Barry Trotz immediately went to work to change the culture around the New York Islanders once he was named coach June 21, two weeks after winning the Stanley Cup for the first time with the Washington Capitals.
Trotz is the second winningest and most experienced active coach in the NHL, 772-575-136, 60 ties in 1,543 games. It hasn't taken long for him to take effect in New York. The Islanders (10-7-2) are fourth in the Metropolitan Division, four points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets. They've allowed 54 goals (tied for seventh with the Dallas Stars) and 2.84 goals per game (eighth), a dramatic change after giving up the most goals (293; 3.57 per game) and shots per game (35.6), and finishing last on the penalty kill (73.2 percent) last season.
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Entering Tuesday, the penalty kill (80.0 percent) ranked tied for 16th, and the 33.3 shots against per game ranked tied for 26th, but it's a different feel around the Islanders, who fired coach Doug Weight and general manager Garth Snow on June 5 and lost free agent center John Tavares to the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1.
Trotz gave the Islanders instant credibility and is the favorite to become a two-time Jack Adams Award winner (2015-16 with the Capitals), voted as the NHL coach of the year, after the first quarter of the season, according to a panel of 17 NHL.com writers.
"Playing the right way," Trotz said after the Islanders won their fifth consecutive game, 3-0 against the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 3. "When you see the level of commitment and level of work ethic and what they're putting into, they'll have success. If you get full of yourself, then you won't have any success. The reason that we're having success is everybody's committed, everybody's working, everybody is accountable to each other."
The Islanders are 7-0-0 against the Metropolitan Division. They are the first team since the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks (11-0-0 against the Central) and 11th in NHL history to start a season with at least seven straight wins against division opponents.
"When the games get ramped up we haven't been too small about them," Trotz said. "How are you going to respond? Are you going to get small in those moments or are you going to get big in those moments? We haven't flinched. We've just been calm. We haven't got too high or too low. That's what we need to do."
Instead of taking a step back without Tavares, the Islanders are thriving, thanks in part to leading scorer Josh Bailey (19 points; six points, 13 assists) and captain Anders Lee (15 points; six goals, nine assists). Bottom-six veterans Valtteri Filppula (12 points; five goals, seven assists) and Leo Komarov (nine points; three goals, six assists) have been solid.
"Within a team culture sometimes, those guys are invaluable," Trotz said after Filppula and Komorov combined for five points (one goal, four assists) and a plus-6 rating in a 7-5 win against the New York Rangers on Nov. 15. "I've had players like that, under the radar they get beat up a little bit, but they're invaluable for winning."
Trotz earned 59 of a potential 85 points from the NHL.com panel, 18 more than Phil Housley (Buffalo Sabres). Travis Green (Vancouver Canucks) and Claude Julien (Montreal Canadiens) tied for third with 26 points.
Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1- basis): Barry Trotz, Islanders, 59 points (eight first-place votes); Phil Housley, Sabres, 41 (three first-place votes); Travis Green, Canucks, 26 (two first-place votes); Claude Julien, Canadiens, 26; Mike Babcock, Maple Leafs, 16; Bruce Boudreau, Minnesota Wild, 14; John Tortorella, Blue Jackets, 14 (one first-place vote); David Quinn, Rangers, 13; Peter Laviolette, Nashville Predators, 12 (one first-place vote); Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning, 10 (2); Jared Bednar, Colorado Avalanche, 7; Jim Montgomery, Dallas Stars, 5; Peter DeBoer, San Jose Sharks, 4; Bill Peters, Calgary Flames, 3; Paul Maurice, Winnipeg Jets, 3; Rick Tocchet, Arizona Coyotes, 2
