New York Islanders hire defending Stanley Cup champion Barry Trotz as head coach.

The NHL’s highest-profile free agent coach and the only team in the league with a coaching vacancy are making an extremely logical move. On Thursday, the New York Islanders announced they’d struck a deal with Barry Trotz to take over as the team’s next head coach.

Trotz was one of the hottest names to ever hit the NHL’s open coaching market. He went 205-89-34 in four seasons with the Washington Capitals, culminating in the franchise’s first Stanley Cup this summer. However, the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement on a proper post-Cup raise, and Trotz resigned June 18.

That made him a valuable commodity in a league with little demand. The Islanders were the only non-Capitals team in the league with a vacant head coaching position after firing Doug Weight on June 5. That didn’t mean Trotz to Brooklyn was a foregone conclusion, however. Sportsday’s John Shannon reported at least two other teams were considering firing their sitting head coaches for the chance to hire the reigning NHL champ.

Trotz is likely to earn a big salary bump in his new position, the only question is how much. He’d been making $1.5 million per year in Washington, and while his four-year deal was set to expire after the 2017-18 season, winning the Cup triggered an automatic two-year extension. Rather than play out that deal, Trotz decided to seek out a deal befitting one of the league’s top coaches.

That’ll cost the Islanders. Recently-signed or extended NHL coaches Claude Julien and Joel Quenneville both make at least $5 million annually. Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock, the league’s highest-paid coach, earns $6.25 million per year. While Trotz likely won’t be in that neighborhood, he’s looking at a 200 to 300 percent raise compared to his last paycheck.

New York’s second team has struggled to reclaim the glory of its past. The franchise that won four straight Stanley Cups to kick off the 1980s hasn’t been to the postseason since 2016 and has just one playoff series victory since 1993. Bringing in Trotz, the coach that built the Nashville Predators up from nothing (literally — he was the first coach in franchise history), gives the team a steady presence with experience in building from the ground up.

That’s a departure from the last decade of Islander coaches. The team’s last three HCs — Scott Gordon, Jack Capuano, and Doug Weight — all took their first NHL head coaching jobs with the Isles. Adding a 19-year veteran is a major change in Brooklyn, even if Trotz doesn’t have a sparkling record of postseason success.

The bigger question here is how Trotz will adjust after going from an NHL champion to a team that hasn’t won a division title in 30 years. Matthew Barzal, the 21-year-old 2018’s rookie of the year, looks like a foundational cornerstone. 27-year-old John Tavares remains a consistent all-star presence. After that pairing, there isn’t a lot of reliable star power on the roster. It will be up to New York’s new coach, whoever it may be, to develop prospects like Josh Ho-Sang, Keiffer Bellows, and Ilya Sorokin into upper crust contributors.