Detroit Red Wings should steer clear of Barry Trotz for coaching vacancy

The offseason is upon the Detroit Red Wings, and it’s been busy early on. At least in terms of the news cycles. The coaching vacancy got quiet between Calder Trophy finalists and the 2022 NHL Draft Lottery buzz.

But in the last week or so, things have heated up for the Detroit Red Wings coaching search. The Las Vegas Golden Knights fired their bench boss, Pete DeBoer. On the other hand, the team was an early favorite to target Lane Lambert for their vacancy.

After the team parted ways with Barry Trotz, Lambert was awarded a head coach position with the New York Islanders. The 23-year coaching veteran of the NHL has been around for quite some time and knows how to coach a winning team.

But, looking at the teams he’s coached, they have been built on the foundations of sound defense and controlling the defensive game. It’s the way Trotz has stuck around for 23 years with three franchises.

The Detroit Red Wings should steer clear of Barry Trotz.

In 2017-18, Trotz led the Washington Capitals to a Stanley Cup Championship, the first of his lengthy career. He has made the playoffs in every season since then as well, except for the 2021-22 season.

However, Trotz should not be viewed as the Red Wings “guy.” It seems as if there will still be some discussions around the best decision for the team moving forward. Bringing in defensive-minded Trotz is not quite the move that seems like it will vault the team into the competition.

With a crop of defensemen starting to fill out a core, it might. My worry comes with the offense. In recent years, putting up points and scoring goals has been as much of an issue as the goals against numbers have been.

Trotz will put a significant focus on the team’s abilities in the defensive zone. While I enjoy watching a Trotz-coached team, I feel like someone who will foster a balanced system/attack is going to do best for the Red Wings.

It’s early, and more buzz and news around the situation could sway opinions easily. The initial reaction is that the Red Wings should steer clear of Trotz for their head coach vacancy as they aim to fill it this offseason.

Trotz had made comments about stepping away from coaching, which could leave an opportunity to bring in Trotz to help as an assistant or in an advisory role to help the Red Wings fine-tune things, utilizing Trotz’s expertise.

Time will tell, but my gut feeling is that avoiding Trotz is the best move for the Red Wings.