Caps Promote MacLellan, Hire Trotz

[The Unknown Poster]

TSN.ca

The Washington Capitals solidified their front office and coaching situations on Monday.

Assistant general manager Brian MacLellan was promoted to the GM's office, while long-time Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz takes over as head coach.

MacLellan is entering his third season with the club, spending the last two as assistant general manager after spending several years with the team's AHL-affiliate Hershey Bears. MacLellan spent 10 years in the NHL as a player, including winning the 1989 Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames. He becomes the sixth GM in team history.

"We are extremely pleased to name Brian MacLellan the team's general manager and welcome Barry Trotz to Washington as the Capitals coach,” said owner Ted Leonsis in a release. “After conducting an extensive search for a general manager, we determined that Brian was the best candidate to help us reach our ultimate goal, winning the Stanley Cup. We have witnessed his abilities firsthand, and we have tremendous respect for how he manages people and situations. We feel he has relevant, in-depth knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of our franchise and will be forceful in addressing them. Brian always has displayed tremendous professionalism, passion and commitment to the Capitals. He has his own unique approach, and we are confident in his abilities to lead this organization to new heights."

McLellan is also looking forward to assuming his new position.

“I am extremely honored and excited about the opportunity I have been given with the Capitals,” said MacLellan in a release. “Over the course of my career I have worked in acquiring the necessary skills to excel in this position. We have built a solid foundation, and I look forward to implementing my ideas to get us back to competing for the Stanley Cup. Also, it is a great pleasure to welcome Barry to Washington as the new head coach of the Capitals. Barry's teams have always played with structure, discipline and intensity, and I look forward to him leading us to success for many years to come.”

Trotz was fired by the Nashville Predators at the end of the season after 16 years as the only head coach in franchise history.

Trotz coached 1,196 games with Nashville, second only to Gregg Popovich of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs for longest active coaching tenure in the four major sports.

Trotz says he welcomes his new challenge.

“I am very excited to join the Washington Capitals and want to thank Ted Leonsis, **** Patrick and Brian MacLellan for this opportunity,” said Trotz in the release. “This is a great organization with a strong foundation and a tremendous fan base. I look forward to working with this group of talented players and the quality front office staff this team has assembled.”

Trotz is the only NHL coach to make the playoffs with the same team in seven of eight seasons between 2003-04 and 2011-12 and becomes the Capitals' 17th head coach.

The Capitals fired head coach Adam Oates and did not renew the contract of general manager George McPhee at the end of the season after the team missed the playoffs with a record of 38-30-14.

[TBieber]

Will he get Ovechkin to be more defensively responsible?

[The Unknown Poster]

It will be fun as hell to watch a coach like Trotz who will demand responsible play relate to a player like AO.  It might be over blown that Trotz is *only* a defensive guy since he had little choice but to implement a system like that in Nashville considering they had good goaltending and D and limited offensive prowress.  Im sure he will use the talent in Washington differrently, but you have to expect he will demand responsible play.

[HardCoreBlue]

TSN.ca

The Washington Capitals solidified their front office and coaching situations on Monday.

Assistant general manager Brian MacLellan was promoted to the GM's office, while long-time Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz takes over as head coach.

MacLellan is entering his third season with the club, spending the last two as assistant general manager after spending several years with the team's AHL-affiliate Hershey Bears. MacLellan spent 10 years in the NHL as a player, including winning the 1989 Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames. He becomes the sixth GM in team history.

"We are extremely pleased to name Brian MacLellan the team's general manager and welcome Barry Trotz to Washington as the Capitals coach,” said owner Ted Leonsis in a release. “After conducting an extensive search for a general manager, we determined that Brian was the best candidate to help us reach our ultimate goal, winning the Stanley Cup. We have witnessed his abilities firsthand, and we have tremendous respect for how he manages people and situations. We feel he has relevant, in-depth knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of our franchise and will be forceful in addressing them. Brian always has displayed tremendous professionalism, passion and commitment to the Capitals. He has his own unique approach, and we are confident in his abilities to lead this organization to new heights."

McLellan is also looking forward to assuming his new position.

“I am extremely honored and excited about the opportunity I have been given with the Capitals,” said MacLellan in a release. “Over the course of my career I have worked in acquiring the necessary skills to excel in this position. We have built a solid foundation, and I look forward to implementing my ideas to get us back to competing for the Stanley Cup. Also, it is a great pleasure to welcome Barry to Washington as the new head coach of the Capitals. Barry's teams have always played with structure, discipline and intensity, and I look forward to him leading us to success for many years to come.”

Trotz was fired by the Nashville Predators at the end of the season after 16 years as the only head coach in franchise history.

Trotz coached 1,196 games with Nashville, second only to Gregg Popovich of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs for longest active coaching tenure in the four major sports.

Trotz says he welcomes his new challenge.

“I am very excited to join the Washington Capitals and want to thank Ted Leonsis, **** Patrick and Brian MacLellan for this opportunity,” said Trotz in the release. “This is a great organization with a strong foundation and a tremendous fan base. I look forward to working with this group of talented players and the quality front office staff this team has assembled.”

Trotz is the only NHL coach to make the playoffs with the same team in seven of eight seasons between 2003-04 and 2011-12 and becomes the Capitals' 17th head coach.

The Capitals fired head coach Adam Oates and did not renew the contract of general manager George McPhee at the end of the season after the team missed the playoffs with a record of 38-30-14.

I've always admired Barry Trotz's approach to the game. Very good hire. If Maurice had not worked out, I wonder if there would have been any chance he would have landed here. Moot point I know. I do believe the nucks missed out though. 

[Goalie]

There seems to be a misconception out there that trotz is a defensive coach and while that is somewhat true, it's not completely true. The team in nashville is a budget team, the team in washington is not, when your first line center in nashville is mike fisher, well you gotta do what you gotta do to make it work. Nashville truly is a team made up of guys not wanted by other teams outside of rinne weber jones and josi now, there is nobody else on that team that is a top line player on any team in the league, heck, you might be hard pressed to find a guy on that team who is a top 6 player on any other team (winnipeg included) 

 

It will be interesting to see how he does in washington.

 

But to my point again, nashvilles 4 best players are 3 d men and a goalie, so yeah a coach is gonna take advantage of that.

[The Unknown Poster]

Lawless told a story of Troz admitting that fact.  He's not a D coach, he's a coach who implemented the system that worked best for the players he had.  Having said that however, he's going to want a fully responsible team.  Will OV work within that system?  Will he sacrifice a few personal stats for team defence?

 

And if he wont, is ownership, management and coaching truly onside as they claim and willing to move him?  Personally, I think trading Ovechkin might be the one thing that makes the Caps a cup contender.

[Goalie]

This works. Carolina has named Bill Peters (ex of the red wings) as their new head coach.