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Less than two weeks after lifting the Stanley Cup Nikita Kucherov Jersey , Barry Trotz is a free agent and the Washington Capitals are looking for a new coach.Trotz stepped down as Capitals coach on Monday after a contract dispute over salary and term that leaves the newly minted Stanley Cup champions without a coach with the draft and free agency fast approaching. General manager Brian MacLellan said the Capitals accepted Trotz’s resignation after they were unable to agree on terms on a new contract.Winning the Cup less than two weeks ago triggered a two-year extension for Trotz that would have given him a slight bump in salary to just over $2 million, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team did not announce the extension.”His representative wants to take advantage of Barry’s experience and Stanley Cup win and was trying to negotiate a deal that compensates him as one of the better coaches in the league, top four or five coaches,” MacLellan said at a news conference in Arlington, Virginia. ”I think the five-year term is probably a sticking point. You have a coach that’s been here four years, you do another five, that’s nine years. There’s not many coaches that have that lasting ability. It’s a long time and it’s a lot of money to be committing to a coach.”Toronto’s Mike Babcock makes the most at $6.25 million on an eight-year deal after coaching Detroit for 10 seasons, Chicago’s Joel Quenneville is next at $6 million entering his ninth full season with the Blackhawks and Montreal’s Claude Julien brings in $5 million after coaching Boston for nine-plus seasons. All three have won the Cup like Trotz, including Quenneville three times.If Trotz was paid among the top five, it would have put him in the $4 million-plus range annually – a price the Capitals have not been willing to pay for coaches.”After careful consideration and consultation with my family, I am officially announcing my resignation,” Trotz said. ”When I came to Washington four years ago we had one goal in mind and that was to bring the Stanley Cup to the nation’s capital. We had an incredible run this season culminating with our players and staff achieving our goal and sharing the excitement with our fans.”The 55-year-old Trotz went into the season with an uncertain future after ownership and MacLellan declined to talk about a contract extension last summer after back-to-back Presidents’ Trophy-winning seasons that ended with second-round exits.”We were struggling at the time to get over the hump,” MacLellan said. ”We couldn’t get out of the second round and Barry hadn’t been able to coach out of the second round yet either. I think from the organization’s perspective Ondrej Palat Jersey , some changes would’ve had to be made if we lost in the second round again.”That didn’t happen as a relaxed Trotz played a vital role in Washington’s first title in franchise history. He survived a rough start to the season and other struggles before he and the team found a stride in the playoffs.As part of the uneasy arrangement, associate coach Todd Reirden – who was not allowed to interview with other teams last summer – remained on staff and was considered the coach-in-waiting. Reirden is now the leading candidate to take over for the defending champions, though MacLellan wants to go through an interview process with the former Pittsburgh assistant first.”Todd’s a good candidate for it,” MacLellan said. ”We’re going to start with Todd here, and we’ve been grooming him to be a head coach whether for us or for someone else. We’ll see how the talk goes with him and then we’ll make a decision based on that. If it goes well, then we’ll pursue Todd, and if it doesn’t, we’ll open it up a little bit.”After the Capitals accepted his resignation, Trotz will be an intriguing figure on the coaching market.Only the New York Islanders have a current coaching vacancy, though given Trotz’s success in Nashville and Washington, other teams might consider making a move to hire him. Trotz has the fifth-most victories in NHL history and has guided a team to the playoffs in 11 of his 19 seasons. He is 762-568-60-134 overall with the Predators and Capitals, and he won 205 of his 328 regular-season games (63 percent) since taking over as Washington’s coach in 2014.Trotz had his fingerprints all over this championship, pushing all the right buttons by putting goaltender Braden Holtby back in net early in the first round and making the correct lineup decisions throughout the playoffs. He was also a popular coach with his players Ryan Callahan Jersey , helping playoff hero Devante Smith-Pelly and others find their stride.”He changed this team with family mentality,” top-line winger Tom Wilson said last week. ”He did a really good job of creating that team atmosphere. You look three or four years back, there was a lot of skill on this team, but there wasn’t really that team mentality and you can never take that away from what that did for this locker room.”Despite his contract situation, Trotz appeared relaxed throughout the postseason, even as Washington vanquished playoff nemesis Pittsburgh. After the Capitals trailed in all four series and came back to win the Stanley Cup, Trotz told fans at the victory parade last week: ”We’re going to do it again!”Instead, Trotz is looking at the next stop in his career and the Capitals are looking for a new coach.