Tuesday. "That would intrigue me … those teams always intrigue you. But the Canadian teams, you're under the microscope. You sort of are in New York, too.
"I think it takes a special coach, special player, to play in Canada because there's a different pressure."
The NHL's Original Six consists of the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers. The Bruins (Jim Montgomery), Blackhawks (Luke Richardson) and Red Wings (Derek Lalonde) each hired a new coach this offseason, and Martin St. Louis signed a contract to remain Canadiens coach after replacing Dominique Ducharme on Feb. 9.
Trotz, who was fired as coach of the New York Islanders on May 9 after four seasons, is 914-670-168 with 60 ties in 1,812 regular-season games over 23 seasons with the Nashville Predators, Washington Capitals and Islanders. He has coached the second-most games in NHL history, behind Scotty Bowman (2,141), and his 914 wins are third behind Bowman (1,244) and Joel Quenneville (969).
Trotz had previously
told NHL.com on June 24
that he was not going to coach in the NHL this season, saying he wasn't in a position to give the time and commitment required.
Trotz, who is from Manitoba, was a candidate for the Winnipeg Jets vacancy before deciding not to coach.
"I think No. 1 is, I'm not quite there," Trotz said. "I think probably to get everything settled, I'm going to be into early December before I feel comfortable (that) I've got family stuff in control and after that, I'm probably going to have to take a little break, a week or two, to maybe go somewhere warm in the winter, and then after that …"
Trotz has won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year twice, with the Capitals in 2015-16, and again with the Islanders in 2018-19. He has also qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 14 of his 23 seasons as a coach, going 83-79 and winning the Cup with Capitals in 2018.
