The Washington Capitals announced on Sunday that their head coach, Todd Reirden, has been relieved of his duties as bench boss. Reirden had been the team’s head coach for the past two seasons and it didn’t work out as planned. The Capitals have now lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in back-to-back years and that’s basically what costed Rierden his job.
The Washington Capitals, as the Stanley Cup champions last April, were ousted in seven games by the Carolina Hurricanes. Todd Reirden took over in 2019 after winning the cup the year prior with Barry Trotz. They did so when they beat the new expansion team in the Vegas Golden Knights.
After that, Trotz departed the Capitals and was later hired by the New York Islanders. New York has since advanced to round two after beating the Capitals in five games in round one. This means that Alex Ovechkin will now be playing under his seventh head coach.
Brian MacLellan gave it two years with Reirden, but after the back-to-back losses in round one, he said he wasn’t satisfied and decided to move on. The main reason why Reirden was promoted was because the head office saw head coach material in him, but once again, it didn’t work out as planned.
MacLellan will begin his search for a new coach with a handful of candidates. Mike Babcock, Gerrard Gallant and Peter Laviolette are a couple of names that will be up for consideration. It’s going to be a long offseason for Washington as training camp isn’t scheduled until November and they will have some work to do before puck drop.