— VANCOUVER, B.C. — Ken Hitchcock is supposed to be retired, but the Edmonton Oilers are glad he isn’t.The Oilers (18-12-3) are enjoying a resurgence under Hitchcock as they get ready to visit the Vancouver Canucks (15-16-4) on Sunday. Edmonton is 8-1-1 in its past 10 games and has gone 9-2-2 since Hitchcock came out of retirement and replaced the fired Todd McLellan last month.Three other teams that made early-season coaching changes wish they could say the same. The Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues are sporting losing records under their new bench bosses.Article continues below ...But Hitchcock is not claiming to be a miracle worker. He credits McLellan for laying a solid foundation.“A lot of the work was done by (McLellan) and his staff,” Hitchcock, 66 http://www.officiallightningprostore.com/authentic-adidas-ryan-mcdonagh-jersey , told reporters. “We’re part of the same coaching tree. Todd, (Calgary coach) Bill Peters, (Toronto’s) Mike Babcock, myself. So the terminology was easy… and then I do what I do. It’s just concepts, it’s not Xs and Os. A lot of concepts (were), quite frankly, in place. … I didn’t have to touch anything.”Hitchcock entered retirement — for the second time — following the 2017-18 NHL season after lasting only one forgettable campaign in his second go-round with the Dallas Stars, the team that he coached to a Stanley Cup title in 1998-99. He was fired by St. Louis before the end of the 2016-17 season, which was supposed to be his last before retirement.The Edmonton native is enjoying good times with his hometown team after succeeding at the NHL, international and junior levels. But he claims not to be offering a new voice to the Oilers.“I think it’s the same stuff, but a different approach,” he said during his session with reporters. “I’ve learned over time that the pre-game preparation is one of the most overrated things in our sport – because you’re saying the same things over and over again. But post-game preparation is not. It’s really important. And, how you move the train along the tracks is all in your post-game review.”Alex Chiasson has gotten back on track with Edmonton. He fired home his 14th goal of the season — a single-season career high — in his 27th game as the Oilers beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 on Friday in the Alberta capital. Chiasson needed 79 games in his 2013-14 with Dallas to record his previous career high.He was essentially unwanted after helping Washington win its first Stanley Cup last season – and only obtained a contract from the Oilers after making good on a professional tryout offer.“When you win a Cup Womens Steven Stamkos Jersey , it is a little surprising he didn’t have a deal or nothing,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid told reporters. “He came in on a PTO and worked hard and earned a job and has been having a great year. I couldn’t be happier for him.”While Chiasson helps the Oilers with their renaissance, Josh Leivo is rejuvenating his career with the Canucks, who have won four of their past five games. Leivo scored in Vancouver’s 5-1 win over the Flyers on Saturday night. He now has three goals and an assist in six games with the Canucks following his trade from Toronto on Dec. 3.“It’s a young group of guys, very light and fun in the room. So that was easy to come into,” Leivo told reporters Saturday morning. “And on the ice, everyone looks like they want to win.”Leivo, 25, became expendable in Toronto after the Maple Leafs re-signed holdout winger William Nylander. The Canucks sent prospect Michael Carcone to Toronto in return.After struggling to stay in the Leafs’ lineup, Leivo is now skating regularly on Vancouver’s first line with rookie sensation Elias Pettersson and sophomore sniper Brock Boeser.“We’re putting (Leivo) in a spot that we hope he can succeed in,” Canucks coach Travis Green told reporters. “It’s a pretty good opportunity when you’re playing with (Pettersson) and (Boeser). That’s a spot that I think a lot of people in the NHL would love to have.”So far, Leivo is earning it.