No deal last season means coach will get huge payday
DULLES, Va. — Barry Trotz thought of mentors and friends Jack Button, Tommy Ebright, David Poile and Wayne Fleming when he lifted the Stanley Cup over his head Thursday.
The Washington coach didn’t think about his future, the same approach he had taken all season and playoffs.
“I wasn’t getting consumed with what was said, what my future holds, whatever,” Trotz said. “I’m in a pretty good spot.”
Trotz was in as good a spot as imaginable Friday as he and the Capitals landed in the Washington area with the Stanley Cup in tow. The celebration will last through the parade Tuesday, but once that’s done, the work begins for general manager Brian MacLellan to try to re-sign Trotz, top defenseman John Carlson and other free agents.
After not extending Trotz’s contract last summer, ownership and MacLellan now hope to keep him around. MacLellan said after winning the Cup that Trotz will be back if he wants to be.
Trotz and Carlson, who set a franchise record for playoff points by a defenseman, can be free agents July 1 along with unlikely postseason hero Devante Smith-Pelly, trade-deadline acquisition Michal Kempny and longtime glue guy Jay Beagle. Washington will have to do some salarycap maneuvering to keep Carlson, Smith-Pelly and Kempny in the fold but can break the bank for Trotz.
Following a rollercoaster, lame-duck season with presumed coach-in-waiting Todd Reirden still on staff, Trotz was asked if he saw a future for himself with the Capitals. He said: “Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.”
“I love what I do in Washington,” Trotz said. “I love the guys. I’m just in a good spot, a good place.”
Offseason priority No. 1 for owner Ted Leonsis and MacLellan is signing Trotz. It’ll cost them.
Toronto’s Mike Babcock is the highest-paid coach in the NHL at $6.25 million a year, Chicago’s Joel Quenneville is next at $6 million and Montreal’s Claude Julien third at $5 million. Trotz will soon have his name on the Stanley Cup like them and should approach that price.
Carlson will exceed it after leading all defensemen with 68 points in the regular season and the 20 in the playoffs. The 28year-old is likely to command $8 million-plus on a long-term deal.
Even if Trotz is back and Carlson signs a lengthy deal, changes of course will happen.
Coming off goaltender Braden Holtby’s resurgence to help lead the Capitals to the Cup, backup Philipp Grubauer will likely be traded to a team that wants to give him the chance to start. If Trotz stays, Reirden would likely be allowed to pursue a head coach or associate coach job elsewhere.
The Capitals found out this season that sometimes change is good. They lost Justin Williams, Marcus Johansson, Nate Schmidt, Karl Alzner, Kevin Shattenkirk and Daniel Winnik last summer and got better.
They might look a little different when they raise a Stanley Cup banner to the rafters in October but enjoyed some success with integrating new players.
“Bringing in (Alex) Chiasson, Smith-Pelly, guys that had no connection to past failures, it definitely relaxed (us),” veteran defenseman Brooks Orpik said.