Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Caps weigh free agent questions
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 late Thursday night.
The Capitals coach didn’t think about his future, the same approach he has 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 back home 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.
Carlson, who set a franchise record for playoff points by a defenseman, can be a free agent July 1 along with unlikely postseason hero Devante Smith-Pelly, trade-deadline acquisition Michal Kempny and longtime glue guy Jay Beagle.
The Capitals will have to do some salary-cap maneuvering to keep Carlson, Smith-Pelly and Kempny in the fold but can break the bank for Trotz.
After a roller-coaster, 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 to a new deal — if he wants to stay. It’ll cost them.
The Maple Leafs’ Mike Babcock is the highest-paid coach in the NHL at $6.25 million a year, the Blackhawks’ Joel Quenneville is next at $6 million and the Canadiens’ 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 20 in the playoffs. The 28-year-old right-shot defenseman is likely to command at least $8 million on a long-term deal.
Smith-Pelly will no doubt earn a raise from the $650,000 league-minimum deal he signed last summer after matching his regularseason goal output with seven goals in the playoffs. Kempny will also cost more than $900,000 — a bargain salary that allowed the Capitals to add him on deadline.