Sources: Flyers interested in Barry Trotz for head coach opening. Would he be a good fit?

When the New York Islanders fired head coach Barry Trotz on May 9, it sent a ripple of shock through the NHL community, immediately followed by interest from several teams searching for a new head coach.

The Flyers are among the interested parties, as Trotz, 59, is one of several coaching candidates the Flyers are interested in for their head coaching vacancy, multiple sources told The Inquirer on Thursday. As of Wednesday night, there were no set plans for Trotz and the Flyers to meet yet, a separate source said.

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At general manager Chuck Fletcher’s end-of-season news conference on May 3, he announced that interim coach Mike Yeo was out.. He added that the Flyers would be putting together the “ideal candidate profile” while also keeping all options open.

When asked if he’s looking to win now or build for the future, Fletcher said “a little bit of both.” As the third-winningest coach in NHL history, Trotz (914-670-60-168), is someone that would match up with the first half of that goal. He has a long track record of rebuilding teams and squeezing the most out of rosters with limited talent.

At his last stop, Trotz was able to immediately find success with the Islanders, leading them to the playoffs in his first three seasons after the team had failed to make it in 2017 and 2018. The Isles came into last season with high expectations but suffered through a miserable start which included a COVID-19 outbreak and a 13-game road trip to open the season because their new arena wasn’t ready. After an 8-12-6 start, the Islanders played much better over the second half of the season but finished with a record of 37-35-10 and missed the playoffs.

Before being fired, Trotz went 152-101-34 during his time in New York, winning the Jack Adams Trophy, awarded to the coach of the year, in 2019. The two seasons prior to the 2021-2022 season, he led the Islanders to the conference finals. In the 2020-2021 season, the Islanders lost 1-0 in Game 7, just barely missing out on reaching the Stanley Cup Final.

Prior to the Islanders, Trotz won the Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals in 2018. While the Capitals had been competitive in the years leading up to Trotz’s arrival, they had struggled to replicate their success in the postseason. He is largely credited for getting the team’s star players, most notably Alexander Ovechkin, to buy in more on the defensive end to help them get over the hump. He won the Jack Adams Trophy in 2016 with the Caps, and is one of only eight coaches to have won the award twice.

Before coaching the Capitals, Trotz served as the Nashville Predators first coach. Even with an expansion team, he found success. Their 28 wins still stand as the third-most by an expansion team in its first year. He later built the Predators into a constant playoff contender despite a a low budget and lack of star power.

Trotz’s teams are known for their structure and stingy defenses, two things the Flyers need sorely after finishing in the bottom six in goals allowed per game in each of the past two seasons. The Flyers gave up 3.59 goals allowed per game in 2021-22 and a league-worst 3.52 goals allowed in the 2021 season.

Trotz has worked miracles defensively before, as he oversaw a worst-to-first defensive turnaround in his first season with the Islanders. He also transformed Washington’s defense, which was No. 21 in goals against per game the season prior to his arrival and subsequently finished in the top 10 the next three seasons. Trotz’s teams are not the prettiest offensively, but his defensive methods have been successful everywhere he’s been.

Trotz’s coaching style is characterized by discipline and a no-nonsense attitude. He fulfills the Flyers need for someone to build a winning mentality, something both the players and Fletcher have said is needed.

However, one of the reasons behind Trotz’s surprising firing is similar to one of the reasons behind Alain Vigneault’s firing — the Islanders’ brass felt he didn’t have the players’ ears. Trotz, like Vigneault, who the Flyers fired on Dec. 6, like Vigneault, is an old-school coach.

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There have also been concerns about Trotz’s ability to develop young players, and that’s critical to the Flyers’ future considering their lack of veteran talent. He’s worked with limited talent before, but “limited” is a generous description for the amount of available talent the Flyers had this season with all their injuries. Even healthy, Fletcher and some of the players admitted the team still needs more high-end talent.

That dearth of talent might also make Philadelphia a less attractive option to Trotz, especially when there are teams like the star-studded Vegas Golden Knights in the market for a coach. Trotz also recently interviewed with his hometown Winnipeg Jets regarding their vacancy. In Philadelphia, he’d be taking over a squad that’s coming off the second-worst record in franchise history (25-46-11). However, this is a man who left the Capitals directly after winning a Stanley Cup to take on a struggling Islanders team.

Trotz would potentially get first line center Sean Couturier back, who played until December before undergoing back surgery, and Ryan Ellis, who played just four games this season and continues to go through treatment for a “multi-layered” pelvic injury. He would also likely have a say in helping Fletcher beef up and “aggressively retool” his roster.

Whether it is Trotz or someone else, the Flyers will be looking for some consistency, as the organization has seen six coaches come and go in the past nine seasons.