Nashville Predators: Barry Trotz's 500th Win Proves He's One of NHL's Best

It's been a long journey for the Nashville Predators and Barry Trotz, and Friday night's win against Detroit was a signal that it's far from over.

With Trotz's 500th win as a coach, his status as one of the NHL's best coaches is now etched in stone.

Every single one of his 500 wins came as a Nashville Predator, and every Predators game in its history has been coached by him. Trotz is only the fourth person in NHL history to win 500 games with a single team, joining the Islanders' Al Arbour, Lindy Ruff with Buffalo and Toe Blake with the Canadiens. 

That's some pretty high-quality company. 

Trotz became only the 17th NHL coach to reach the 500-win plateau on Friday night. By the end of this season, he has the possibility of climbing as high as 15th on the all-time wins list. 

Trotz has flown under the radar for much of his career before Nashville's attention outburst with the reappearance of Alexander Radulov, the trade deadline and impending contract negotiations with Shea Weber and Ryan Suter. But he has had his share of the spotlight.

In 2009, he was named the 2009 Sporting News Coach of the Year after Nashville's best regular season ever. He's also been a finalist for the Jack Adams NHL Coach of the Year award twice. 

Trotz becomes the fourth active coach to reach the milestone, joining Ruff, Ken Hitchcock and Joel Quenneville. Like I said earlier, that's some pretty elite company.

Due to his coaching position being in Nashville and their early struggles (they missed the playoffs their first five years), Trotz hasn't gotten the worthy amount of attention. However, this year the Preds will make a playoff berth for the seventh time in eight years, one of the best such spans in the league.

At 49 years old, Trotz doesn't seem likely to stop any time soon and could keep tearing through the record books if Nashville continues their playoff streak for more and more years.

However, Trotz isn't focused on the number of wins he has. The only thing left that he wants to add to his resume is a Stanley Cup.