Barry Trotz's Youth of Nashville: Mattias Ekholm & Craig Smith Edition

There has been much made about Capitals coach Barry Trotz's inability to foster young players.  Seeing a one time Capitals prospect whose name rhymes with Billups Boresberg thrive the very season a new coach was instilled in Nashville only raises eyebrows even further.  Surely the argument could be made that Trotz has only been the product of his environment in Nashville, however, Ian Oland's recent piece on Russian Machine Never Breaks was adequate in addressing Trotz's misuse of Washington's young forwards this season, as well. Today, I'd like to take a look at a couple of other young players that came up with Trotz in Nashville, Craig Smith and Mattias Ekholm.

Craig Smith, c/o Leanne Charles

Craig Smith had a pretty good collegiate career at Wisconsin that culminated in a strong performance in the 2011 World Championships, registering three goals and three assists in seven games. As a Junior, he had the choice of staying one more year at Wisconsin or joining the team that had drafted him, the Nashville Predators. With a bit of persuasion in the way of a "commitment" to Smith from head coach Barry Trotz, the young centerman joined the Predators for the 2011-2012 season.

Smith contributed almost immediately, carrying a 72 game workload as second line center in his rookie season of 2011-2012. But, typical of his skill level and perhaps due to his stunted development, Smith's production dropped the following season, prompting Trotz to send him to AHL Milwaukee for 4 games mid season, as well as call out the still young player by name in April 2013 during the season wrap. Much like most of the team, Smith's Corsi is massively improved in the current campaign, now north of 55%.  The now 25 year old's production has increased as well, having posted 9 goals and 11 assists in 54 games, now serving as third line center with new acquisition, and former Capital, Mike Ribeiro taking over at 2C.

Mattias Ekholm, c/o Frederick Breedon, Getty Images

In October of 2011, the Nashville Predators had a wake up call early in the season in the form of a 5-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. In his post game comments, Trotz was especially brutal about the play of then rookie Mattias Ekholm. “I thought he was horrible, just horrible," Trotz said. Regarding Ekholm and his other young players, he added, "You’re going to have to line up against the best in the league, if you’re scared of that, get a dog."

Ekholm was sent to Sweden shortly thereafter, and Joe Yerdon's speculative quote from the time perfectly exemplifies the message Trotz sent to the rest of the team: “The last guy that played horrible here I sent him off the continent. Now get out there and play better… Or else!” (Note to Andre Burakovsky...you seem to be a lucky exception to this rule).

This season, prior to being injured a few games ago, Ekholm, 24, is playing well enough to boast the team's 5th highest CF% at 55.8.  Last year in 62 games played, Ekholm only scored 1 goal and 8 assists (9 points). This season, he has already posted 5 goals and 8 assists (13 points). His CF% was just above 50.  He has improved without Trotz.  He, like Filip Forsberg before him, must've found a really good dog.