NHL head-coach hot seat index: After Bruins and Blues make

Greg Wyshynski, ESPNNov 25, 2024, 07:05 AM ET

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The NHL coaching carousel spun a little earlier than usual this season.

The Boston Bruins fired Jim Montgomery after 20 games. The St. Louis Blues hired Montgomery just five days later to replace Drew Bannister, whom they promoted last season on an interim basis after 28 games to replace Craig Berube. Bannister’s tenure as the Blues’ official head coach lasted only 22 games.

Such is life for a struggling team. The salary cap and player contracts make roster overhauls difficult — and it’s not as if the general manager is going to fire himself for a poorly constructed team. So coaches take the fall or give new hope. A tale as old as time.

These two coaching changes probably won’t be the last in the NHL this season. Some other seats are getting increasingly toasty.

Here’s a temperature check on the NHL’s coaching hot seats for all 32 teams, including insight from sources within the coaching community.

Burning up

Derek Lalonde, Detroit Red Wings
Luke Richardson, Chicago Blackhawks

As soon as the NHL picked up its collective jaw from the floor after Montgomery’s dismissal, one name appeared at or near the top of every “coaches’ hot seat” ranking: Derek Lalonde of the Red Wings, for whom all the boxes can be checked for a coach in trouble.

The Red Wings have regressed in the standings after last season’s 91-point campaign. Their offensive output is way down, from 3.35 goals per game last season to 2.53 after 19 games this season. Their 1.52 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 is 31st in the NHL. This isn’t about puck luck: Detroit’s 2.06 expected goals per 60 minutes is last in the league. They’re better in goals against per game season over season, but a lot of that credit should go to goalie Cam Talbot, who is making GM Steve Yzerman look smart.

But the biggest harbinger was the one that haunted Montgomery: Lalonde, in his third season with the Red Wings, does not have a contract beyond 2024-25.

The general speculation is that if the Red Wings don’t make the postseason, Lalonde surely pays for that with his job. But would Yzerman pull the plug in-season, in the hopes of getting Detroit back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016?

There also has been speculation that it might happen, and one rumor that made the rounds in NHL coaching circles this month was that Joel Quenneville might take over the Detroit bench.

“Two weeks ago, I heard Quenneville for Detroit,” a coaching source said.

Following Jim Montgomery’s firing, the name of Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde, above, shot up to the top of NHL hot-seat lists. Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

On July 1, the NHL said it would allow three former Chicago Blackhawks executives to seek employment in the league after they were banned in October 2021 after an independent investigation into how they handled a sexual assault allegation in 2010. Former Chicago GM Stan Bowman was the first of the three to find employment, taking over as Edmonton Oilers GM from the departing Ken Holland.

Bowman spoke at length at his introductory news conference about what happened in 2010 and the fallout, including his own path back to the NHL. “I can tell you without a doubt that those things will never happen on my watch again,” Bowman said.

Quenneville would obviously need to do the same no matter where he ends up, and then answer more questions beyond that. Oilers president Jeff Jackson knew what he was getting into when he hired Bowman; so would Yzerman, even if the buck stops at the GM.

“[Yzerman’s] got the gravitas to pull it off both as a Detroit hero and someone who’s a long-running general manager,” another coaching source said.

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Another source poured cold water on a Quenneville-Detroit connection, noting that Quenneville’s salary could be a sticking point. The coach made around $6 million annually for the Florida Panthers before his resignation in 2021.

Coaches don’t often reduce their asking price, let alone those who have three Stanley Cup rings. “He’s a great coach, but I don’t think this happens unless Joel says, ‘I’ve made so much money that I don’t really care,'” the source said.

But the other issue is the Red Wings. Though they have some impact players and a promising pool of prospects, they’re not a win-now team. Quenneville is 66 years old. He’s 275 wins away from Scotty Bowman’s all-time record for an NHL coach. He’s in a win-now place.

If Detroit went with an internal candidate, it has former Panthers and San Jose Sharks head coach Bob Boughner on the bench.

Meanwhile, the situation in Chicago has caught the attention of the coaching community for several reasons.

