There will be several coaches on the hot
seat once the puck drops on the 2016/17 NHL season as club owners will be
expecting a lot from them. There will also be several other head coaches who
will be given a little leeway since they’ll be taking over new teams and the
expectations may not be as high. For example rookie coaches Glen Gulutzan of the
Calgary Flames and Jared Bednar of the Colorado Avalanche will be given some time
to get their feet wet while veteran bench bosses such as Randy Carlyle and
Bruce Boudreau may also be given a grace period with their respective new clubs
the Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild.
The coaches with the most pressure on them
will be those returning to their teams after disappointing and underachieving
regular-season and/or postseason campaigns in 2015/16. We’ll take a look at
five coaches who will be depended upon to produce better results for their
respective franchises this year.
Michel
Therrien
Montreal Canadiens’ coach Michel Therrien placed
himself in the hot seat in the offseason and buckled the seatbelt after he
influenced the trade that sent Norris Trophy winning defenceman and fan
favourite P.K. Subban packing. Subban was shipped to the Nashville Predators
for fellow blueliner Shea Weber after Montreal missed the playoffs and most
fans were up in arms over the deal. It’s well known that Subban wasn’t one of Therrien’s
favourites and was often the team’s scapegoat following big losses. If the Habs
fail to improve with Weber in the lineup and all-star goaltender Carey Price
back in net after missing most of last year with an injury, then Therrien may
be the next one packing his suitcase.
Claude
Julien
Claude Julien of the Boston Bruins became an
overnight sensation back in 2010/11 when he led the team to its first Stanley
Cup in 39 years and then took them back to the final two years later. He’s won
the Jack Adams award in Beantown and is now the franchise’s all-time leader in
coaching wins. However, the Bruins have watched the playoffs on TV for the last
two seasons as they’ve fallen just short of making them. Fans and ownership
won’t sit idly by if it looks like Boston is about to miss out on playoff
action for a third straight year. It’s probably safe to say Julien’s job will
be up for grabs if his squad falls out of the playoff this season.
Darryl
Sutter
Los Angeles Kings’ head coach Darryl Sutter has
been quite successful during his reign on the west coast with just over 60 per
cent winning records in both the regular season and the playoffs. The Kings
have won a pair of Stanley Cups in the past five years with Sutter at the helm,
but the last two seasons have been rather quiet with a grand total of one
playoff win in that period. Those Stanley Cup triumphs mean the team’s
ownership and its fans expect big things from the team on a regular basis and
Sutter has fallen short of that goal in the last two years. His team even
managed to miss the playoffs in 2014/15, a year after winning the Cup.
Willie
Desjardins
Many Vancouver Canucks’ fans point the finger at
general manager Jim Benning for their team’s relative lack of success lately
rather than head coach Willie Desjardins. Vancouver missed the playoffs last
season, which was Desjardins’ second behind the bench, and the club had the
NHL’s overall third-worst record. The only teams below them in the standings
were fellow Canadian franchises Edmonton and Toronto. This came as a huge
disappoint after making the playoffs the year before. With Vancouver’s star
players the Sedin twins entering the twilight of their careers, the Canucks
can’t afford to be on the outside looking in again in 2016/17. The window of
opportunity for the Sedin’s to win a Stanley Cup is slowly closing and it’s up
to Desjardins to get back in the playoffs as soon as possible.
Jeff
Blashill
This is Jeff Blashill’s second full season in
charge of the Detroit Red Wings after former head coach Mike Babcock bolted for
the Toronto Maple Leafs. Blashill is in charge of one of the league’s most
successful clubs over the past couple of decades and even though the Wings
aren’t as good as they were 20 years ago, they’ve still managed to make the
playoffs season after season. Much of the credit has to go to the scouting
steam and general manager as Detroit always seems to draft well and attract
useful free agents. However, Pavel Datsyuk has left Motor City to finish his
career in his Russian homeland and Niklas Kronwall and Henrik Zetterberg are
getting older and dealing with injuries. The pressure is on Blashill to make
the playoffs once again since he doesn’t want to become the first Red Wings’
coach to miss the postseason in the last in 26 seasons.
Labels: Ian Palmer