Lou's Familiar Gamble
Isles GM knows he's made an unpopular move but one he sees as necessary
Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Well, that was unexpected, but should it have been?
The forecast for the week was looking promising. We were finally going to hit 70 degrees, the baseball teams you root for are in first place, the Rangers are down in their series versus the Penguins and the Leafs’ fans were turning on John Tavares, but then at 9:45 am …things changed.
"It would be a tremendous understatement to say that this was not an easy decision to make," Lamoriello said in a phone conference with media after Monday's announcement. "Unfortunately, it is my role to make the best decisions for the organization going forward. And I believe that this group of players needs a new voice. And this in no way is anything negative on Barry Trotz, who as each and every one of you knows, if you've had the opportunity to meet him, is a tremendous human being."
When the initial shock subsided, the searching for answers commenced and we’ll dissect some of the leading theories. But in the end, perhaps it was nothing more complex than a soon-to-be 80-year-old HOF General Manager doing what he’s always done. Trusting his instincts, owning his decision, and not looking back.
Job security does not exist if Lou Lamoriello feels something is off.
Lamoriello’s executive track record is full of brash, out-of-the-blue, but decisive coaching changes. He has now made 21 head-coaching changes since becoming an NHL general manager in 1987. When the first-place New Jersey Devils were having a late-season slump in 99-00, he fired head coach Robby Ftorek with just eight games left and replaced him with assistant Larry Robinson. The Devils went on to defeat the Dallas Stars to win the Stanley Cup.
In 2007, with just three games left to play in the regular season, Lamoriello fired first-season head coach Claude Julien who had led the Devils to a 47-24-8 record, second-best in the conference. That time around, Lou hired himself as the replacement. So maybe the surprise would have been a contract extension rather than a contract termination.
As Mike Vaccaro wrote in the New York Post, Lou has always had an “itchy trigger finger” but this was still a shock to the system. “This decision is on the knowledge that I have of the experiences I’ve had and also going forward as far as what I think and feel is best for this group to have success,” Lamoriello stated.
Barry and Lou seemed like a package deal, both joining the team in 2018 with existing Hall of Fame resumes, and sharing the spotlight and recognition during the team’s turnaround. Trotz won the Jack Adams Trophy after the Islanders’ remarkable defensive turnaround in 2018-19 and Lamoriello took home the Jim Gregory Award, for the league’s top General Manager in consecutive years after trade deadline deals helped the Isles reach the final four of the playoffs the last two seasons.
In four seasons as the team's coach, Trotz was 152-102-34 and 28-21 in the playoffs, the third-most wins in franchise history. There are two coaches in Islanders history that have reached the Conference Finals - Al Arbour and Barry Trotz. Trotz finished the season having coached more games and recorded more victories than any other active coach. His 914 career wins are third-most in NHL history, trailing just Joel Quenneville (969) and Scotty Bowman (1244).
Since Lou was characteristically tight-lipped on the reasons behind his decision, let’s speculate on what brought upon this unexpected change:
Strained Relationship?
There’s no denying that Trotz was often forthcoming, falling just short of critical, about the team’s roster make-up this season. Whether it be the loss of puck-moving defensemen (Devon Toews and Nick Leddy) hurting the team’s 3-on-3 play or losing a Barry favorite in Leo Komarov, there were moments where you wondered from afar if the GM and Head Coach were in sync on roster construction.
There was even the curious case of Anatolii Golyshev who was put on unconditional waivers without playing and the splitting of Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech at the start of the season. Individually, these might not look like big issues, but collectively, perhaps they added up to frustration on both sides.
The Contract
Upon hearing the news, my initial, emotional reaction was that Trotz entering the final year of his 5-year contract was the only plausible reason why this happened. You could foresee a scenario of Trotz wanting an extension to avoid heading into 2022-23 as a “lame duck.” Meanwhile, Lamoriello would be understandably hesitant given the way the season ended and how Trotz and his coaching staff failed to make in-season adjustments.
Lou, though, was quick to say that contract negotiations played no part in this decision. Hmph. There goes that theory. During the season, Lou denied Trotz’s contract was any type of distraction - and maybe it wasn’t. To Lou, you are under contract until he doesn’t want you to be under contract anymore. Plain and simple.
If the same move was made after a disappointing 2022-23, few fans would have argued with the logic, but the expectation was that Trotz had done more than enough to earn a chance to right the wrongs from this past season. Whether it was practicing the team too hard during the multiple pauses, being too committed to his system, or having a long leash with veterans, these were all correctable. But Lou was not willing to take that chance.
Player Development
“I think what we have to do is get improvement out of our younger players and also a more complete year out of some of our veterans than we did this year,” said Lamoriello during Monday’s conference call.
This is a popular narrative. That the lack of development under Trotz due to his ‘tough love’ methods was the reason for the slow growth of certain players. But, who are we talking about exactly? Outside of Oliver Wahlstrom, is there another young player that teases with untapped potential that was held back by Trotz? Kieffer Bellows? Robin Salo? Could this really be about them?