Richardson, 55, is in his third season coaching the Blackhawks. According to reports, the first three years were guaranteed, and the Blackhawks have the option for a fourth season.

The Blackhawks are in a deep rebuilding mode, which is why Richardson has a .342 points percentage after 184 games behind the bench. They’re slightly better season over season in the standings so far, but near the bottom of the league and nowhere near relevance. That has led to frustration within the Chicago locker room, especially with their franchise savior Connor Bedard.

Bedard, 19, had three goals and 12 assists in 20 games for Chicago. He’s openly expressed frustration with his own game, recently saying there were “100 things” he’d like to change about it, but also with the constant losing he has experienced in his first two seasons in the NHL. To get Bedard’s confidence back, Richardson recently shifted him to the wing and cast him in a more defensive role.

The way Richardson handled the benching of veteran Taylor Hall raised some eyebrows, admitting that he should have communicated that it was a possibility with the former NHL MVP before making him a healthy scratch.

Through 20 games, the Blackhawks were 30th in offense, but their team defense was in the top half of the league.

Of the internal candidates, only assistant coach Derek King has NHL head-coaching experience, having led the Blackhawks for 70 games in 2021-22 after the firing of Jeremy Colliton.

It has been a rough season in Chicago, with some now wondering about Luke Richardson’s job security. Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images

Again, it’s still a considerable rebuild for Chicago, but they did invest in some veteran free agents in the offseason such as Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi. Would it be worth it for GM Kyle Davidson to make a change now, or would this decision wait until the offseason? Or does he have faith that Richardson’s commitment to defense will ease some of the headaches about losing, even if it doesn’t juice Bedard’s scoring stats?

“To me right now, it’s more of a ‘when’ and not an ‘if’ on Richardson,” a coaching source said.

Hot in the summer

Andrew Brunette, Nashville Predators
Greg Cronin, Anaheim Ducks
Joe Sacco, Boston Bruins
Andre Tourigny, Utah Hockey Club

Should Brunette have been included in the “burning up” tier?

One could make the argument that with a .405 points percentage after 21 games, the second-year Predators bench boss belongs there. Of particular concern is an offense that cooked last season (3.24 goals per game) having no pop this season (2.38) despite adding Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault. But that could easily be explained by GM Barry Trotz not filling out the middle of the lineup better, as Nashville is reportedly in the trade market for a center already.

But if Trotz did make a move behind the bench, it probably wouldn’t be until after the season and a full audit of what went wrong. That is, if things don’t turn around for Nashville, which is another part of this equation: Brunette was the coach that helped turn around the Predators’ 2023-24 season with an epic winning streak. Perhaps he can still pull off an encore with this talented roster. Obviously, they need to get U2 back at a Sphere residency and then not take the players to see them.

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Sacco is the interim coach for the Bruins after they fired Montgomery. He has waited since 2012-13 to get another head-coaching gig in the NHL, having gone 130-134-30 in four seasons with the Colorado Avalanche (2009-13).

The Bruins have played well early for him and there’s a lane where this could end up being his gig permanently. If not, would Boston stay in-house and give assistant coach Jay Leach the shot he has been waiting to have? Or would they import someone from outside the family? A lot would depend on where president Cam Neely and GM Don Sweeney see this roster trending.

Cronin is a tough one on whom to get a handle. Multiple sources said GM Pat Verbeek’s front office plays things very close to the vest, so getting a read on everything from Cronin’s status to the future of Trevor Zegras is a difficult task. Verbeek did say after last season that he has “a super long time for Greg Cronin” and that he loves “his approach to life and his approach to our hockey team. I’m very happy with the job that he did this year.”

The Ducks have hovered around .500 this season, with a slightly improved offense — thanks to the continued improvement of players such as Leo Carlsson and Olen Zellweger — and a much improved goals-against per game, thanks to an incredible start for goalie Lukas Dostal. Anaheim’s team defense is still a mess, as no one gives up more shots (34.6) or had a higher expected goals against (3.46 per game) through 19 games. But great goaltending make for safe coaches, as Cronin might be witnessing firsthand.

