It was a career that started with a Calder Trophy and ended with six Stanley Cup championships. Along the way, Bryan Trottier collected an Art Ross Trophy, a Hart Trophy and a Conn Smythe Trophy.
When it was all said and done, the Hockey Hall of Fame took in Trottier and the New York Islanders retired his number 19. There would be one more Stanley Cup championship, not as a player but as the assistant coach of the 2000-01 Colorado Avalanche.
Junior Career
NHL Career
Hockey Card Collection
Coaching Career
Rookie Card
Career Stats
Bryan Trottier – Junior Career
Bryan Trottier played three years of major junior hockey in the WCHL (now just WHL) from 1972-73 to 1974-75. His first two years were with the Swift Current Broncos. In his third season, Trottier moved with the club to Lethbridge, Alberta.
In 1973-74, Bryan scored 41 and assisted on 71 for 112 points over 68 regular season games. He was teamed with the high scoring Dave ‘Tiger’ Williams and Terry Ruskowski. Trottier tied for ninth in the WHL for assists with Greg Joly of the Regina Pats. His 112 points tied him for tenth with future Islanders teammate Clark Gillies, then playing for the Pats.
In his final year of juinor, 1974-75, Bryan was teamed with Brian Sutter with the now Lethbridge Broncos, coached by Earl Ingarfield. Over 67 games, he totaled 144 points on 46 goals and 98 assists.
Trottier led the league in assists and was second in points, 13 behind leader Mel Bridgman of the Victoria Cougars. Bryan was honoured as WCHL most valuable player. That award would later be renamed the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy.
Bryan Trottier – NHL
Bryan Trottier was a second round pick by the New York Islanders at the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, 22nd overall. New York’s first pick in that draft was Clark Gillies, going fourth overall. Trottier was also taken in the second round of the 1974 WHA Amateur Draft, 18th overall, by the Cincinnati Stingers.
Bryan Trottier Collection
Over his NHL career, Trottier played in 1,279 regular season games between 1975-76 and 1993-94 with the Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. During that time, he scored 524 and assisted on 901 for 1,425 points. He remains 16th all-time in the NHL for career points.
In the Stanley Cup playoffs, Bryan scored 71 and assisted on 113 for 184 points over a hefty 221 games. His 184 points rank him eleventh all-time for most career playoff points in the National Hockey League.
Trottier’s career started with a bang in 1975-76, earning the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. Playing the full 80 game schedule, he set league rookie records with 63 assists and 95 points. The assist record has since been broken by Peter Stastny of the Quebec Nordiques in 1980-81 and Joe Juneau of the Boston Bruins in 1992-93, both with 70. The points record was shattered by Teemu Selanne with 132 with the Winnipeg Jets in 1992-93.
Over his career, Bryan had eleven seasons with 30 or more goals, five seasons with 40+ and one season with 50 goals. In six seasons, he surpassed the 100 point plateau.
Trottier led the NHL in assists with 77 in 1977-78. That year, his 46 goals placed him fifth and his 123 points were good for second. Bryan was named a First Team All-Star Centre, ahead of Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The following year, Bryan led the NHL in assists again, this time with 87. He also led the league in overall scoring with 134 points, earning his only Art Ross Trophy. For his efforts, Trottier was honoured with the Hart Trophy as league MVP and again named First Team All-Star centre, ahead of Marcel Dionne from the Los Angeles Kings.
1979-80 saw his numbers drop, placing fifth with 62 assists and sixth with 104 points. However, as a team, the Islanders won their first of four consecutive Stanley Cup championships and first of five straight visits to the finals. It was also his only Conn Smythe Trophy nod, contributing 29 points in 21 playoff games.
The numbers improved in 1980-81 but the Gretzky era NHL was seeing increased offense. Trottier’s 72 assists were good enough for just fifth and his 103 points tied him for tenth with Rick Middleton of the Bruins and Jacques Richard of the Quebec Nordiques.
It was a sign of the times in 1981-82 when Trottier had his lone 50 goal season with exactly 50 and assisted on 79 more for 129 points. But, he finished just tied for eighth in goal scoring with Marcel Dionne of the Kings and Mark Messier of the Edmonton Oilers. His 79 assists were good for fifth and his 129 points, once capable of easily leading the league, placed him just fifth.
1981-82 was also the first of his two Second Team All-Star selections, coming in behind Wayne Gretzky of the Oilers. In 1983-84, he would again be voted Second Team, behind Gretzky. That season, his 71 assists placed him fifth and his 111 points put him in eighth.
Trottier’s last appearance in the top ten came in 1986-87 when his 64 assists placed him fourth in the NHL.
