Trotz aiming to establish winning culture with Islanders

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Barry Trotz barely had time to catch his breath during the summer, the time of year when he's supposed to unwind and reflect.

"I think at one point I counted, I had 90 straight days without a day off," Trotz said. "That wears on you a little bit.
"It's been one long day since the Cup."
It's been three months since Trotz joined the New York Islanders after helping the Washington Capitals win the Stanley Cup for the first time. Trotz is excited about this new chapter with the Islanders, who hired him to help them find their identity, to establish a winning environment, to restore prominence.
The journey began Sunday with a
3-0 preseason win against the Philadelphia Flyers
at NYCB Live, formerly known as Nassau Coliseum, the Islanders' home from 1972-2015 and again this season for 20 regular-season games.
Yes, it's the first preseason game, but the difference was visible. The Islanders, who allowed an NHL-high 293 goals last season, defended hard. They backchecked. They went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill, which ranked last in the NHL (73.2 percent).
"Areas that were a concern coming in or going forward even from now until the end of the year is, 'Do we have the ability to defend?' I thought we defended pretty well," Trotz said after Robin Lehner (eight saves) and
Christopher Gibson
(nine saves) combined for a shutout. "Do we have the ability to kill a penalty? We did that today. That's a good start for us."
It's easy to understand why when Trotz resigned as Capitals coach June 18, Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello couldn't get him to New York fast enough. It took three days to reach an agreement.
"He's just a tremendous human being and a hockey man right through," said Lamoriello, who was hired to run the Islanders on May 22 and then fired GM Garth Snow and coach Doug Weight on June 5 after New York missed the playoffs for a second straight season. "Loves the game, loves to teach and has had success. When you've had success, it rolls over."

Lamoriello has surrounded Trotz with a staff that brings a winning pedigree. Lane Lambert, who worked with Trotz in Washington, is associate coach. John Gruden, who won the Ontario Hockey League championship with Hamilton last season, is an assistant. Mitch Korn, who has worked with Trotz's goaltenders since their days together with the Nashville Predators, is on board as director of goaltending. Piero Greco, who is coming off a Calder Cup championship with Toronto of the American Hockey League, is goalie coach.
And on Friday, the Islanders announced Jacques Lemaire, who won the Stanley Cup eight times as a player with the Montreal Canadiens and worked with Lamoriello to help the New Jersey Devils win the Stanley Cup in 1995, has been hired as a special assignment coach.
"The excitement is everybody working together," Lamoriello said. "Barry, myself, the whole staff … a lot of great people. The players have just been outstanding as far as their receptiveness to anything that's been asked of them."
How long the Islanders' road to recovery will be is unclear, but the players appear to be excited and, more importantly, receptive.
"A little different out there," said center Mathew Barzal, the reigning Calder Trophy winner and the next face of the Islanders after center John Tavares signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1. "A little more detail, a little more under the gun. Expectations felt a little bit higher. I don't know if that's just the Lou effect or what that is, or the Barry effect, I don't know. But everyone's working hard, everyone's being detailed. The quicker we can pick up those good habits, the quicker we're going to be able to be a good team."
The quicker the players understand what Trotz and Lamoriello are trying to instill, the better they should play defensively. That's a must if the Islanders have any hope of returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2016.
"We're going to be a team that's not afraid to work," Trotz said. "We should be a team that's willing to compete. We have to be a team that's willing to go the distance, the 200 feet, every shift.
"I mean, we can't go any worse defensively. We can solve a lot of things by playing a 200-foot game and working our butts off. It's no secret that defense is a pride thing. It's work, it's detail and it's wanting to get the puck back as quick as possible. That's what we want."

The echoing sentiment from returning players has been that no one should feel his roster spot is secure. This is an audition of sorts to show Trotz, who has won 762 games as an NHL coach, and Lamoriello, a three-time Stanley Cup champion as GM of the Devils, that each can be an ingredient in the recipe the bosses have concocted to create a winner.
Making his case on Sunday was rookie forward
Kieffer Bellows
, the Islanders' first-round pick (No. 19) at the 2016 NHL Draft. Bellows had a goal and an assist and was praised by Trotz afterwards for his hustle to get back defensively and his play away from the puck.
"It definitely feels different, because it is," forward Anders Lee said. "There's a lot of change. It's just one of those things that we all need to get that feeling in your stomach that things are going to be different. You come in here and you just figure them out and work for it. But it's all stuff that we're excited about and ready to take on and be a part of and move forward as a team and an organization."
The Islanders hope they've taken a step forward during the past few days. If they're going to continue to head in that direction, each player will have to give more than he has before, to believe more in the person next to him, to realize there is someone else in the organization relishing an opportunity if you're not doing your part to help turn things around.
"The foundation for us is for anything that you do in life, be it in the sporting world or in the business world, you've got to start with a work ethic and the mindset that you're going to compete for that inch that you need or two inches, whatever it is. Just get better every day," Trotz said. "That'll be the first foundational thing that we want. A lot of times it's not as much about Xs and Os as it's about attitude and accountability. All that sort of falls into place once you get those foundations down. We're going to look for guys that are going to put the work boots on and go to work but get better every day. If you don't, we'll weed you out and we'll get someone who wants that position.
"Changing the culture might be instead of when things get a little bit rough in terms of maybe not going a certain way, if you don't have a great culture you fracture and you all go individually in your own direction, when actually you should come together and go in the same direction. That's a mindset. That's something day in and day out you force accountability on the guy next to you and he trusts you're going to get your job done."