Penguins/NHL
The Washington Capitals officially named Barry Trotz head coach today, while going in-house for their GM hire by naming Brian MacLellan General Manager.
The hiring of MacLellan has caught many around the league by surprise. Nashville’s Paul Fenton and Boston’s Don Sweeney were widely look at as the favorites for the job.
When Ray Shero was fired 10 days ago, Shero was pegged as a top contender for the job and while the Capitals and Shero spoke, he never had an official interview, according to a source.
Trotz who had his choice of joining the Capitals, Panthers or Canucks, was not on Penguins ownership’s radar who claim a new GM will decide if Dan Bylsma will remain the coach.
The Penguins brass have internally discussed former Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Guy Boucher who was Sidney Crosby’s junior coach, but they are not too keen on the list of potential candidates out there.
Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle prefers to keep Dan Bylsma, sources say, and there is certainly some chatter in the past couple days that ownership is likely to make it known to the new General Manager of their desire to keep Bylsma and some of his coaching staff.
However, if Bylsma is fired, speculation around the league is the Florida Panthers are monitoring the Bylsma situation. Would Bylsma join a team as an assistant coach?
Probably not as he could stay at home and collect his $2 million+ a year salary doing nothing the next two years, but the Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to reach out to Bylsma if he hits the open market.
