Most of the team is intact with John Carlson, Michal Kempny and Devante Smith-Pelly being re-signed. I'm sure you were in on a lot of that, but were you pleasantly surprised that the only players you lost were forward Jay Beagle, who signed with the Vancouver Canucks, and backup goalie Philipp Grubauer, who was traded to the Colorado Avalanche?
"Who would have thought that Braden Holtby would struggle [during the regular season], Grubauer would step up, play great, struggle the first two playoff games, Holtby wins the Stanley Cup. Grubauer says to us, 'I love everything about this here, but I'm ready and I want to be a starting goaltender.' And because he has a great record with us, he becomes a commodity and we're able to trade him. … [Brian MacLellan] is a very, very astute general manager. He and (Capitals president Dick Patrick) and (assistant GM) Don Fishman have really learned how to understand the [NHL salary] cap and all of its implications, and I thought they did magnificent work to keep the core together."
One of those who left was coach Barry Trotz, who resigned after being unable to agree on a new contract and was hired by the New York Islanders. Were you disappointed with how that turned out?
"The only thing I've been disappointed in is the language that's used around it. I read something that said we had a contract dispute, and you can't have a dispute if you have a contract. I understand that Barry did what was in his best interest and his family's best interest and I don't begrudge that. But we signed Barry as our coach [in 2014], and his agent asked for, 'What happens if we win the Stanley Cup?' And we said, 'What would you like?' And he said, 'An extension of three years.' We said, 'How about two years?' and they said, 'OK.' And then the agent said, 'What would you like as a salary increase?' and we said, 'What would you like?' And we negotiated and we came to an agreement and he signed the contract. Then, we won the Stanley Cup, and we said, 'Congratulations. You've earned your extension and your raise.'
"So, there was no dispute to me. I live up to my contracts, and he resigned and went to the Islanders. We could have stopped that, but we just won a Stanley Cup together and it was like, 'I'm going to do nothing and say nothing that adds any negative karma or drama to this.' I'm very, very grateful to Barry. We won our first Stanley Cup and I hope he thrives and wins every game except when he plays us. But we have change in the locker room now. We have a new coach, a new voice."