Todd Reirden was fired as the Washington Capitals coach on Sunday.
The change came three days after Washington left the New York Islanders and former Capitals coach Barry Despite five games in the first round of the Eastern Conference of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Reirden went 89-46-16 in two seasons with the Capitals and they finished first in the Metropolitan Division each season. But Washington was eliminated in the first round of each season’s playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup in defiance in 2018.
The Capitals lost seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes last season and had two wins in eight games in this season’s playoffs, including 1-1 in the round robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers in Toronto, the eastern hub.
“I think the entire organization was frustrated with how we did in the bubble,” said general manager Brian MacLellan. “We never really seemed to find our game. So I think so [combined] With the conclusion of the last 20 games of the season, we made a decision yesterday and today. “
MacLellan said there is no schedule to hire Reirden’s replacement. But with an aging core that includes the left wing Alex Ovechkinwho will be 35 on September 17th, Nicklas Backstrom, who will turn 33 on November 23, right wing TJ Oshie, who will turn 34 on December 23, and lawyer John CarlsonMacLellan, who will turn 31 on January 10, believes capital cities need a skilled coach.
Reirden was the first time NHL coach.
“We have an experienced group,” said MacLellan. “We need someone to come in and push some buttons to some players – some good players. I think one thing that happened to us in the bubble is that our structure didn’t seem to be there. We couldn’t find a team structure.” I know that individuals have worked hard individually, but as a team, as a team structure, it resulted or was a big cause of our performance in Toronto. We’re going to need someone to come in and establish this as a big part of our identity. ”
Assistant Reid Cashman leaves the company to become a coach at Dartmouth College. MacLellan said capital cities will wait until the new coach is hired before determining the future of the rest of the staff.
“The head coach is going to want to know who works for him, so we’ll wait for them to see who we hire to head,” MacLellan said.
Reirden was named coach on June 29, 2018 after serving as an assistant / associate at Capitals under Defiance for four years, helping Washington win the Stanley Cup for the first time in 2018. The 49-year-old was promoted to replace Defiance, who resigned on June 18, 2018 after failing to agree to a new contract and hired by islanders three days later.
MacLellan admitted that, in hindsight, promoting an assistant with no prior NHL coaching to an experienced team could have been a mistake, but said losing to Defiance did not affect the decision to fire Reirden.
“I think we went our separate ways with Barry two years ago,” said MacLellan. “It’s one of the things I talked about: the way we play. We couldn’t find a consistent level of competition throughout the tournament. The same things that I repeated, our structure, our team play, weren’t with it. ” I don’t think it has anything to do with our opponent, but what was going on with our team is only individual. “
Although the capitals went 41-20-8 during the 2019-20 regular season, they were 7-9-3 in their last 19 games before the season was suspended on March 12 due to coronavirus concerns. The capitals scored eight goals in the five games against the islanders, three of which were equal (all by Ovechkin).
Washington scored more than two goals in its eight postseason games – a 3-2 win in Game 4 against New York – after finishing second in the regular season in the NHL, averaging 3.42 goals per game.
Discipline was a season-long theme for the Capitals, who received 267 minor league penalties and 23 more against the Islanders in the regular season – most of them in the NHL in the first round of the playoffs.
Capitals Power Play, which was in the top seven in the NHL for six consecutive seasons before finishing 12th with a conversion rate of 20.8 percent last season, stood out this season with 19.4 percent 17th place in the league. The power game collapsed after December 13th and went with 18 to 116 (15.5 percent).
The power play was 5 against 28 (17.9 percent) in eight games in the playoffs.
“Our team game wasn’t as good as it was before,” said MacLellan. “It was going in the wrong direction. Our level of competition was in and out so we had some inconsistencies and I think it was just built from there. We started to find it maybe a bit, but I think the inconsistent game went further into the bubble and we ended up paying the price. “
Although Metropolitan Division rivals like the Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets are on the rise and the Pittsburgh Penguins remain a threat with their championship core, MacLellan believes the Capitals championship window will remain open.
“We’re a team that wants to compete for a championship every year,” said MacLellan. “We have some older players in their thirties who … their prime is coming to an end. I think we should at least be able to fight for a cup or a championship run for the next few years.”
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