Good hiring. He is a veteran coach with proven success with limited talent. The Caps need a veteran coach that has that proven background. He should be able to garner the team's trust and confidence. Trotz is also a guy that listens to players but holds them accountable so I imagine things will be run a little tighter which should be good given that by all accounts, Oates had lost the locker room.
Oates seems more of an assistant coach. A guy that can handle a piece of the pie but not the whole thing. He is a tactician. With key players/leaders being veterans, the Caps need a guy that is proven and has a strong background and voice.
Trotz is also a strong defensive minded guy that can hopefully get better production from the guys we have. There is no question the defense was the weak link last season. Hopefully Trotz can improve that group.
The Caps also hired Brian MacLellan as the new GM. It's a promotion for MacLellan. He's been with the team since 2000 but has not had any GM experience although he has helped with most of the personnel decisions the last several years. We'll see if he is up to the task.
In the end, these appear to be good hires for the Caps. Trotz will be in a higher profile market with more talent than he has had in Nashville. We'll see what he can accomplish.
1 comment:
I like the hire and the more I hear from the guy, the more I like him. He's a career coach and a respected one at that. The team needs to be led by someone who has been through the fire. The last three coaches, including Gabby (who proven to be a very good NHL coach) have been rookie coaches. Trotz knows the Caps organization from his stint with the team before he went to Nashville. Since then he successfully coached a lower-tiered market team for 15 years.
I think with Leonsis' commitment to success, Trotz will achieve greater levels of success than he ever saw in Nashville. Ted will pay FAs to come here and, regardless, guys will want to come to DC to play. Also, Trotz seems to know what it takes to be a hard-nosed team that can go deep in the playoffs. He understands defense, but he knows he has a talented offensive team. I think he will be able to maximize the talent on this roster and hopefully get us to the next level. If he can't, it just wasn't meant to be with Ovi and crew.
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