Leave it to my buddy and former colleague Thom Loverro of the Washington Times to hit it out of the park on this story. His logic is airtight. Ted has cycled through a long list of coaches who couldn’t get it done at the NHL level, and then let the guy who just did the damn thing walk away over money. And it’s pretty rich that GM Brian MacLellan said 5 more years for Trotz (on top of the 4 years here already) might be “too long” for a coach to be in one place. Hmmm. Trotz spent 15 years in Nashville, and was still beloved when he was finally fired. Never forget, sports isn’t just about winning. It’s about ego, and credit, and money…. especially when somebody starts doing some winning. Good luck to this Rierden guy. He better be good. He better at least make the playoffs, which is no lock in the quirky NHL.
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7 Comments
Aaron B.
It’s odd how much this parallels the Kirk situation, even though it’s a different owner and organization. Kirk didn’t have Trotz’s record of success, of course. But a lot of the talk around it has felt the same: most everyone thinking surely it would get done because it just made sense, and then being surprised when it comes out that the team wasn’t willing to pay anywhere near what the man’s value had become. And in both cases, it looks like personality conflict between the two sides meant that, while the team might be willing to keep the guy around on the cheap, it wasn’t willing to pay top dollar.
And the funny thing is, both teams might get lucky and look shrewd.
JEFF TUTT
Good luck to Caps Coach Todd Reirden if that’s done. The Management Message from the Trotz fallout is: Maximum Yield, Minimal Gain. You get four years here, pal, even if you win the Cup, then hit the pike, and by the way, your negotiating position year one as a former college head coach with no NHL head coaching experience is that Trotz was getting 1.5m w/20 years. Todd may want to take the Islanders job before Trotz does.
JEFF TUTT
P.O. Box 429.
gary veatch
Reminds me of when Jerry fired Jimmy Johnson…
Emjeff
Teddy-boy has figured out what Dan Snyder and Peter Angelos figured out long ago. You don’t need to win here in the DMV; you can still make a ton of money and look like a big shot team owner regardless of the win/loss record, thanks to TV contracts. The lemmings will still watch and buy overpriced jerseys. They may not come out to the games, of course, but our rivals will, so tickets will still be sold. We’re all chumps.
Matt D.
@Emjeff Maybe, but even for hockey $20 million over 4 years is a drop in the bucket. I don’t know what Ted is thinking, but it if all he is saving is 10 over 4, seems like high risk (the team sucking) vs. low reward (the cost of 1/4 of his private jet).
Joe
Are you a special brand of crazy? The Caps just won the championship and you’re whining about Teddy just wanting to make money and not caring about winning. People like you are why people don’t think DC fans deserve a title