Trotz won't return to coaching next season
Veteran head coach Barry Trotz won't be returning to an NHL bench next season.
The 59-year-old veteran considered a number of head coaching vacancies this offseason but ultimately decided to focus on his family for the time being.
"I've got some things personally that I've got to take care of, family-wise that I've got to take care of," Trotz told Tim Campbell of NHL.com. "If I'd said I'll take the job, I think I would have done any team a little bit of a disservice and myself a disservice because to be a coach in the NHL, it is demanding, and it requires your all. It just does, emotionally it just does, mentally it just does. So I couldn't go down that path.
"It doesn't mean I'm not going to coach, just not going to coach right now. I've been doing this for 25 straight years, and I've put a lot of stuff on the back burner, and I think it's time. The one thing I do know, and it's a mistake that everybody makes, is you think you have time and you don't."
The New York Islanders fired Trotz in May after missing the playoffs for the first time in his four-year tenure with the club. He was widely considered to be the top candidate for the nine available coaching jobs, and several teams interviewed him. Most recently, he was approached by the Jets but couldn't give them a firm commitment.
"Winnipeg came after me in terms of wanting me to be part of the organization, and I was really impressed with their commitment to winning," Trotz added. "I've got relatives that work for the Jets and friends that work security there, people I went to school with. I know lots about the Jets. They've got a tremendous organization and a real family atmosphere. But I could not commit to any team. It wasn't just Winnipeg; it was every team that I had talked to because I had to know I was 100% in."
Aside from the Jets, Boston Bruins, and Detroit Red Wings, the coaching gigs have been filled in recent weeks.
Paul Maurice, who the Florida Panthers recently hired, stepped down as Winnipeg's head coach in December. Dave Lowry replaced him on an interim basis.
With Trotz no longer an option, the Jets will expand their candidate list and begin scheduling second interviews, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.
Trotz guided the Islanders to two semifinal-round appearances in 2020 and 2021 and won the Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals in 2018. He also coached the Nashville Predators for 15 seasons and ranks third on the NHL's all-time wins list with 914.
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