defeats) in their first 20 outings. All along the Predators have preached patience and insisted Trotz is their man. Management said from Day 1 it would build through the draft, using the New Jersey Devils as a model, and has stuck to its guns. The hope was to have three players from each draft eventually play as regulars. “Our intention is to grow our own stars,” Trotz said.

But when you lose night after night, you start to worry about job security.

“Absolutely,” said Trotz, who on March 1 established a new NHL record for most games coached with an expansion team from inception, with 392 (see graphic). “You try to put it out of your mind, but when you keep losing, eventually you begin to think that a change might be made.”

But GM David Poile, true to his word, has stuck with Trotz and has been rewarded for his patience. The commitment the GM has shown to his coach is remarkable when you consider seven coaches have been fired already this season - including Bob Hartley, who led Colorado to four straight division titles and one Stanley Cup., Undoubtedly, what Poile sees in the Preds is a team on the right path. Even when Nashville was losing in the early going, they were close games. Nine of their first 10 losses were by one goal. All told, 15 of their 25 losses this season have been by a goal (plus five overtime losses). Likewise, 11 of their 26 wins have been by one goal and they have nine ties.

“Our team doesn’t have a Mario Lemieux or a Peter Bondra that we can lean on,” said defenseman Bill Houlder. “But the guys we had out early with injuries were important to us. We just couldn’t get off the ground without them. The biggest thing that happened in terms of us turning things around was simply getting healthy bodies back”

Since Dec. 23, the Predators have won 19 games, lost nine and tied three. Getting healthy bodies back, as Houlder suggested, is one reason why. Another was the trade of goalie Mike Dunham, an original Predator, to the New York Rangers for Rem Murray and prospects. For starters, it eliminated the 1A and 1B scenario with Dunham and fellow stopper Tomas Vokoun. Vokoun is now the starter and has played wonderfully since being handed the reins. And Murray, who was lost in the shuffle in New York, has given the Predators a center/winger that can knock heads with the other team’s top line nightly and be successful.

Whether or not the Predators make the post-season this year (and losing leading scorer David Legwand with a broken shoulder won’t help the cause), this franchise is on the right path. It may be a painful path for Predators fans, but in the long run they’ll look back and realize the growing pains were necessary.

Regardless, if they miss the playoffs, the team’s owner, Leipold, should keep the refund and just make sure he puts that money toward adding an established player or two.

Houlder, who has played 16 NHL seasons, isn’t convinced high-profile free agents will target Nashville as a possible destination for next season.

“I’m not sure a guy like Bill Guerin (signed by Dallas last summer) would want to come here and be part of our building process,” Houlder said. “As we evolve, perhaps some free agents will consider us, though. Until then, we have to play as a team.”

HOME AT LAST After playing with seven teams in six NHL seasons, left winger Andreas Johansson has proved a good fit with the Nashville Predators.

TROTZ AHEAD Nashville coach Barry Trotz has the longest tenure among original coaches of expansion teams, as of March 5.