The most interesting aspect of the Washington Capitals’ coaching search is the wide variety of coaches that are available to them.
General manager Brian MacLellan could go with a taskmaster such as Mike Babcock, or an attacking coach like Peter Laviolette or the honest working man’s coach in Gerard Gallant or a lovable grandfather type like Bruce Boudreau.
We won’t put fresh faces on our list, because MacLellan said he wanted an experienced coach to go with his experienced team
Don’t believe Babcock will be high on the Caps’ list because he has $5.85 million per season coming until after 2022-23 from his Toronto contract. Can’t imagine he would take less to coach the Capitals. While it is true that players don’t care much for Babcock, or his tactics, he is a quality coach who prides himself on his preparation. But he would have explaining to do about the Mitch Marner story.
According to news accounts, Babcock asked young Marner in 2016-17 to rank his teammates from hardest-working to least hardest-working. Marner did what he was told, and then Babcock shared that with some of Marner’s teammates.
People in the hockey world believe Laviolette is the frontrunner, or at least should be, because he has coached both the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers within the division. He is familiar with Ovechkin and how the Capitals play when they are effective.
The Capitals are only 26 months removed from being Stanley Cup champions. Laviolette’s resume, with three trips to the Stanley Cup Final with three different teams on it, will get MacLellan’s attention. Laviolette won with Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.
Laviolette likes an attacking offensive style, and he will enjoy finding creative ways to help Ovechkin continue to be effective. He knows what to do when he has talented players.
If MacLellan wants to hire Laviolette, the bridge he must cross is accepting that Laviolette believes coaches coach and managers manage. What that means is that Laviolette is not the kind of coach who enjoys sitting around and bouncing ideas off the management staff. That style can cause some tension with GMs.
Plus, Laviolette won’t come cheaply.
But no matter who MacLellan hires, he won’t be a better choice than the man they let get away. If you are a Capitals’ fan, it has to frost you that Barry Trotz's Islanders eliminated the Capitals
The Trotz departure after the Capitals’ championship in 2018 is often explained as a financial dispute. It's true that Trotz wanted a hefty raise and the Capitals were unwilling to give it to him. But the situation was more complicated than that. MacLellan’s guy on the coaching staff was associate coach Todd Reirden. He wasn’t Trotz’s guy. Trotz believed he should be able to pick his own staff. Tension resulted.
It’s impossible to know what would have happened had Trotz stayed with Washington. But we do know that Reirden wasn’t the answer in Washington and Trotz was the solution with the Islanders.