Capitals’ Stanley Cup coach resigns in intriguing move for Isles

There is no reason to think Lou Lamoriello didn’t anticipate the likelihood of this possibility. And therefore, there is no reason to think that the new man in charge of the Islanders won’t go full-bore for the best coach on the market.

It was announced Monday that Barry Trotz, who just won a Stanley Cup as the head coach of the Capitals, stepped down in Washington. After a remarkable season and still in the prime of what has been a stellar career, the 55-year-old Trotz can now can sign with any team.

He reportedly opted out of a clause that would have given him a small raise on his $1.5 million annual salary, but that is pittance compared to what he can get on the open market. His likely contract terms are on a multi-year deal worth around $5 million per year.

So there are the Islanders, who have no coach in place and no named general manager — besides Lamoriello, who is the team’s president — following the purge of Garth Snow and Doug Weight on June 5, just two weeks after Lamoriello took over. There are some good coaching candidates out there, but hardly any can compare to the man who just won the Stanley Cup.

“We’re going to get the best coach available,” Lamoriello said on the day he removed Snow and Weight, who remain with the organization in ambiguous (and unimportant) roles. “I think that we’ve been in the league long enough to know different coaches, and different coaches are for different teams.”

The Islanders do have a relatively young team, but the goal for Lamoriello is to start winning right now. At least, that has to be the message towards the biggest piece of their on-ice puzzle, captain John Tavares, who seems destined to reach the free-agent courting period June 25-30, if not actual free agency, which begins July 1.

That is after this weekend’s draft, which starts with the first round in Dallas on Friday night. The Islanders are going in with two picks in each of the first two rounds, and tons of holes to fill on the current roster. Surely, Lamoriello will be busy.

But the biggest sell to Tavares might be that the organization is restocking with proven winners. That started when co-owners Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky hired Lamoriello, and that could continue if Lamoriello jumps on this opportunity and hires Trotz.

“Right now,” Lamoriello had said, “if we had the coach, he’d be here.”

Well, that might be coming sooner rather than later.