BREAKING: Islanders fire head coach Barry Trotz

If you were having a dull Monday it just got VERY SPICY. The New York Islanders announced that they had fired head coach Barry Trotz. A move that can only be described as shocking.

Barry Trotz had one year remaining on his contract with the New York Islanders after a season where they missed the post-season for the first time in four years. I guess the Islanders want a change?

Lou Lamoriello will address the media later in the morning to talk about the shocking move.

New York Islanders fire head coach Barry Trotz

In his four years with the New York Islanders, Barry Trotz holds a 152-102-34 record and a .587 points percentage. That points-percentage is only bettered by Islanders Hall-of-Fame head coach Al Arbour.

Barry Trotz stepped behind the bench of a team in 2018 that was in complete turmoil and turned it into a functional group that didn't stop winning. His efforts won him a Jack Adams award in 2018-19 as the NHL's top coach.

In those three years before the fall-off in 2021-22, Barry Trotz lead his team to the Conference Finals twice and to the second round once.

Along the way, Trotz also became the third-winningest coach in NHL history with 914 regular-season wins.

And the New York Islanders are letting him go. This is truly a confusing time for Islanders fans. While this wasn't a good year for the team it's hard to think coaching was the issue. A thirteen-game road trip while COVID was still surging in the US and Canada combined to sink the Islanders season. If not for the Islanders coaching who knows how far the Islanders could have fallen.

So again, we're all shocked to see this happen and wonder what this means for the franchise because it's not like there's a better coach than Barry Trotz out there waiting for a job.