Huge news today for the Washington Capitals, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that head coach Barry Trotz will be stepping down. Trotz was no longer in the final year of his contract as many believed. Friedman reports that winning the Stanley Cup had triggered a potential two-year extension for Trotz, but the two sides could not come to an agreement on salary. The Capitals will allow Trotz to immediately begin talking to other teams, essentially making him a free agent right away. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that the two-year extension would have come with just a $300K salary boost, which would have kept him vastly underpaid at just $1.8MM per season. The team released a statement moments after Friedman’s report:
Barry Trotz informed the organization today of his decision to resign as head coach of the Washington Capitals. We are obviously disappointed by Barry’s decision, but would like to thank Barry for all his efforts the past four years and for helping bring the Stanley Cup to Washington. Barry is a man of high character and integrity and we are grateful for his leadership and for all that he has done for our franchise.
The only current other opening in the NHL for a head coach is with the New York Islanders, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Trotz is headed to work with Lou Lamoriello. As we’ve seen in the past, teams are willing to fire their current coach when an elite option comes available, and Trotz certainly qualifies. In four seasons as head coach of the Capitals, Trotz compiled a 205-89-34 record and won more games than he lost in the playoffs even before this season’s championship run. In fifteen years with the Nashville Predators, Trotz went 557-479-100 with 60 ties. He now ranks fifth all-time in coaching wins, behind just Scotty Bowman, Joel Quenneville, Ken Hitchcock and Al Arbour.
A dozen or more teams could potentially move to hire Trotz, though it’s not clear yet who would actually fire their current coach for the chance. The Islanders obviously present the most obvious opportunity, and it could be another move to try and impress John Tavares before his upcoming free agency. Lamoriello fired head coach Doug Weight quickly after taking over, and has worked with high-price coaches before, most notably with Mike Babcock recently in Toronto. Babcock and Quenneville are the highest paid coaches in the league, a list Trotz will likely hope to add his name to in the coming days.
For Washington, this is obviously huge news but may not come as much of a surprise. As recently as last summer the team was reported to be seriously considering moving on from him, after being thrown out of the playoffs by the Pittsburgh Penguins once again. Heading into the season on his final year—championship clause not withstanding—there was always a real possibility that the two teams would part ways. The fact that it comes after the team lifted their first Stanley Cup in franchise history is shocking, but is understandable if the team was unwilling to offer a large increase in salary.
The Capitals now will have to search elsewhere for their head coaching job, but may not have to look very far. Todd Reirden, named associate coach of the team two years ago, has been blocked from interviewing with other teams in the past and is an obvious candidate to replace Trotz for the 2018-19 season. Some teams prefer to not promote assistants because of their different relationships with the players, but in this case there might not be a better option. Reirden was a head coach in the AHL briefly before joining the Pittsburgh Penguins’ coaching staff in 2010.
Will Lamoriello and Trotz be enough to keep Tavares in Brooklyn? Find out next week on “NHL Offseason”
Barry’s about to get paid $$$$$
NYI incoming
Dumbasses
By all accounts a stand up guy. Best of luck.
Will have a job by weeks end
Thats quite an attractive coaching job opening up. Defending champs
Yeah. Probably gonna promote Assistant Coach Todd Rierdon. He was given an extension during the season along with the GM.
So the Caps finally win the Cup… then cheap out in extension talks? That’s a bad (and tightfisted) look.
MacLellan said that he would give a valuation for their own free agents and let ownership decide if they want to pay them (instead of giving bloated values to a playoff contributor who didn’t do as much during the regular season). Maybe ownership took the same stance with Trotz. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Trotz asked for a large salary coming off the Stanley Cup win (not that I would blame him) and ownership likely balked at the demand.
yes but a bloated evaluation of a player hurts your whole team because of the cap considerations. a coach who cares. unless you are the senators whose owner is barely hanging on by a thread, pay the guy who lead you here. I mean it’s not like this year was an outlier. in the past three seasons trotz is a 2X president trophy coach, Jack Adams award winner and Stanley cup winning coach.
I want to see him go somewhere with no superstars and earn all of those awards.
lol stupid comment
Great guy, Won a Calder Cup for the Portland Pirates many moons ago.
Good for Trotz giving them the finger and dropping the mic on them?