With Trotz gone, heres the NHLs coaching vacancy landscape

Barry Trotz was hired as the 17th coach in Washington Capitals history on Monday a big move not just for D.C., but the leagues entire coaching landscape as well.

With the move, the list of available coaching jobs shrunk to three it was as high as five, prior to Peter Laviolette taking Trotzs old job in Nashville and two of the most experienced candidates are off the market.

So, whats left? Openings remain in Vancouver, Florida and Carolina and Dan Byslmas fate remains up in the air in Pittsburgh. As for the candidates? John Stevens, Kevin Dineen, Jeff Blashill, Guy Boucher, Willie Desjardins and Brad Shaw are still available, as are recently dismissed bench bosses John Tortorella, Peter Horachek and Adam Oates.

(Kirk Muller and Mike Haviland, originally thought to be in the candidate pool, are out of the running; Muller took an assistants gig in St. Louis, and Haviland went the NCAA route with Colorado College.)

Heres a look at the three available gigs, and the latest from each search.

Vancouver

The Canucks finally have their new GM in place, as the club introduced ex-Bruins assistant Jim Benning on Friday. During his introduction, Benning and president of hockey ops Trevor Linden said the search for a new coach would begin quickly, and a few names have already been thrown out: Stevens, who was one of the four finalists for the job last year before it went to John Tortorella, and Desjardins, who Brough wrote about earlier today.

Florida

GM Dale Tallons on record saying he wants an experienced NHL coach after hiring back-to-back first-timers in Dineen and Horachek. Marc Crawford, he of the 549 career wins, is reportedly in the mix for the job; according to CBCs Elliotte Friedman, Tom Renney (he of the 260 wins) and Ron Wilson (648 wins) are also candidates. Itll be curious to see if the Panthers would be willing to wait and see how the Bylsma situation shakes out in Pittsburgh, as hed certainly have the requisite resume Tallon wants in a head coach.

Carolina

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With Trotz gone, heres the NHLs coaching vacancy landscape