Barry Trotz Could Be The Perfect Solution To What Ails The Flyers

Barry Trotz, the recently available Stanley Cup-winning head coach, could be just what the Philadelphia Flyers need.

Barry Trotz is all too familiar with the Flyers’ situation.

In the 2017-18 season, under head coach Doug Weight, the New York Islanders finished last in the NHL with 293 goals against — an average of 3.57 goals per game.

In the 2018-19 season, under new head coach Barry Trotz, the Islanders had the league’s best goals-against mark: 191, or 2.33 goals per game.

That worst-to-first turnaround earned Barry Trotz the second Jack Adams Award of his career as the NHL’s coach of the year. And that’s why Trotz should be at the top of Chuck Fletcher’s list as he reviews the candidates for the Philadelphia Flyers’ open head-coaching position.

Defense First

Over the last two seasons, the defensive side of the Flyers’ game has fallen apart. In 2020-21 and 2021-22 combined, Philadelphia is tied with the New Jersey Devils with a league-worst 3.56 goals against per game. The Flyers’ penalty kill is alone in last place, at 74.6%.

“We were defending all the time and that is something we have to look at,” said Fletcher at his season-ending media conference. “We were not exiting the D-zone well enough.

“There are certainly things we have to look at in terms of our structure and our details. We didn’t have the puck enough. And when you defend all the time, bad things happen.”

Trotz’s coaching style is all about structure and details. Starting in the NHL with the brand-new Nashville Predators in the 1998-99 season, he built that club into a contender by emphasizing the defensive side of the game.

Under much tougher expansion rules than the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken have more recently enjoyed, Nashville needed some time to add skill to its roster.

In 2003-04, the Predators recorded their first winning season. Then, they reached the playoffs in seven of eight years before a two-season absence led to the decision to go in a different direction behind the bench.

In 2014, Trotz headed to Washington.

The Capitals’ goals-against decreased in each of his first three seasons, and the club won the Presidents’ Trophy in both 2016 and 2017. In the 2017-18 regular season, Washington took a step backward, but still finished first in the Metropolitan Division. And even though Trotz’s departure from the team became all but inevitable, he didn’t leave before delivering the franchise’s only Stanley Cup.

Getting The Most Out Of His Players

In Washington, Trotz restructured a Capitals group that had been focused on outscoring opponents.

On Long Island, he didn’t just cut down the goals against. In 2020 and 2021, he coached the underdog Islanders to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals.

And Trotz reshaped the Islanders’ blue line without many personnel changes.

In the 2017-18 season, the seven defensemen who played more than 30 games on the Islanders’ blue line were Nick Leddy, Adam Pelech, Thomas Hickey, Ryan Pulock, Johnny Boychuk, Scott Mayfield and Calvin de Haan.

One year later, the seven were Leddy, Pelech, Hickey, Pulock, Boychuk, Mayfield and a rookie, Devon Toews.

As we know now, Toews is very good. But he only played 48 games in his rookie year and averaged 17:54 per game when he was in the lineup, the lowest among the defensemen. He helped, but he certainly didn’t trigger the turnaround.

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The Blue-Line Outlook

As the offseason begins, CapFriendly shows the Flyers with 17 players under contract for next season and less than $6 million in cap space to fill out the 23-man roster.

Last summer, Fletcher went big-game hunting. He made some bold roster changes, including adding Ryan Ellis and Rasmus Ristolainen to help shore up the blue line.

If he’s healthy, Ellis could turn out to be Philadelphia’s big blue-line addition in 2022-23. After playing just four games in his first year with the Flyers, he barely caused a ripple in last season’s results.

Bonus: Ellis, of course, was drafted 11th overall by the Predators in 2009. His first season as a full-time NHL player came in 2013-14, Trotz’s last year in Nashville. So the two would know each other well.

Trade rumours are swirling that the Flyers could free up offseason cap space by trading a top defenseman. Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim‘s names have been mentioned.

Cam York looks set to become an NHL regular next season. Down the stretch, prospects Egor Zamula and Ronnie Attard also got some games. And while Keith Yandle looks set to retire, UFA depth blueliners Nick Seeler and Kevin Connauton could be back in similar roles next year.

Trotz’s Wishes

Trotz’s firing came as a shocker in the hockey world. His sudden availability has caused fans to take notice all around the league, not just in Philadelphia.

Trotz hails from Dauphin, Manitoba, so Winnipeg Jets fans are hopeful that he might be interested in returning to his home province. Golden Knights supporters are stumping for him to land in Vegas. And the list goes on.

But everyone may have to cool their jets. After a tough year on Long Island, when Trotz also had to cope with the passing of his mother, the NHL’s third-winningest-coach of all time may be looking to take a break, or even to move into management.

Clubs with coaching vacancies or considering a change will have Trotz high on their radar. However, some believe Trotz also has interest in jumping into a management role. What is certain is that he will have options to be considered. https://t.co/rpOVo0Jocb

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 9, 2022

In January, Flyers chairman Dave Scott said that Fletcher has a “blank check” to fix what’s ailing the hockey team. The salary cap limits what can be spent on players, but coaches’ salaries are unregulated. And money was at the heart of the disagreement that caused Trotz to leave Washington and sign a five-year deal worth $20 million with the Islanders.

Trotz has one year remaining on that contract — so it might not be worth his while to take a new job unless he’s promised more than $4 million. And the Flyers are still paying out Alain Vigneault for two more years at a reported $5 million per season.

But Scott’s remarks suggest that money would not be an impediment if Fletcher deemed Trotz to be the best man for the job.

If Trotz is looking to sign on with the highest bidder and is amendable to taking a stab at trying to duplicate his success on Long Island in Philadelphia, we could have a match.

Stay tuned.