Coach Trotz is wrapping up his third season at the helm of the Capitals. He’s racked up an impressive regular season record and two Presidents Trophies, yet the post-season record is all too familiar with previous head coaches, that ultimately lost their jobs.
First, a quick summary of Trotz’ track record with the Capitals:
2014-2015
The Capitals went 53-22-7 in the regular season. The Capitals entered the playoffs as the Metro’s second seed (behind the Rangers). The Caps defeated the New York Islanders (4-3) in the first round, and were defeated by the New York Rangers in the second round (4-3).
2015-2016
The Capitals went 56-18-8 in the regular season and won the Presidents Trophy. The Caps defeated the Philadelphia Flyers (4-2) in the first round and fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins (4-2) in the second round.
2016-2017
The Capitals finished the regular season 55-19-8 and won their second consecutive Presidents Trophy. The Caps beat the Toronto Maple Leafs (4-2) in the first round of the playoffs and lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins (4-3) in the second round of the playoffs.
READERS POLL:
So, should the Capitals be eliminated in yet another second round of the playoffs, how do you feel about head coach Barry Trotz continuing his tenure in Washington?
By Jon Sorensen
Follow @NoVa_Caps
The onus this year should be on the team not the coaches. The team simply did not come to play in the first 3 or 4 games and got themselves into the hole they could not dig out of. It is time for change but not behind the bench, let Ovi go and build around Backy, Oshie, Kuzy and Bura. Ovi has not shown he can get the job done trade him or let him go back to Dynamo Moscow and be assured of playing at the Olympics.
He’s had a pretty good team to not advance further than the second round. Two Presidents Teophies to boot. He was out maneuvered, on occasion, in both rounds this year. It’s a rough call at this point.
He should be!!! Greatest talent and skill in the League and he could not do anything with it???
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I think the blame goes to the players, they never showed up for the playoffs, Olve only shows for the paycheck. I do wish Coach Trotz had shown just a little emotion, anger, during any of his interviews. “We just need to go out and have fun” that is not a coach trying to motivate his not performing players.
Blow the team up. Build around Holtby, Beagle, Oshie, Carlson, and Burkey.
Keep Trotz. He’s a very good coach and when he mixed it up this post-season, his moves worked, even though the end result was the same. This team is going to be going though a lot of change over the next 2 seasons and new, young players will learn from him. He will be a great mentor for them as well.
Trotz deserves another year AT LEAST. They underachieved again, but for a multitude of reasons.
1. Nonperformance of the 3rd and 4th lines. This group was built to get them past the Pens. Instead they scored ONE goal because an injured Ovi was demoted to their line.
2. The team itself goes in ebbs and flows of prioritizing on being a defensive team that can score FIRST instead of an offensive team that occasionally plays defense. The playoffs were obviously a low point on defensive prioritization.
3. They played two teams that boast strengths that are essentially are the Achilles heal of the Caps- SPEED and pressure on Defense. Caps D’Men were essentially pressure free most of the year. They struggled mightily (even when they were healthy) to deal with consistent pressure by opposing forwards.
4. Braden Holtby played like an average to above average goalie – Not what his pay grade says he is. Because of their disorganization on defense, they needed the Holtby of 2013/14 against the Rangers. He wasn’t a strength and an argument could be made that he was a liability.
5. Ovi’s injury. They wont make an excuse but it was clear that he wasn’t all there. The hit he took in the 1st round was brutal, but because he came back- everyone forgot that they swallowed their gum when they initially saw the hit and thought his season was over.
6. Coaching. In part the Caps are a victim of their own success. Because they’re so good at what they do(PP, PK, zone entries) during the season – teams game plan and emulate the best ways to stop it come playoff time. The coaching staff has RARELY found answers or counters. The standard answer is, keep doing what were doing. Why? Because its worked in the regular season. Hard for press to argue with him when he says it because shot stats and time of possession favored the Caps. But when the keen eyes look closer- quality chances were equal or better on the opposing side. Actually not even keen eyes. Casual fans popped in, watched and were like- which one is the better team again? Its on Coaches to adjust to the team or designed plays to put the players in the best position to succeed. It hasn’t happened nearly enough during Trotz run.
7. Shot selection (or lack thereof). THIS has been a consistent problem through many of the Caps recent playoff runs, but may be attributed to coaching as well. Again, the regular season has conditioned the players to make the extra pass first instead of putting the puck on the net. This continues to be a problem- especially when the opposition is getting easy scores doing JUST that.
8. Finally, the Caps have been a mimic the last years championship team and hope to get the same results, team. It hasn’t worked. Its time to see a trend in what the last 5-10 champions had in common and build a team that either has THAT or defends the $hit out of it. I mean WHY NOT employ the NZ trap of the devils in early 2000’s after you score? Why not change up and go all defense after putting one on net? What you’ve been doing isn’t working and your window with your current group has only a slit of air left to let in.
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