The Ducks’ front office might have more patience with Greg Cronin given where the team is in its rebuilding process. Glenn James/NHLI via Getty Images

Tourigny received a contract extension before the Arizona Coyotes franchise shifted to Salt Lake City, putting him under contract through 2026-27. He had gotten a lot out of a little during his three years in Arizona. But this is Utah, with cash-rich owners and elevated expectations for a new NHL franchise that wants to be competitive immediately.

The Utah Hockey Club squandered a hot start and now has a points percentage under .500. Tourigny has had some terrible luck with long-term injuries to defensemen Sean Durzi and John Marino, and the inexplicable dud of a season from goalie Connor Ingram. There’s still time to turn it around for a well-liked head coach. But he’s a coach that owner Ryan Smith inherited and one whose contract he didn’t approve.

One more note on Smith: There has been plenty of chatter around the NHL about his relationship with Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper.

The two are friends, and as one source put it “golfing buddies.” Smith has lavished praise on Cooper, telling The Athletic that the Bolts coach is the NHL’s version of Ted Lasso. He even set up a mentorship situation between Cooper and Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy, believing the Lightning head coach has excellent attention to detail.

The relationship between Smith and Cooper might not mean anything regarding the status of Utah’s current coach. But it’s a link that certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed since Smith became an NHL owner. Hockey culture loves connecting dots.

Getting warmer

Peter DeBoer, Dallas Stars
Kris Knoblauch, Edmonton Oilers
Peter Laviolette, New York Rangers
Patrick Roy, New York Islanders
Martin St. Louis, Montreal Canadiens
John Tortorella, Philadelphia Flyers

It might be a little odd to see last season’s Western Conference finals coaches listed here, but that’s the way the NHL works.

In Knoblauch’s case, the Oilers set the bar as high as it can be set for a team chasing the Stanley Cup, losing in Game 7 of the Final. He helped patch a sinking ship when he arrived in Edmonton last season after 13 games. The Oilers have been inconsistent at best so far in 2024-25, thanks in no small part to rather ghastly goaltending.

But the regular season doesn’t matter — unless Edmonton doesn’t qualify for the playoffs. The postseason matters, and that’s where Knoblauch’s status will become clearer in the eyes of a general manager (Bowman) that didn’t hire him. Although his boss did, to the delight of the franchise’s star player who had Knoblauch in juniors, which does make this more interesting …

DeBoer is signed through 2025-26 season. Again, the expectations are massive: Dallas has made consecutive conference finals. DeBoer lasted three seasons in Vegas and Florida, four in New Jersey and five in San Jose — in the latter two cases, having made the Stanley Cup Final with those teams. The results have clearly been there for Dallas under DeBoer — his .675 points percentage is his highest with any team — but his contract and the Stars’ window to win make this a situation worth watching.

Peter DeBoer brought the Stars to the Western Conference finals the past two seasons. Glenn James/NHLI via Getty Images

Laviolette is another coach whose team has lofty expectations, with two trips to the conference finals in three seasons. The Rangers have him signed through 2025-26, and there’s no reason to believe he’d be gone before that season barring a surprising playoff miss in the Eastern Conference. But given the contract, the market and the James Dolan of it all, who knows after that?

Tortorella is signed through the 2025-26 season. The Flyers see him as an ideal coach for shaping a young roster, including the tough love moments he has had with players such as rookie star Matvei Michkov. Management has backed him, even though the current brass didn’t hire him. If The Flyers don’t show season-over-season improvement, is that just a growing pain from the rebuild, or something they reassess with Tortorella before a lame-duck season?

Bottom line: Tortorella is most likely the head coach at the start of next season, and then it’s matter of how good management believes the Flyers should be vs. where they are.

Montreal exercised a two-year option on St. Louis in April 2024, meaning that the coach is signed through the 2026-27 season. The Canadiens are on track to drop in several statistical categories and in the standings season over season. But this is another situation in which previously dependable goaltending becomes wobbly and rest of the team is affected by it. Canadiens management has lavished praise on St. Louis for multiple seasons; but at some point, the training wheels have to come off this team.

