ARLINGTON Vladimir Sobotka Jersey Womens , Va. (AP) One of the lasting images from the Capitals‘ playoff run came the morning of Game 7 in the Eastern Conference final.Usually Alex Ovechkin hustles around the rink in a hot lap prior to the morning skate. Only this time it was 55-year-old coach Barry Trotz, who answered the call from his players to do the lap.”I was worried about the turns,” Trotz said. ”The rudders haven’t been sharpened all year. … I almost bit it at the end there trying to imitate Ovi.”The Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 that night to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final, but they might’ve won Game 7 at that moment. Rarely in previous postseasons had Trotz been that relaxed, the result of an unusual situation.Trotz went into the season without – and still doesn’t have – a contract for next season, a circumstance that almost never happens to an experienced coach of a team with legitimate postseason hopes. But in a strange way, being a lame-duck coach might’ve helped Trotz not feel the pressure of past early exits and played a positive role in getting this far.”I think it could be the same effect on a player, too, that’s becoming a free agent,” general manager Brian MacLellan said Friday. ”He’s basically becoming a free agent as a coach Carter Hutton Jersey Womens , and what effect does that have? Do you have your best year when you’re a free agent?”Trotz has. Even with the fifth-most victories of any coach in NHL history, until this spring he hadn’t made it past the second round in 18 previous seasons with the Nashville Predators and Capitals. He called it ”luck of the draw,” running into championship-bound teams from Detroit, Chicago and Pittsburgh.This improbable Capitals run that continues with Game 1 of the Cup Final on Monday in Las Vegas is not luck. It’s parts Ovechkin and goaltender Braden Holtby, and also the right moves by Trotz. He called on Philipp Grubauer to start the first round in goal before switching to Holtby in Game 2 against Columbus and watching him get on a roll. He put Jakub Vrana on the top line not long before the rookie scored the winner in Game 5 against the Penguins and pushed all the right buttons on rest and preparation.Teams tend to read cues from a head coach, and those have been positive.”I think his demeanor has changed a little bit,” MacLellan said. ”He seems a little lighter, a little looser, a little less pressure, maybe a little more freedom in terms of how he goes about things.”Despite back-to-back Presidents’ Trophies Chris Kunitz Jersey Womens , MacLellan and Capitals management didn’t offer Trotz an extension.Before the playoffs, Trotz said he hadn’t lost any sleep over his status and referred questions to MacLellan and owner Ted Leonsis. In March, Leonsis said he doesn’t talk about contracts, and MacLellan has repeatedly stated that any talks would wait until after the playoffs. There are currently no vacancies in the NHL.Toronto’s Mike Babcock is the highest-paid coach at $6.25 million, Chicago’s Joel Quenneville is next at $6 million and Montreal’s Claude Julien comes in at $5 million. Those three have combined to win the Cup five times.Trotz’s price tag has gone up however the Final goes against the Golden Knights.”He’s probably going to benefit from this, too,” MacLellan said. ”I think he’s done a good job managing it. To come in this year with so many questions – not from my point of view the lineup questions were that a big deal – but just the emotional state of our team coming in to start the year and how to handle that, I think he’s done an outstanding job.”Trotz survived a 10-9-1 start that culminated with 6-3 and 6-2 losses at Nashville and Colorado, and the Capitals winning 12 of their next 14 games might have saved his job. Players’ response to Trotz reading them the riot act showed he certainly hadn’t lost the room.But a journey of self-discovery last summer went beyond not having a contract.”It gave me just some clarity on what defines me, what defines us Brandon Manning Jersey Womens , what defines you,” Trotz said. ”If you don’t win any awards or anything, I’m not going to look at you any different. If you’re a good person and you treat people right and you live your life right, then I’m going to think really highly of you. If you don’t, I’m not going to think so much of you. And I started getting that clarity that everybody looks for the wrong in people rather than the right and it gave me a lot of clarity. And some things happened in my life that allowed me to see that and it’s been good.”Happy, relaxed Trotz has made more appearances in these playoffs than buttoned-down, terse Trotz. He hasn’t soured amid the road bumps this postseason.The Capitals have followed Trotz’s even-keeled approach and even been upbeat following losses. Like his players, he’s enjoying the ride.”Playoffs are fun,” Trotz said. ”They are a grind. But they’re fun. And they should be treated as fun. They’re sort of all the hard that you have to put in just to get there and it takes even more hard work to go farther, but it is fun. I’m finding I’m having a blast during the games.”—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals— RALEIGH Cam Ward Jersey Womens , N.C. (AP) The Carolina Hurricanes hired former captain and current assistant Rod Brind’Amour as their coach Tuesday, hoping the ”greatest leader” in franchise history can end a nine-year playoff drought.The team also announced that club president Don Waddell will become the full-time general manager after serving as acting GM.The team scheduled a news conference for Wednesday to discuss the moves.Waddell said a number of coaching candidates were discussed, but ”our conversations with staff and players consistently returned to the same person.”One of the team’s most decorated players, Brind’Amour captained the Hurricanes’ only Stanley Cup championship team in 2006.”Rod is the greatest leader in the history of this franchise, and has earned the opportunity to take charge of our locker room,” Waddell said in a statement.The two-time Selke Award winner as the NHL’s best defensive forward retired in 2010 and ranks third in club history in assists (299), fourth in points (473) and fifth in games played (694).He replaces Bill Peters, who opted out of his contract last month following his fourth year and subsequently was hired by the Calgary Flames. He becomes the Hurricanes’ third straight first-time NHL head coach, after Kirk Muller and Peters.Brind’Amour has been a Carolina assistant since 2011. He spent half his 20-season NHL career with the Hurricanes, leading them to the Stanley Cup finals in 2002 and again four years later.But Carolina has made the playoffs only once in the 12 years since Brind’Amour hoisted the Cup Matt Hunwick Jersey Womens , and the Hurricanes’ nine-year absence from the postseason is one of the longest stretches in NHL history.That has led to a busy five months for the Hurricanes, with Dallas businessman Tom Dundon buying a majority interest in the team from longtime owner Peter Karmanos Jr. in January.A month later, Hall of Fame player and general manager Ron Francis – who, like Brind’Amour, has his jersey number hanging from the PNC Arena rafters – was reassigned to another front-office position, and his contract was terminated last week.In between, Peters – who was hired by Francis in 2014 – exercised the out clause in his contract, saying the incoming general manager should be able to pick his own coach.Turns out, that job fell to Waddell – the former general manager and president of the Atlanta Thrashers who had been part of the Hurricanes’ front office since 2014 and had been filling in since Francis’ demotion and subsequent exit.—
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