Along with the four Stanley Cup championships on Long Island, Bryan Trottier would also hoist two more with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the early 1990’s. Fittingly, he entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997, along with Pittsburgh teammate Mario Lemieux.
In 2001, the New York Islanders retired Trottier’s number 19. His is one of just six numbers retired by the Islanders, along with the #5 of Denis Potvin, #9 of Clark Gillies, #22 of Mike Bossy, #23 of Bob Nystrom and #31 of Billy Smith.
Bryan Trottier – Coaching
Bryan Trottier jumped right behind the bench, splitting time as a player for the Penguins in 1993-94 and as the team’s assistant coach. He stayed on with Pittsburgh until the end of the 1996-97 season.
In 1997-98, Bryan took over the head coaching duties of the Portland Pirates in the American Hockey League. The team finished third in the AHL’s four team Atlantic Division with 80 points in 80 games. The Pirates lost in the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs to the Saint John Flames.
Trottier returned to the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche, serving as assistant coach from 1998-99 to 2001-02. The team won a Stanley Cup with Bryan behind the bench in 2000-01.
His lone shot at head coaching in the NHL came in 2002-03 with the New York Rangers. The team was star-studded with the likes of Petr Nedved, Eric Lindros, Mark Messier, Pavel Bure and Brian Leetch. However, they under-performed and Trottier was replaced by Glen Sather 54 games into the season. The assistant coaches on that team were a well-known bunch in Jim Schoenfeld, Terry O’Reilly and Ted Green.
Bryan returned to the Islanders from 2006-07 to 2009-10, taking on the role of Director of Player Development.
2014-15 was his last time behind the bench. He served as assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres under head coach Ted Nolan. The Sabres were dismal, finishing last overall but earning the right to draft Jack Eichel first overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
Bryan Trottier – Rookie Card
The Bryan Trottier rookie card appears as number 115 in the 1976-77 O-Pee-Che and Topps NHL hockey card set. However, card number 67, a record breaker card, is also considered, to a lesser extent, one of his rookie cards. That card honoured his breaking the NHL rookie record for most assists and points in a season.
His 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee card refers to an arena in Saskatchewan named after him. That venue is the Bryan Trottier Arena in Val Marie, Saskatchewan, Trottier’s hometown. The town has a population of just 137 and is on the border with Montana.
Another record breaker card appeared in the 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee set and was for six points in one period. Trottier also totaled eight points in that game and was the fifth player in NHL history to accomplish that feat. To date, eight or more points by one player in a NHL game has been accomplished just 16 times. The ‘or more’ happened just once with Darryl Sittler’s ten point game in 1975-76.
Bryan Trottier Career Stats
| Season | Team | Lge | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1972-73 | Swift Current Broncos | WCHL | 67 | 16 | 29 | 45 | 10 |
| 1973-74 | Swift Current Broncos | WCHL | 68 | 41 | 71 | 112 | 76 |
| 1974-75 | Lethbridge Broncos | WCHL | 67 | 46 | 98 | 144 | 103 |
| 1975-76 | New York Islanders | NHL | 80 | 32 | 63 | 95 | 21 |
| 1976-77 | New York Islanders | NHL | 76 | 30 | 42 | 72 | 34 |
| 1977-78 | New York Islanders | NHL | 77 | 46 | 77 | 123 | 46 |
| 1978-79 | New York Islanders | NHL | 76 | 47 | 87 | 134 | 50 |
| 1979-80 | New York Islanders | NHL | 78 | 42 | 62 | 104 | 68 |
| 1980-81 | New York Islanders | NHL | 73 | 31 | 72 | 103 | 74 |
| 1981-82 | New York Islanders | NHL | 80 | 50 | 79 | 129 | 88 |
| 1982-83 | New York Islanders | NHL | 80 | 34 | 55 | 89 | 68 |
| 1983-84 | New York Islanders | NHL | 68 | 40 | 71 | 111 | 59 |
| 1984-85 | New York Islanders | NHL | 68 | 28 | 31 | 59 | 47 |
| 1985-86 | New York Islanders | NHL | 78 | 37 | 59 | 96 | 72 |
| 1986-87 | New York Islanders | NHL | 80 | 23 | 64 | 87 | 50 |
| 1987-88 | New York Islanders | NHL | 77 | 30 | 52 | 82 | 48 |
| 1988-89 | New York Islanders | NHL | 73 | 17 | 28 | 45 | 44 |
| 1989-90 | New York Islanders | NHL | 59 | 13 | 11 | 24 | 29 |
| 1990-91 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 52 | 9 | 19 | 28 | 24 |
| 1991-92 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 63 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 54 |
| 1993-94 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NHL | 41 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 36 |
| NHL Totals | 1279 | 524 | 901 | 1425 | 912 |