That dose of reality from Button turned out to be prophetic. Trotz never played professionally, but he's turned out to be a pretty good coach. He'll be behind the Capitals' bench for his 1,500th NHL game when Washington plays the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET; WGN, NBCSWA, NHL.TV).
Trotz, 55, will become the fifth coach in NHL history to reach the milestone, joining Hockey Hall of Famers Scotty Bowman (2,141 games) and Al Arbour (1,607), as well as Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville (1,597) and Dallas Stars coach Ken Hitchcock (1,511). Hitchcock coached in his 1,500th game against the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 16.
"When you say 1,500 games, when you first say it, it doesn't sound like a lot," Trotz said. "Then you start to talk about how many games that is, how many seasons that is and how few people have done it."
Trotz passed Lindy Ruff (1,493) to move into fifth in League history in games when Washington played the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 4. He passed Ruff (736) to move into fifth in wins when the Capitals defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Dec. 30.
Trotz picked up his 746th win in the Capitals' 5-2 victory at the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. He is 746-559-134 with 60 ties and trails only Bowman (1,244 wins), Quenneville (875), Hitchcock (814) and Arbour (782).
"No one's going to catch Scotty by any stretch of the imagination," Trotz said. "When [people] tell you're passing coaches like Punch Imlach (889 games, 402 wins) or Roger Neilson (1,000 games, 460 wins) -- Roger was like an idol when you're growing up. Roger Neilson is legendary or Pat Quinn (1,400 games, 684 wins); those are guys that you grow up watching and you got to meet through this business and you admired."
Trotz, a Winnipeg native, got his start as an NHL coach with the expansion Nashville Predators in 1998-99. He coached 15 seasons and 1,196 games with the Predators, winning 557. He has 189 wins in 303 games during the past four seasons with the Capitals.
Trotz been a finalist for the Jack Adams Award three times, winning it in 2015-16 with the Capitals. After winning the Presidents' Trophy in each of the past two seasons, the Capitals (33-17-7) are again in first place in the Metropolitan Division with 73 points.
Trotz is in the final season of his contract with the Capitals and his future is uncertain, but he keeps climbing the ladders for games coached and victories.
"It starts to be surreal a little bit because you don't feel like you've been around that long, but you have, and it goes fast," he said. "If I can get to 1,500 games, I would say you had a little bit of success in this league no matter what."
