Barry Trotz, a coach widely regarded to be among the best in hockey, is currently on the open market and entertaining offers for his next job. He has a multitude of suitors, and fans of the teams actively courting him could not be blamed for being nervous about his upcoming decision. His choice could be one that can reverse the fortunes of a franchise, and his hire will likely set the tone of the offseason for whatever team he joins. But according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, we may have to wait a bit for that choice to actually come.
Friedman reports that the coaching cycle has “ground to a bit of a halt” as a result of teams awaiting Trotz’s decision. Friedman relays that Trotz has “let it be known” to teams interested in his services that he’s “not in a hurry to make his choice” and that won’t make his decision until he’s absolutely certain that it’s the right one for himself and his family.
While that is obviously a very reasonable stance for Trotz to take, his patience does have wider implications for the league as a whole. There are numerous coaching vacancies across the NHL, and as Friedman notes, many teams are waiting for Trotz to make a decision before truly ramping up their pursuits of other candidates.
Fans of teams with a coaching vacancy may want to see movement from their team on that front sooner rather than later, but the state of the coaching market is such that these searches could drag on through the playoffs and potentially beyond. That potentially long wait on Trotz’s choice could have the effect of raising the stakes of his decision as well. For the teams that are fully invested in securing his services but end up missing out, they could potentially see their second-choice candidate be snapped up by another team less involved in the Trotz sweepstakes.
Regardless of where Trotz ends up coaching next season, it’s clear that his decision will likely have a ripple effect that alters the offseasons of quite a few teams.
More must-reads: