Islanders fire Barry Trotz after team misses playoffs

Barry Trotz was fired as coach of the New York Islanders on Monday, with general manager Lou Lamoriello saying he felt the team needed a new voice.

Trotz lost his job after four seasons with the Islanders and the first without a playoff appearance. The 59-year-old who ranks among the most successful coaches in NHL history and won the Stanley Cup with Washington in 2018 guided the Islanders to the Eastern Conference final each of the previous two years before losing to eventual champion Tampa Bay.

Lamoriello declined to explain why he thought “a new voice” was necessary.

“I’d rather not get into any of the reasons because that’s my job upon the information that I have and I experienced to make these type of decisions,” the 79-year-old longtime hockey executive said on a conference call. “Those are not questions that I will answer as far as what I thought. It’s obviously that I thought quite a bit to make this type of a decision.”

A series of events outside Trotz’s control contributed to the Islanders missing the playoffs this year. While their new arena was being finished, they opened the season on a 13-game road trip and were hit with a string of coronavirus-related absences and injuries that derailed their season.

Lamoriello said the choice to move on from Trotz was not made primarily about what happened this past season. He said, “This is certainly a business decision as far as hockey and winning.”

Trotz had one year remaining on his contract, which would have put him in the same situation he was in with the Capitals. They decided in the summer of 2018 not to rework Trotz’s contract despite the championship and granted him his release.

Swollen eye sidelines Avs goalie Darcy Kuemper for Game 4

NASHVILLE, TENN. » Darcy Kuemper will sit out Game 4 on Monday night with the Colorado goaltender’s right eye still swollen from being poked by a stick through his mask.

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said Pavel Francouz, who made 18 saves in nearly 41 minutes coming off the bench in relief on Saturday, will start against Nashville. Justus Annunen, recalled from Colorado’s AHL affiliate, will back up Francouz.

The Avalanche, up 3-0, can clinch this best-ofseven, first-round Western Conference series with a win.

Kuemper was hurt late in the first period of the Avs’ 7-3 win on Saturday. Play stopped with 56.6 seconds left, and replays showed Predators center Ryan Johansen’s stick poked through Kuemper’s mask. The goalie was able to skate off and headed to the locker room holding a towel to his face.