The Islanders make Barry Trotz their coach, 3 days after he left Washington.
The New York Islanders on Thursday hired Barry Trotz as their new head coach.
President of hockey operations Lou Lamoriello announced the move at the NHL draft in Dallas two weeks after Trotz won the Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals and three days after he resigned from that job. Trotz reportedly agreed to a five-year deal worth double what he would have made annually on a shorter contract with Washington.
In the last 40 years, Trotz is just the fifth coach not to return to a Stanley Cup winner and the first since Scotty
Bowman retired after winning with Detroit in 2002
Under Trotz, 55, who has the fifth-most wins of any coach in NHL history, the Capitals won their first title in franchise history this season, which triggered a clause in his contract that gave him a $300,000 raise to about $2 million for the next two seasons. General manager
Brian MacLellan said a long-term contract and Trotz’s representative wanting to have him paid among the top four or five coaches in the NHL were sticking points, and Trotz asked for and was given his resignation Monday.
The Islanders also announced that they have added eight more games to their regular-season schedule at their former home — Nassau Coliseum at NYCB Live in Uniondale, New York.
The team played the last three seasons at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, but it was not a popular move with its fans, and the arena is more suited for basketball than hockey. The Islanders are building a new arena at Belmont Park but will split their home games next season between Brooklyn and Uniondale. In other hockey news:
• General managers looking to make moves at Friday’s NHL draft found out the salary cap for next season will be $79.5 million — an increase of $4.5 million from last year.
GOLF Spieth in familiar spot at Travelers
Jordan Spieth has no idea what it is like to play from behind at the Travelers Championship.
The defending champion led after every round last year in his first visit to TPC River Highlands at Cromwell, Conn., and he shot a 7-under-par 63 on Thursday to match Zach
Johnson for the firstround lead.
Spieth had six birdies and an eagle out the bunker on par-5 sixth hole — a shot reminiscent of the greenside bunker shot that gave him a victory last year over Daniel
Berger in a playoff. Johnson went out in the morning and led for most of the day. He had eight birdies, including six in a row on the back nine.
Rory McIlroy missed a 13-foot putt for par on the final hole that would have given him a share of the lead and finished in a three-way tie for third place at 64 with Brian
Harmon and Peter Malnati. Bott wins AJGA Insperity crown
Hunter Bott of Montgomery defeated Chris
Berzina of Fort Worth in a sudden-death playoff to win the Insperity Invitational/Patrick Reed AJGA Junior Championship at The Woodlands Country Club.
Bott, who is committed to play at UTSA next season, had rounds of 69-72-72 for a 3-under-par 213 on the Tournament Course.
Berzina, who will play at TCU, closed with a 6-under 66. Vishnu Sadagopan of Pearland was third at r 216. He was followed by Jack Randle of The Woodlands at 217 and Francois Jacobs of League City at 219.
Brooke Tyree of Sulphur, La., won the girls division by a shot over
Annie Kim of South Korea. Tyree, who is headed to Texas A&M, had round of 75-69-74 for a 2-over 218 total.
PRO FOOTBALL San Antonio gets 8th Alliance spot
The Alliance of American Football completed its awarding of franchises by placing a team in San Antonio. Former San Diego Chargers coach Mike Riley will be the head coach, and former Dallas Cowboys fullback Darryl Johnston will be general manager.
San Antonio joins Atlanta, Orlando, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Phoenix, Memphis and Birmingham. The league, which has a television contract with CBS, will kick off its inaugural season the week after the Super Bowl.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL Multiple violations cited in Ollie firing
The University of Connecticut fired men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie after finding NCAA violations that included improper training sessions and improper contact with recruits by Ollie and former Huskies star Ray
Allen, according to documents released by the school.
The violations are laid out in more than 1,300 pages of emails, transcripts and contracts given to the Associated Press and other media organizations who filed Freedom of Information requests with the school. They were released this week after school president Susan Herbst upheld the decision to fire Ollie, a process that now heads to arbitration.
The NCAA is investigating Connecticut for potential violations but has not issued a finding.
The violations cited by athletic director David
Benedict in firing Ollie include Ollie shooting baskets with a recruit during an unofficial visit to the school last September; Ollie arranging a call between a potential recruit and Allen, the former NBA great who is considered a school booster by the NCAA; and Ollie arranging improper training sessions both on and off campus with a friend who is a personal trainer.
Benedict said Herbst and former AD Warde
Manuel had stressed the importance of compliance with Ollie when he was hired in 2012 after previous violations by the program and at a time that the school faced banishment from the 2013 NCAA Tournament for failing to meet academic standards under previous coach Jim Calhoun.
Benedict said Ollie had three times certified to him that the program was in compliance with all NCAA rules.