After four seasons with the New York Islanders, the club announced that they would be relieving head coach Barry Trotz of his duties.
Trotz helped guide the Islanders to a 152-102-34 record during his time with the team. The Isles reached the postseason in each of Trotz’s first 3 seasons with the club, before failing to qualify this year.
New York made it to the 3rd round of the playoffs in both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons before being eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. Trotz won the Jack Adams award during the 2018-19 season, his first with the Islanders.
“It would be a tremendous understatement to say this was not an easy decision,” said Isles GM Lou Lamoriello. “Unfortunately it is my role to make the best decisions for the organization.
“This group of players needs a new voice.”
The 59 year old bench boss is currently the 3rd winningest coach in NHL history trailing only Joel Quenneville and Scotty Bowman. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Trotz will have no shortage of suitors lining up for his services, but cautions that the veteran head coach may be looking to transition into a front office role should he elect to remain active in the hockey world.
The Islanders have not announced any plans for a successor at this point.
Photo: David Cintron. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.