The Washington Capitals roster to begin the 2018-19 campaign will remain largely unchanged from the one that hoisted the Stanley Cup in June, however there will be one major difference behind the bench.
Barry Trotz resigned as Capitals head coach less than two weeks after the Caps became champions and assistant Todd Reirden was named his replacement.
Tom Wilson thinks the team will be on a strong path to success despite the unconventional off-season coaching change.
“I think a new voice is always good,” Wilson told Prime Time Sports Tuesday. “Obviously we had success with Barry. We won it all, so it’s rare that that happens and your coach isn’t back the following year but Barry was awesome. What he did for our team, that’ll still be there. A lot of the stuff that he brought to the table, a lot of the team identity and the way that you act as a team et cetera, that’ll be there.”
Reirden had been an assistant coach with the Caps since 2014, so he knows the team and its players inside out.
“We’re excited about having Reirds,” Wilson said. “It’s always nice to have kind of a new voice, freshen things up, not too much of an adjustment period because he’s been around and knows a lot of the stuff that we’ve had success with and he knows the stuff that didn’t work with our group and we can pick it up where we left off and hopefully even improve our game [and] add some stuff to our game.”
For years the Capitals struggled to get out of the second round, so a shortened off-season following a Cup run is uncharted territory for Wilson and many of his teammates.
“It’s definitely a shorter summer. You try to kind of pack everything into a couple months,” Wilson added. “There’s a big element of recovery. You’re obviously a little worn down after the season. You play a lot more hockey than a lot of the rest of the guys around the league and you got to get ready for another 82 coming up here pretty soon. It’s about doing the right things to recover, getting the body and the mind back to where it needs to be to take another shot at this.”
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