WASHINGTON -- Heres an audacious way to get a promotion: Tell the big boss what hes been doing wrong. Brian MacLellan did just that when he interviewed with owner Ted Leonsis for the Washington Capitals general manager job. "He led off with some of the things that I have to do to be a better owner," Leonsis said. "I thought that was very brave and very astute, because you dont want to hear things like that." MacLellans strategy helped him pull an upset. Leonsis was looking for a new direction and hadnt intended to promote from within after George McPhees contract wasnt renewed, but MacLellans candour helped him rise above the 15 or so candidates and land the job. "I didnt think I had anything to lose," MacLellan said. MacLellan has been with Washington for 13 seasons, including seven as assistant GM, but most of his work had been in scouting and he had rarely spoken to Leonsis. His message: When everyone in the organization is not on the same page, including the owner, the product on the ice suffers. Such was the case last season with McPhee and coach Adam Oates, and the result was a team that missed the playoffs for the first time in seven years despite 51 goals from Alex Ovechkin. "I think the important point I was trying to make is that I think the team feels when theres a disconnect," MacLellan said, "or (when) theres not a unified philosophy from ownership to manger to coach." MacLellan was introduced alongside Barry Trotz, the longtime Nashville Predators coach who replaces Oates. While MacLellan was one of many GM candidates, Trotz was the only coach the Capitals interviewed. His only hang-up was that he had to wait for a GM to get in place, and to make sure it was someone who shared a similar vision. "Its where I started," said Trotz, who coached the Capitals top minor league affiliate in the 1990s before spending 15 seasons with the Predators, "so I feels like I was coming home." Leonsis said he was keen to get someone with a solid track record after five consecutive McPhee hires who had no previous NHL head coaching experience. "We are not rebuilding the team," Leonsis said. "But we are going to refresh the team." Ovechkin has been forced to adjust to multiple offensive systems through several coaching changes in recent years. One of Trotzs priorities will be to sit down with the three-time league MVP and discuss the way forward. "My job as a coach is to find a way to allow Alex and the other players to reach their potential as a group, and be able to play together," Trotz said. "One of the very fundamental things, if you have a kindergarten, they give you your report card and they say, Do you play well with others? My job is to get everybody to play well with the others." Trotz downplayed his reputation as a defensive-minded coach, saying he didnt have the same firepower in Nashville that hell have in Washington. "I dont want to take anything away from the Capitals offensively. ... (They have) great power plays and great individuals that can put the puck in the net," Trotz said. "I didnt have that in Nashville. I had some real good players, but not enough up front, so we become a little more of a defensive team." Trotz said he doesnt see why the Capitals cant get back in the Stanley Cup mix right away, assuming they can forge the unified gameplan envisioned by MacLellan. "Theres enough ability here," Trotz said. "We just have to forge a little bit of an identity going forward." Cheap Nike Air Max 97 . Hes had three top-10 results this season and feels ready to put it all together and finally hoist a trophy at the top level. Clearance Nike Air Max 97 . No such luck. Wiggins owned the end of Parkers impressive homecoming. 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Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema scored either side of Joona Toivios own-goal as France advanced to the playoff among the eight best second-place finishers.The NHLs Mar. 5 Trade Deadline is drawing closer and teams will be deciding on whether to buy or sell while figuring out which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. Check out todays trade-related reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. And follow TSN.ca through Deadline Day for all the updates. Rafas All-Out? The Montreal Canadiens may be in the thick of the Atlantic Division playoff race but that might not mean they wont look to move some players out before the deadline. The Montreal Gazette speculates that defenceman Raphael Diaz could be a contract casualty before Mar. 5, as the Swiss puck-mover is a pending unrestricted free agent. Diaz – who has 11 assists through 46 games this season could get priced out of Montreal, whose top priority of the summer will likely be getting P.K. Subbans name down on another contract. No Jackets Required The Columbus Blue Jackets enter Saturdays games with a hold on the third playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division, despite having none of their players listed amongst the NHLs top 50 scorers. Could that pave the way for them to add an impact scorer before the deadline? The Hockey News speculates that the Jackets – a team with good depth bothh on their NHL roster as well as in their prospect pool – could be a team to watch on the trade front in the coming weeks.dddddddddddd The Jackets have one of the NHLs deepest prospect pools and could potentially afford to part with their first round pick in Junes draft, netminder Oscar Dansk or even one of the three players they took in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft like Alexander Wennberg or Kerby Rychel in search of the right offensive upgrade. Hockey News Writer Ken Campbell warns, however, that with a team performing at such a high level (see: their current eight-game winning streak) as a collective may be best left as it is. Do the Bart Man The Bruins could still be looking to upgrade their D in the wake of the season-ending injury to Dennis Seidenberg last month. Bruins Insider Joe Haggerty believes that the Bs could be dangling 25-year-old blueliner Matt Bartkowski in efforts to bring in a veteran D-man, such as the Ottawa Senators Chris Phillips or the New York Islanders Andrew MacDonald. Bartkowski is no stranger to the rumour mill, however, as he was reportedly part of the package the Bruins offered up just a year ago in efforts to get Jarome Iginla out of Calgary. ' ' '