Barry Trotz named to Canada’s coaching staff for next year’s World Cup of Hockey

Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz has been named to the staff that will coach Canada in the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto next September.

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock will coach the team, with Trotz, Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, Carolina Hurricanes coach Bill Peters and Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien rounding out the coaching staff.

“It’s an honor,” Trotz said Thursday before the Capitals’ game against the Bruins. “Any time you represent your country at any event, any level, it’s a true honor. … It’s different than the NHL, day in and day out type of thing. It’s short term, and it’s happening in Toronto, in Canada, so it will be a major even and real special.”

Trotz has been an assistant coach for Canada at the IIHF World Championships in 2002, 2003, 2009 and 2013.

The World Cup of Hockey, played twice and last in 2004, will be an eight-team event sponsored by the NHL featuring teams from Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic, as well as a European team representing players from other countries and a team made up of the best players under 23 in North America.

“It’s not like the Olympics and stuff in the middle of the season when everybody’s in full hockey mode and you’ve got all the biorhythms working in all the right ways for the hockey part of it,” Trotz said. “It will be interesting. It will be a real unique and interesting experience.”