In the second period, New York Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz made an example of one of his better players, and it was perfect.
Often times in sports, coaches are afraid to discipline their star player. Take Tom Coughlin and Odell Beckham Jr for example. Odell essentially cost Coughlin his job because he was uncontrollable and he was never disciplined.
Whether that was Coughlin’s fault or someone higher up’s fault for not disciplining their young star is up for debate. New York Islanders head coach, Barry Trotz is one of the rare ones who will discipline anybody.
As the Rock would say “It doesn’t matter what your name is” when it comes to Barry Trotz. If you aren’t holding your end of the bargain, you’re going to get disciplined for it. That’s exactly what happened with Brock Nelson last night.
Nelson took a double minor that cost the Isles a big goal. This was the second time this year, with Brock in the penalty box that the Isles allowed a momentum-changing goal. Through three games he has 10 penalty minutes (six of which came in the first period last night)
Barry shut him down in the second period, only giving him two shifts. Even in the postgame, Barry Trotz wasn’t afraid to talk about Nelson’s performance (2:40 mark)
Brock knows he has to get better, but it’s nice to hear a coach say it like it is. No more, “we didn’t have the puck bounce our way” or other coaching cliches we heard in years gone by. Barry Trotz strongly articulates what the issues are and more often than not he has them fixed for the next time the team takes the ice.
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