Roy is reportedly signed through the 2025-26 season. At this point, the Islanders have a 50-50 chance of making the postseason cut, per Money Puck, which is apropos for a .500 team. Would a third straight playoff appearance and another first-round exit be enough to keep Roy around? Is it enough to keep GM Lou Lamoriello around? The Islanders have an aging roster seemingly stuck in stasis, and one wonders how long ownership is going to follow that plan.

Just seated

Scott Arniel, Winnipeg Jets
Craig Berube, Toronto Maple Leafs
Dan Bylsma, Seattle Kraken
Dean Evason, Columbus Blue Jackets
Travis Green, Ottawa Senators
Jim Hiller, Los Angeles Kings
Sheldon Keefe, New Jersey Devils
Jim Montgomery, St. Louis Blues
Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres
Ryan Warsofsky, San Jose Sharks

All of these coaches have been hired since April, although in Hiller’s case he took over the Kings on an interim basis in February before getting that label taken off in the offseason.

Hiller joins coaches such as Arniel, Berube and Keefe who have seen instant success in their new gigs. Ruff seems to be turning the Sabres in the right direction, and the same could be said of Evason and the Blue Jackets. Warsofsky is in his first NHL head-coaching season for a rebuilding team with zero expectations. The ink on Montgomery’s five-year deal with the Blues is just drying.

The one coach that hasn’t really gotten things going is Green with the Senators, who haven’t translated improvements in offense and defense season over season into success in the standings. But that should generate a lot more chatter and action around the construction of the roster than the coach, who is signed through the 2027-28 season.

Long-tenured temp check

Jared Bednar, Colorado Avalanche
Rod Brind’Amour, Carolina Hurricanes
Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning

Bednar and Brind’Amour are both signed through the 2026-27 season. The Hurricanes have been one of the best teams in the NHL while the Avalanche are starting to get rolling now that they’ve gotten some players back in the lineup.

Cooper is signed through the 2025-26 season. He’s the longest tenured coach in the NHL, having been hired on March 25, 2013. The Lightning look like a playoff team so far this season, having made the cut for seven straight seasons under Cooper that included back-to-back Stanley Cup wins.

It’ll be interesting to see what Cooper and the Lightning want out of their respective futures. Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jake Guentzel are all north of 30 years old, while 34-year-old Stamkos was allowed to leave, signing with Nashville. Would the Lightning want to pay Cooper’s lofty salary during what could be a retool? Would Cooper want to hang in there with an aging roster?

Or are there other challenges the coach would like to take on in the NHL? He turned the Lightning into champions. Teams would be lining up, bags of cash in hand, to get him to do the same for their franchises.

Planet Sullivan

Mike Sullivan, Pittsburgh Penguins

He’s one of the NHL’s longest-tenured coaches, but his seat should be scorching.

The Penguins are a disaster this season, giving up nearly four goals per game on average, mustering only 2.5 goals per game offensively, and currently with a 1.9% chance of making the Stanley Cup playoffs, per Money Puck. It’s a team with a veteran core of star players that seems destined to finishing outside of the postseason for a third straight season.

Normally, this would get any coach fired, especially one who has been with a team for a decade. But Sullivan is still there, behind the Pittsburgh bench, watching the definition of insanity play out on the ice every night.

Mike Sullivan was behind the bench when the Penguins last won the Stanley Cup. But the recent seasons have been bewildering. Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

He’s under contract through 2026-27 but wouldn’t suffer from lack of options if he and the Penguins ever parted ways. Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas and Fenway Sports Group ownership have backed Sullivan in public and private. Sullivan told The Athletic that he’s not going to leave on his own accord.

“I’m invested in the Pittsburgh Penguins,” Sullivan said. “I care very, very deeply about this organization. I care deeply about the group of guys who have been in that locker room for a very long time. I love this organization with all of my soul. This organization and so many people associated with it have changed my life in so many ways. And so, for me, the challenge of trying to move this team forward and transition this team, it’s a different kind of challenge, but it’s one that I am welcoming.”

That tracks with what sources in the coaching community believe.

“He’s committed to win with that team. He knew what he was getting into,” a source said. “I think he’s the best coach in the league. People in Pittsburgh don’t realize that these guys are all years older from when the last time they won, and there’s just not a lot of young fresh talent there.”