DETROIT – Bryan Trottier, perhaps the greatest Islander in franchise history, will become the next head coach of the Rangers, The Post has learned exclusively.
Sources have told The Post that Ranger GM Glen Sather sought and received permission from Colorado GM Pierre Lacroix to speak to Trottier before the start of the playoffs, then met with the Avalanche assistant prior to the opening of the team’s title defense that ended with Game 7 defeat to the Red Wings.
Sather, who then remained in consistent contact with the Hall of Fame centerman, offered Trottier the position over the weekend in order not to be beaten to the draw.
Trottier has accepted, and a formal announcement is expected before the end of the playoffs.
The 45-year-old Trottier, who has one year of head-coaching experience – No. 19 led the AHL Portland Pirates in 1997-98 – told confidants in the aftermath of the Avalanche defeat that he was desperate to leave Colorado, where he has been an assistant since 1998, and would accept the first head-coaching job offer he received.
Indeed, The Post has learned that when Washington GM George McPhee recently asked for permission to talk to Trottier about his team’s head-coaching vacancy, he was told that Trottier had committed himself to another organization.
Neither Trottier nor Sather returned phone calls from The Post last night.
While Lacroix had given Trottier his unqualified endorsement – indeed, Lacroix enthusiastically recommended Trottier to Sather two years ago, prior to Ron Low’s hiring – there were some who believed that Lacroix was as interested in removing Trottier as in seeing him promoted.
Though extremely well respected by the Avalanche players, Trottier never was part of the management inner circle that includes Lacroix, head coach Bob Hartley, goaltending coach Jacques Cloutier and VP of player personnel Michel Goulet. According to one well-placed individual, Trottier literally turned his back on Hartley behind the bench in Game 6 of the Western finals when the Colorado coach’s stick challenge on Dominik Hasek was not substantiated.
Sather, who was on the brink of offering the job to Herb Brooks before the quixotic Olympian withdrew from consideration, had also been interested in speaking to Detroit associate coach Dave Lewis. But the GM – who has done extensive homework on Trottier – obviously decided that he could not afford to wait until the end of the Finals.
Only two men in NHL history have become head coaches with more Stanley Cup championships than the six Trottier earned – Jacques Lemaire, who took over the Devils with eight, and Red Kelly, who won seven before going behind the bench in Pittsburgh.
Trottier, who obviously understands what it means to be part of a high-profile team both as a player and a coach – the Islanders had some egos in their heyday, you know – scored 524 goals and 901 assists for 1,425 points in an 18-career in which he played for the Islanders and Penguins.
In other words, there should be no issues whatsoever in working with Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure or Mark Messier.