With the Washington Capitals on the verge of elimination from the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, one would think the first person that will be shown the door is head coach Todd Reirden. However, the question here is whether Reirden should be fired or not. Lots of fans have been clamoring for him to be shown the door as they think the problems will all be solved with Reirden gone, but the problem here is that fans are not in the organization to properly assess what is wrong. There are times it's so blatantly obvious, but this isn't one of those. So, let's take a look at what the Capitals should do with Reirden.
First and foremost, Reirden has the accolades to back himself up. He has a 89-46-16 record with a .642 winning percentage. Reirden has also led the Capitals to two straight Metropolitan Division titles. Also, lots of the core players such as John Carlson, Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, and Jakub Vrana have flourished under Reirden's system. So, if anyone with a .642 winning percentage, two straight division titles, and having their core players performing well is not good enough to keep their jobs, then those standards are probably set too high? Coming off a championship, then Reirden had extremely high expectations.
Then there's the comparisons of previous head coach Barry Trotz with Reirden. Many fans have been clamoring that the team should have kept Trotz as he was the only head coach to lead the team to their only championship. What's not clear is whether the fans are overlooking at what Trotz did as a coach simply because he brought a championship. That being said, Trotz isn't a coach that fans should simply fall in love with. 2017-18 was going to be his last season regardless in Washington as the team simply grew impatient of lack of results in the playoffs and weren't enamored with Trotz' coaching philosophy. One of the most maddening aspects of Trotz was that he didn't believe in line matching, which is one of the most ludicrous coaching styles out there. His belief in not line matching might also be the reason why Trotz is the second losingest head coach in NHL history. Trotz also made some very questionable gameday decisions with the lineups. Sure, he brought a lot of chemistry into the locker room, but his tactics and style were certainly questionable.
That being said, while it looks like Reirden has everything going for him and that his job should be retained, then that's reading too much into it. Some will say that the team's play from the beginning of the calendar year (played at roughly .500) is not a good indicator of how his coaching should be considering the results from 2018-19 were good and the struggles of goalie Braden Holtby, but the problem lying there is Reirden's lack of adjustment and when he does, it's usually too late. Sure, he's good at line matchups and pairings plus his ability to make changes in the lineup, but his in-game management has been questionable the last few months. Some have even said that it's not his fault that the defense has struggled this season, but that being said, if defense wasn't Reirden's fault, then defensive coach Reid Cashman should've been relieved of his duties. What's interesting is that the team seemed to have been strong defensively under Trotz as he allowed his players to fall back. While it's unclear whether defense is Reirden's achilles' heel, it certainly has struggled under his watch. There are other factors that might not be helping Reirden's chances, whether he has control or not over them, are the lack of results from Evgeny Kuznetsov (a player with a annual salary of $7.8 million should be producing more), no sense of identity as they have a mixture of different styles of play which makes it hard for Reirden to establish a system, and the depth of the team has not been producing. It also might not help that the Capitals have an aging squad. Some of that might fall more on general manager Brian MacClellan. However, that doesn't excuse the lack of results from an ultra-talented roster. While some claimed that with an aging team the this layoff would have helped reinvigorate the Capitals and have them more fresh, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Sure, it might not be Reirden's faults entirely, but with the team's performance, urgency, and how fit the players are, then he should be held accountable no matter what. That's his responsibility and it seems like there is lack of urgency in this team as that's hard to defend. His winning percentage alone should absolve him, but it's clear there are bigger problems. There were also fans clamoring that Trotz should be fired in 2017-18 and possibly earlier, but whether the comparisons mean that much is a different story.
But what should the Capitals do? Well, it's clear there are going to be big changes this offseason and a lot of questions have to be answered. The solution could be that both MacClellan and Reirden work together in finding a team that works into a type of system he wants. However, whether he should be fired or not is a bit trickier. He probably should get another chance to prove himself, but the leash should be significantly shorter. If he is not getting results, then Reirden should be fired at some point early in 2020-21. Otherwise, despite him getting to keep his job, he should remain on the hot seat with it getting ever so hotter by every lack of result. Sure there might be other more established options out there on the market to hire, but sometimes simply just firing the head coach isn't always the best route.
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