Bryan Trottier
Bryan John Trottier (born July 17, 1956) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders, two with the Penguins and one as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche. He shares the NHL record for points in a single period with six (four goals and two assists) in the second period against the Rangers on December 23, 1978. He is also one of only eight NHL players with multiple five-goal games. On August 4, 2014, Trottier was announced as an assistant coach for the Buffalo Sabres. In 2017 Trottier was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in history. Early life Trottier grew up in the town of Val Marie, Saskatchewan, Canada, located between Swift Current and the Montana border with his parents and four siblings. His father is of Cree Métis descent, and his mother is of Irish origin. Growing up in the 1960s, Trottier wanted to be like his idol Jean Béliveau. When he was learning to skate, his father would clear out the dam on the creek across their home with a machete, to create a surface to practice on. As a child, Trottier played for the Climax Hockey Team in Climax, Saskatchewan and for the Swift Current Broncos as a junior. Trottier has one older sister, Carol, and three younger siblings, Kathy, Monty and Rocky. Monty played professional minor league hockey, and Rocky played in 38 games for the New Jersey Devils. Playing career Trottier claims that without his friend Tiger Williams, he would have dropped out of hockey due to homesickness. Trottier and Tiger became best friends due to the special bond they built early on in their careers/academy. Nicknamed "Trots," Trottier was drafted in the second round, 22nd overall, by the New York Islanders in the 1974 NHL Entry Draft, the team he played his first 15 seasons in the NHL with. He set an NHL rookie record of 95 points and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year in 1975–76, though the record was later broken by Peter Šťastný of the Quebec Nordiques in 1980–81. Trottier's best offensive season was 1978–79 when he scored 134 points, earning him the Art Ross Trophy as the League's top scorer, as well as the Hart Memorial Trophy as NHL MVP. In winning the Art Ross, he became the first player from a post-Original Six expansion team to win the award. In that same season, he led the NHL in assists with 87, which he had also done the year before with 77. Trottier was one of the core players on the Islanders' dynasty teams from the 1980s. He won four Stanley Cups during his time with the Islanders from 1980 to 1983. During New York's first Stanley Cup in 1980, he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. In 1981–82, Trottier scored 50