With Barry Trotz out, Lou Lamoriello has nowhere to hide
Perhaps now we can stop looking at New York Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello through the mythology lens and start to ask about the reality of the man and the job he is doing.
Because in firing a two-time Jack Adams Trophy winner in Trotz – and we’ll get to the layers that could have been at play in that decision in due course – the safety net that one of the best coaches of his generation provided Lamoriello since 2018 is gone. Poof.
Lamoriello rode the coattails of previous GM Garth Snow’s draft picks and he rode the coattails of Trotz’s coaching acumen to two straight trips to the final four before missing the playoffs this season.
Now Lamoriello has, without providing any real reason why, made a coaching move that may finally strip away the myth from the man.
Does Lamoriello still possess the managerial fastball to hire a coach who can correct whatever flaws are present in the lineup he gave Trotz to coach? Then, assuming he can find such a coach, does Lamoriello still have the managerial chops to correct those personnel flaws he recreated either through the draft, trades or free agency?
History suggests he is not up to the task and in fact has not been for quite some time.
Apart from a fluke run to the 2012 Stanley Cup final by Lamoriello’s New Jersey Devils, his resume since the 2004-05 lockout is pretty spotty. In fact it is a track record that stands in direct opposition to his mythical reputation as hockey genius and legend.
He might have possessed both those qualities, but they seemed to have applied to Lamoriello in a different era altogether when the Devils won three Stanley Cups between 1995 and 2003.
Since then, Lamoriello’s teams have been uninspiring. The Devils are still trying to pick up the pieces from his time there. They haven’t won a playoff round in 10 years and have missed the playoffs in all but one season since. The Leafs didn’t win a playoff round during his tenure with the Leafs in Toronto (to be fair, Kyle Dubas hasn’t won a round either, but he’s not in the Hall of Fame).
Lamoriello took the job with the Islanders and knew enough to hire Trotz in the days after Trotz’s Stanley Cup win in Washington in 2018. Trotz took a solid but meat-and-potatoes Islanders roster to Game 6 and Game 7, respectively, in 2020 and 2021 series against the eventual Stanley Cup champions from Tampa two years in a row. He did this in spite of the fact Lamoriello failed to address a gaping hole on his blueline in terms of offensive production, something Lamoriello alluded to in answering questions Monday about what the team needs to focus on this off-season.
Lamoriello also famously allowed emerging defenseman Devon Toews to get away for two second-round picks. Now Toews has become a mainstay on a Stanley Cup worthy Colorado blueline and is a combined plus-81 the past two seasons.
Lamoriello also inexplicably extended Kyle Palmieri to a four-year deal with a $5-million cap hit last September after which Palmieri, 31, finished ninth in team scoring with 33 points, following a trend that has seen Lamoriello struggle with the salary cap dating back to the 2005-06 season.
Whatever excuses there were for the Islanders’ disappointing turn this season, which saw them finish 16 points behind 8th seed Washington – and there are lots, including a massive 13-game road trip to start the season while their new arena was being completed, a COVID-19 outbreak and injuries – firing Trotz remains a puzzling non-sequitur.
Of course Lamoriello is fully within his rights as GM to make whatever changes he deems necessary to take the team forward. It’s his job to do so. But if ownership is taking note – and it should be – this next season looms large for a team whose honeymoon in their shiny new building will become painfully short unless Lamoriello can get this team back on track.
The fact that Lamoriello insisted he didn’t speak to anyone about the coaching decision and especially did not speak to any players about the change is both curious and alarming, but it reinforces the idea that is there is a significant disconnect between Lamoriello and the game’s evolution. That disconnect has been apparent in his team’s performances, the handling of the salary cap and in Lamoriello’s backwards notion of media relations and by extension relations with the fans, who ultimately pay his salary.
So Lamoriello is on the clock to prove he still knows more than the rest of us. But with all due respect to Ernest Hemingway, we suggest that we should not ask not for whom the bell tolls, for it may soon toll for Lamoriello.
As for Trotz, this much we know. He was under contract for one more season at $4 million.
Was there a discussion about an extension that went sideways? Lamoriello said the contract status was not a factor in the decision. And multiple sources indicated the decision came as a shock on Monday.
We know that when the Washington Capitals chose not to extend Trotz at the start of the 2017-18 season it created tension that ultimately led to Trotz leaving the Caps days after the team won its only Stanley Cup championship. Washington has not won a playoff round since, by the way, something the Islanders might want to take note of.
Trotz will be 60 by the time training camp rolls around next fall.
Perhaps he aspires to a different hockey challenge, something in management. Certainly the game has evolved to the point where having a person with Trotz’s experience, and his ability to share in the game’s visions and its intricacies, would be a welcome addition to any management team at any point of a team’s evolution. Especially one like say, Detroit, trying to chart a new course.
At this stage Trotz has earned a break if that’s what he wants, having coached non-stop since Nashville made him their first-ever bench boss in 1998. It’s been a helluva run that includes two Jack Adams Award wins and of course a seminal run to a Cup win in Washington.
But if he’s not ready to step back, the coaching world is his oyster, and he vaults immediately to the top of the coaching ranks for teams looking to fill a vacancy along with Rick Tocchet.
Would Trotz, a Manitoba native, be a fit in Winnipeg, where there are still loads of pieces in place? Of course he would.
There are current openings in Philadelphia and Detroit. There are also rumblings that Rick Bowness might be nearing the end of his distinguished coaching career, although his Dallas Stars are currently leading Calgary in their opening-round series. Trotz would be a nice fit in Big D.
What about Chicago, where the Blackhawks could certainly use some positivity in their bid to resurrect the franchise’s flailing status? Again, a nice fit there.
Do you see a trend here?
Over the years we’ve been fortunate enough to spend time with Trotz talking the game, his journey and lots in between. I remember sitting with Trotz in the lobby of a Tampa hotel during the 2018 Eastern Conference final. They were giving out wine samples and Trotz gave that trademark grin as we took advantage. It was a moment of unexpected pleasure that brought him no small amount of delight, and Trotz talked candidly that afternoon about being at peace even though he had no idea of what was ahead of him.
Here’s hoping he has that same feeling now.
He’s earned that much.