Five NHL Coaches Under The Gun This Year
13/10/2008 04:41
Long-haul hope springs eternal for NHL clubs in October, but there's also a need for most coaches to post immediate results, or else.
Two seasons ago, St. Louis, Columbus, Philadelphia and Chicago all made coaching changes before December.
Some of those teams made modest gains after the switch, but none compared with how the Washington Capitals fared last season when Bruce Boudreau took the helm after 21 games.
Boudreau took an uninspired crew and infused an offensive style, with the team winning two-thirds of its remaining games for the franchise's first playoff berth in five years.
You can debate whether a 61-game NHL coaching neophtye should win the Jack Adams award when Mike Babcock has inexplicably never won it, but it was clear that Boudreau knew how to lead.
To consider which coaches could be in jeopardy of not lasting the entire 2008-09 season, conduct the following exercise: Go through each NHL club and consider whether the coach would remain if the team won just five of its first 20 games, or 10 of its first 30 or so.
The nine new coaches aren't going to be let go so capriciously, and there are at least that number who either earned another full season after 2007-08 success or are entrenched veterans — Boudreau and Claude Julien being in the first category, and Lindy Ruff and Dave Tippett among those in the latter group.
That only leaves, at most, about a dozen candidates who could be sent packing before the season is out. Here are five of those candidates:
SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:
For more on the CBC’s take of which five coaches could be sent packing, click here.