MacLellan seeks youth, veteran balance for Capitals next head coach

The Washington Capitals’ head coaching job became vacant three weeks ago, due to the teams sitting at home for the first spring in nine years.

Two winning seasons in three years wasn’t enough to save Peter Laviolette, who guided a team that finished sixth in the Metropolitan Division with a 35-37-10 record. Laviolette and the Capitals parted ways on the second day after the regular season, giving general manager Brian MacLellan time to leave no stone unturned.

Let’s see how this goes, general manager Brian MacLellan said last month after the regular season ended. Start looking at the names and talk to our group about the different trainers that people know and their qualities. Maybe we’ll have to wait to talk to some of the candidates we think are assistant coaches. Well, let’s see how it goes.

On paper, the Capitals job should be one of the best available in the offseason coaching carousel. The presence of Alex Ovechkin, despite turning 37 this fall, makes the team an immediate threat in the Metropolitan Division, only bolstered by the fact that John Carlson, Nicklas Backstrom andTom Wilsonhas an entire offseason to recover from injury-riddled seasons.

But one of the league’s oldest teams will still be a year older when the puck drops in the first of the season unless homegrown players like Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre make the big league roster.

It’s going to be different in that you want a coach that can work with young guys, and at the top you’d have a veteran group that needs a veteran coach, MacLellan said. It will be challenging to find the right man for that.

Little has been made public about the efforts behind the scenes in the Capital Region, except for the emergence of a familiar candidate in Jeff Halpern, who spent part of his playing career in the Capital Region, who is expected to talk to teams about the vacancy. Athletics Pierre LeBrun.

MacLellan knows what he’s looking for in a head coach, but the real test will be whether the perfect candidate is available this offseason.

“Probably a combination of what we had would be an ideal candidate,” MacLellan said. I don’t know if we’ll find it, but we’ll do our best.