Trotz becoming Islanders coach adds to Tavares free agency intrigue
Captain must decide if new hire gives him best chance to win
You have played center for the New York Islanders since going No. 1 in the 2009 NHL Draft, but you can talk to other teams Sunday and sign anywhere as an unrestricted free agent July 1. You're the captain and want to be loyal, but you want to win.
Until now, you haven't won much. In your nine seasons with the Islanders, you have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs three times, advanced to the second round once and haven't made the Eastern Conference Final, let alone the Cup Final.
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But the Islanders announced the hiring of general manager Lou Lamoriello on May 22 and coach Barry Trotz on Thursday. Lamoriello won the Cup as GM of the New Jersey Devils in 1995, 2000 and 2003. Trotz won the Cup as coach of the Washington Capitals in 2018.
Clearly ownership has been more aggressive. Clearly the GM and the coach are more accomplished. The question now is what's next. You turn 28 on Sept. 20. If you sign for as many as eight more seasons and give the Islanders the rest of your prime, will you have as good of a chance as you would elsewhere?
Trotz said he was excited about the vision Lamoriello had for restoring the Islanders to glory, and he spoke to Tavares about that vision.
"We talked about the team, areas that we feel that we can fix together, areas that we can look to improve upon, all those things," Trotz said on a conference call the day before the 2018 NHL Draft, which will be at American Airlines Center on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS) and Saturday (11 a.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVAS). "It was a great conversation.
"If you know anything about John, he's as classy of a captain as you can have in the National Hockey League. He's passionate. He's very insightful, very intelligent. He has one goal. It's just to win. And I'm fortunate that we have the same vision, myself and Lou. We want to build something back on the Island.
"John has been a big piece for a long time, right? He wants to be a part of that as well."
What is that vision?
"Well, we want to play fast," Trotz said. "I think the strength of the core group is they've got a lot of skill. They can play with pace. We've got to clean up our back end in terms of our defensive play without the puck. I know we can fix that and get our goals-against down. But this team is exciting."
The Islanders went 35-37-10 and finished seventh in the Metropolitan Division this season, missing the playoffs for the second straight season. They allowed 3.57 goals per game, the most in the NHL. They need a goaltender.
They also scored 3.18 goals per game, tied with the Nashville Predators for seventh in the NHL. Forward Mathew Barzal led them with 85 points (22 goals, 63 assists) and won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. Trotz mentioned pieces like Barzal, forwards Anders Lee and Jordan Eberle, and defensemen Ryan Pulock and Nick Leddy.
"We've got some work to do," Trotz said. "There's no question. But at the same time, there's some really good pieces there. If we can get our structure right and we can get our pace right, we'll be able to score, we'll be able to defend much better and we'll have to fix up some holes.
"I can tell you this: When I've done my research on obviously the general manager, Lou, and the organization, they are fully committed to making this a great franchise, which it has been in the past and it will again. I think the right people at the top and the right commitment at the top is there, and I just want to be a part of it."
Do you, John? Or better put: Do you think the Islanders present the best situation for you for the rest of the best years of your career? Do you think you can win where you couldn't before?
Note this about Trotz: He spent 15 seasons with the Predators, building them from an expansion team into a perennial playoff team. At times Nashville didn't seem an attractive place to play. The Predators battled budget constraints. But with more stable ownership, they thrived.
The knock on Trotz was that he couldn't win in the playoffs. That continued to be the knock on him after he took over a Washington team that had been successful in the regular season but couldn't get over the hump.
Then he won the Cup, and a big reason he won it was his defensive structure.
He resigned from the Capitals because of a contract dispute. He wasn't fired.
"I said we were going to come there and win a Cup in four years and try to get that within the length of my contract," Trotz said. "We did that."
Almost immediately after Trotz became available, he received a call from Lamoriello. How often is a team able to hire the coach who just hoisted the Cup? Virtually never.
"I had a fantastic conversation," Trotz said. "He told me about his vision and his plan for the team, what he's already done in a very short period of time, changing a lot of things, a lot of the cultural things, all that.
"I love that. That's what they hired me to do to come in Washington, change a little bit of the culture and try to win a Stanley Cup. So we're going to try to do the same thing in the Island. I'm excited about the whole process."
The next step is up to you, John.
