When Barry Trotz accepted the job in Washington, fans and analysts wondered how his style would be received by the Capitals. Specifically, what would the relationship be between Trotz and Alex Ovechkin? So far, it sounds like things are going very well.
Trotz told USA Today that coaching Ovechkin has been far more pleasurable than he was led to believe.
“For all of the questions I took when I got this job, right through the summer and training camp, I have to be honest and say I wasn’t too sure what was going to happen. But he has been very coachable, and he’s been excellent as a captain and a person.”
Consider this a great lesson in the “you shouldn’t always believe what you hear/read” department. It seemed like certain members of the media tried to sabotage the Ovechkin-Trotz relationship before it even started. Though it’s still very early, Trotz and Ovechkin seem to be getting along just fine.
Trotz went on to say:
“I just told him I can’t teach him in what he does. He’s fantastic at it. But what I can teach him is how to get the puck back better and how help his teammates get the puck back.”
Offensively, Ovechkin doesn’t need any coaching. Defensively is a different story. Still, most teams would probably be comfortable with letting Ovie’s defensive weaknesses slide if it meant a 50+ goal season. Trotz, a man very familiar with defensive tactics, believes Ovechkin wants to improve, is ready to learn and desires to add better defensive skills to his overall game.
Will the Trotz-Ovechkin relationship remain this pleasant? Time will tell, but it’ll be interesting to see how things are going during Washington’s first prolonged slump of the season.
