Report: Trotz, Flyers to meet for head coaching vacancy

Veteran bench boss Barry Trotz will meet with the Philadelphia Flyers next week regarding their head coaching vacancy, Sportsnet's Jeff Marek reported during Saturday's "32 Thoughts" segment.

"Couple of things here: One, they want to meet him, obviously, because he's an outstanding coach, but two, he has a lot of divisional knowledge about the Metropolitan having coached recently the Islanders and before that, the Washington Capitals," Marek said.

"I don't get the sense that the Philadelphia Flyers are in any hurry here to name a coach," he continued. "They want to take their time. They want to be thorough even if that means they may miss a candidate along the way."

The New York Islanders recently fired Trotz after they failed to make the playoffs for the first time in his four-year tenure. He won the Stanley Cup in 2018 with the Capitals prior to his arrival in New York.

The Flyers struggled tremendously in 2021-22. They fired head coach Alain Vigneault in December after stumbling to an 8-10-4 start. Mike Yeo took over on an interim basis and led the Flyers to a 17-36-7 mark to close out the season.

Philadelphia announced earlier this month that Yeo would not return as head coach next season.

Trotz will reportedly also interview with the Winnipeg Jets, while Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman added Saturday that the Detroit Red Wings and Vegas Golden Knights may also be in the mix for his services.

The 59-year-old has won the third-most regular-season games of all time (914), placing behind only Scotty Bowman and Joel Quenneville.