Capitals set to face former bench boss Trotz for first time (11-24-18)

By:Ryan Fowler

Headline Photo Credit: Barclays Center

ARLINGTON, Va. — Barry Trotz will always be the first coach to bring a Stanley Cup to Washington.

That fact didn’t change on June 18, when Trotz resigned 11 days after the Capitals won their first championship since entering the NHL in 1974. And it won’t change regardless of what happens when Trotz’s new team, the New York Islanders, host the Capitals at Barclays Center on Monday.

“What he did with us, we won, that’s the most important thing,” Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin said. “We won the Cup and he was a big part of it.”

The last time most of the Capitals saw their former head coach they were saying goodbye for the offseason, never expecting it would be their last conversation with him as their coach. When they see him Monday, they’ll bring his Stanley Cup ring.

Trotz, associate Lane Lambert and director of goaltending Mitch Korn, who each followed Trotz to New York from D.C, will be the last to receive their rings.

Facing Trotz for the first time since he left will no doubt bring some mixed emotions for the Capitals (13-7-3). After a sluggish start, they’ve found their groove under new coach Todd Reirden. They’ve won five in a row to move into first place in the Metropolitan Division, 1 point ahead of Columbus. 

Trotz move to New York came with much scrutiny around the league, however Trotz is making a difference with the Islanders, who are 11-8-2 after missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs the past two seasons and losing their captain and best player, John Tavares, to the Toronto Maple Leafs through free agency.

Washington went 205-89-34 and made the playoffs in each of its four seasons under Trotz. The Capitals finished in first place in the Metropolitan Division in each of his last three seasons and won the Presidents’ Trophy in both the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns. After being eliminated in the Eastern Conference Second Round in each of Trotz’s first three seasons, they finally got over the proverbial “hump” last season by defeating the rival Pittsburgh Penguins in six games in the second round and didn’t stop until they were skating around with the Cup after Game 5 in Las Vegas.

“From the time he got here, he really put his due diligence into our team and helped us achieve our goal that we were starving for,” defenseman John Carlson said. “As a team, he brought a lot of core values that we grew into and grew from.”

The players appreciated that winning the Cup last season was as much of a breakthrough for Trotz as it was for them. He coached 19 seasons in the NHL, with the Nashville Predators and Washington, and won 762 games before finally getting his name on the Cup. Although Trotz has moved on, he remains in touch with some of the Capitals. Wilson said Trotz has texted him a few times this season, including to try to keep his spirits up when he was serving a 14-game suspension and to wish him luck before he returned against the Minnesota Wild on Nov. 13.

Capitals Captain Alex Ovechkin said he keeps in touch with Trotz as well: “We have a very good relationship,” Ovechkin said. “We respect each other a lot. We went through together bad things and good things. But the goal was to win the Cup, and we did it.”

Mondays matchup will be an oh so sweet “homecoming” as Trotz will receive his ring, then immediately turn his focus to defeating the team that gave him ultimate glory just a few short months ago.

[R.F]