Plus, Wahlstrom didn’t seem to hold a grudge over how he was handled but rather exuded the right attitude at the end of the season. “It was good,” he said of his relationship with Trotz. “I need tough love sometimes. It’s part of the game; it’s part of the business. It was just ups and downs for me, obviously, this year. I love the game, and I take information in and try to use that.”
Two of the biggest bright spots of the disappointing season were the emergence of Noah Dobson as a 50-point scorer on the blue line and Ilya Sorokin as franchise goalie. There are no two more important younger players moving forward for the Islanders and both flourished last season under Trotz and his coaching staff.
If you expand the young category to Anthony Beauvillier and Mathew Barzal you have a better argument. It’s possible that during exit interviews, players expressed frustration with Trotz’s restrictive offensive system that plays well in the post-season but was not equipped for an 82-game schedule in a league that was playing faster, more open, and with increased scoring than in recent seasons.
A New Voice
“These types of decisions are made for going forward, not for [looking] back,” added Lamoriello. “I think that with this group we have - and they are on notice right now - that the new voice is what's necessary for us to have success in, in my opinion.”
This makes the most sense.
We’ve seen it happen in the NHL and in other sports as well. An accomplished coach’s message just rings hollow after a while and a demanding style of plays wears on the players, especially if not accompanied by winning.
Lamoriello felt as he has before, that the roster he constructed was underachieving and needed a kick start to be revived. He put the entire group on notice with his decision on Monday and Lamoriello put himself in the cross-hairs of ownership if his gamble of dismissing a popular head coach doesn’t work out.
Whomever the new voice is, ownership has shown that money won’t prohibit Lamoriello from bringing in an experienced coach with a winning pedigree if he chooses. As unsettling as the departure of Trotz is, there’s a decent chance that his replacement has a list of impressive accomplishments to tout as well. If Lou only wants the voice to be new, but the message to remain similar, then the promotion of Lane Lambert becomes a top option.
In Newsday, Andrew Gross, put out a list of 13 potential candidates to become the 18th coach in Islanders’ history. Kevin Kurz in The Athletic put out 8 of his own.
Here are three of a very intriguing list with commentary courtesy of Gross:
Mike Babcock
Has been out of coaching since the Maple Leafs fired him in 2019. He worked under Lamoriello in Toronto and has called him “a friend for life.”
Lane Lambert
The presumed favorite after being Trotz’s top lieutenant with the Islanders and a member of Trotz’s staff since 2011 in both Nashville and Washington.
Paul Maurice
Maurice has a sterling reputation after coaching 1,685 games for three franchises starting in 1995. He resigned from the Jets early this season, saying the team needed a new voice. That’s exactly what Lamoriello said he is seeking.
Barry’s Legacy
For a generation of fans, the identity of the Islanders and what it meant to “play like an Islander” all stemmed from the Head Coach Barry Trotz.
It wasn’t all that long ago, but it really can’t be understated just how down the fanbase was after being rejected by John Tavares in free agency. Yes, Lou Lamoriello was now in charge and the coach of the Stanley Cup champions would be behind the bench, but this wasn’t expected to be a quick fix. This was going to require a culture change. The roster had skill but also had holes. It wasn’t going to be a slow build back to being a contender.
Only it wasn’t.
Trotz taught Garth Snow’s talented but flawed roster how to play defensive, winning hockey. He turned good goaltending into superior goaltending and fostered a distinct style of play dripping with pride, intensity, and heart. He got the players to buy into him and then soon we all bought in - to these players, to the coach, and the GM.
Barry Trotz is the best coach this franchise has had since Al Arbour. There were times when as a fan you pinched yourself and said “Barry Trotz is the head coach of the New York Islanders.” You couldn't believe he was your coach and now maybe today you can’t believe he isn’t.
He didn’t bring the Stanley Cup back to Long Island, but he got close, closer than any Isles coach in nearly 30 years. More importantly than that, he got what it meant to be a fan of this unique franchise, he embraced the team’s history and crafted its new identity. He brought credibility and validation to a franchise starved for it. He was proud to represent the organization and made you proud to be a fan of it too and for all of that, Barry Trotz will be missed.
🔗 Barry Trotz firing is right out of Lou Lamoriello’s playbook by Mike Vaccaro, New York Post “Lamoriello has always had an itchy trigger finger. He’s always been a demanding boss. It’s part of why he got along so famously with George Steinbrenner during the brief Yankees-Nets partnership. Steinbrenner is the one who told me once: “Lou would be a winner in any sport he chose to work in because he’s decisive and he’s his own man and he doesn’t give a s–t what you think about it.”
🔗 Why was Barry Trotz fired, and what comes next for Islanders? by Kevin Kurz, The Athletic “If you were hoping for a little clarity as to why the Islanders decided to fire coach Barry Trotz on Monday, general manager Lou Lamoriello didn’t have much for you in a follow-up conference call that took place about a half-hour after the news shocked the hockey world.”
And we leave you with this ….we just hope that wherever Barry Trotz lands next, his team doesn’t go through the “f-ing Island.”
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