Trotz 'absolutely' open to staying with Capitals after winning Cup

LAS VEGAS-- Barry Trotz will remain coach of the Washington Capitals if he wants to keep the job, general manager Brian MacLellan said after they won the Stanley Cup.

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Trotz, who helped the Capitals win their first NHL championship, clinching it Thursday with a 4-3 win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, does not have a contract for next season.
"He's under contract until July 1," MacLellan said. "If he wants to be back, he'll be back."
Trotz said he thinks he has a future with the Capitals.
"Absolutely," he said.
Trotz said he has already spoken to MacLellan about the future.
"I said to Brian, 'There's no reason that I don't want to be there,'" Trotz said.

He also told MacLellan he wants a few days to enjoy winning the Stanley Cup before they talk about his future and the potential for a new contract.
"These are my kids," Trotz said of the Capitals players. "I mean, this is a pretty special group. We'll talk, and I'm not worried one way or another. I've been doing this for a long time. I don't lose any sleep over it."
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Trotz said he was irked last summer when he was not offered an extension by the Capitals and was left to coach the final season of his four-year contract without any guarantees.
"I've gone through a few things last summer that I think gave me some really good clarity on how I define myself or how I define people," Trotz said. "I think it's just given me really good clarity."

The Capitals started slowly, which didn't persuade them to offer Trotz a contract during the season. They were 11-10-1 on Nov. 20 but won 11 of their next 13 games and 38 of their final 61 to finish first in the Metropolitan Division for a third consecutive season.
Washington trailed the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-0 in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round to win the series in six games. They eliminated the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games and came back after trailing the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Final to win in seven games and put them and Trotz into the Stanley Cup Final for the first time.
The Capitals lost Game 1 but won the next four games.
Trotz, who turns 56 on July 15, this season became the fifth person to coach 1,500 NHL games. He is 762-568-134 with 60 ties in 1,524 NHL games in 15 seasons with the Nashville Predators and four with the Capitals. His wins rank fifth in NHL history, behind Scotty Bowman (1,244), Joel Quenneville (884), Ken Hitchcock (823) and Al Arbour (782).