When the New York Islanders announced that head coach Barry Trotz had been fired on Monday, May 9, it shocked the hockey community. While some Islanders’ fans were in favor of the decision, the majority went into panic mode. Personally, I am part of the minority and have been wanting to bring in a new head coach for months. I think the Islanders will benefit from a “new voice” as general manager Lou Lamoriello said. 

Thank You Trotz!

While I may think moving on from Trotz is the right call, there is no denying that he is a great coach who has done amazing things for the franchise. His regular season record with the Islanders was 152-102-34, and he was 28-21 in the playoffs. Trotz’s most notable achievement with the Isles was making back-to-back appearances in the third round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. 

The former Islanders’ head coach also won the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year in 2019 — additionally, he won it in 2016 with the Washington Capitals.

Is Trotz to Blame?

The Islanders had a tough and disappointing year, finishing with a record of 37-35-10. Many people will blame that record on the 13-game road trip in the beginning of the season, nearly half the team entering COVID-19 protocol at once and a handful of players sustaining injuries. And while all those events certainly didn’t help the team, there is one more thing that people don’t consider — Trotz’s lineup decisions.  

Throughout the entire 2021-22 season, Trotz upheld a different standard for the kids compared to the veterans. And while you may think it would be that the younger guys were allowed to make more mistakes than the older guys, it was actually the other way around. 

Young players like Oliver Wahlstrom and Kieffer Bellows were held to under 10 minutes of ice time in multiple games because Trotz was either not pleased with their performance or did not trust them enough, even though they have some of the best shots on the team. Meanwhile, older players like Josh Bailey and Kyle Palmieri were constantly in the lineup when healthy and playing relatively high minutes even though they both underperformed for the majority of the season. 

Too Stubborn  

Along with having a double standard when it came to the rookies and vets, Trotz also seemed to make several lineup decisions with his heart and not his head. Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock were not just the Islanders’ best defensive pair — they were also one of the best defensive pairings in the NHL. However, they were broken up early in the season by Trotz in an attempt to strengthen some of the other defensive pairings. Despite this tactic not working, Trotz did not reunite the pair until much later in the season when it was too late. 

Another faulty lineup decision was playing 45-year-old Zdeno Chara in every game when he was healthy. Chara was arguably the worst defenseman on the team and even in the NHL this year. He could often be seen planting his feet and not covering anyone in the Islanders’ defensive zone. He also had a shooting percentage of 2.5% — the worst on the team. 

Playing Chara every night was not only a poor choice but also an unnecessary one. The Isles had several defensemen who could have done a better job than Chara, including Robin Salo and Grant Hutton. 

Lane Lambert 

On May 16, the Islanders announced that former assistant coach Lane Lambert would be taking over Trotz’s role as head coach. Lambert is said to be similar to Trotz but with a more offensive mindset. This may be exactly what the team needs to bounce back in the 2022-23 season, as goal-scoring was one of the main issues for the Islanders this year. 

There is also the potential that the younger guys will get more ice-time than they did under Trotz. When Lambert coached three games this past season, Bellows averaged 14:24 of ice-time compared to his season average of 11:52. And Wahlstrom (who only played in two of the three games) averaged 15:18 of ice-time — over three minutes more than his season average of 12:04.

“A New Voice” 

It is undeniable that Barry Trotz did amazing things for the Islanders and fans cannot thank him enough. But with how the past season went, a new head coach seems to be the best way to get the team back to being a Stanley Cup contender.  

Maisy Healy

I am a huge Islanders fan and love spreading my passion for the team here at Drive4Five.  Along with writing, I also co-manage the Drive4Five TikTok and Facebook accounts.