Insider believes two NHL head coaches are on the hot seat.

Head coaches on the hot seat.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Insider believes two NHL head coaches are on the hot seat.
Daniel Lea/CSM/Zuma

There is almost no doubt that in between the publishing of this article and the start of the 2019 - 2019 National Hockey League regular season there will be some NHL head coaches who will not be in the position that they are in today. That would of course come as a surprise to absolutely no one.

What is more surprising however is that one National Hockey League insider believes that two current head coaches, head coaches who are very well respected former NHL players no less, might not even making it until the end of this current season. In a recent article penned for The Athletic, NHL insider Pierre LeBrun discussed the future of two NHL head coaches, both of whom he appears to believe may have already run out of time in their new positions behind the bench.

The first such coach is 55 year old former NHL defenseman Phil Housley. Housley is of course the current head coach of the Buffalo Sabres franchise and at the start of the season it seemed like his job was perfectly safe. The Sabres got out to a strong start at the beginning of the regular season and seemed like they had the makings of a playoff team, but a late season collapse has quickly seen them once again reclaim their spot as one of the National Hockey League's worst franchises. LeBrun believes that it is that collapse that could inevitably cost him his job, even if that is not the way Sabres management would prefer to handle things.

From LeBrun:

While I still think the position of GM Jason Botterill is that he would rather not make a coaching change — he really respects Housley in my mind — I’m guessing the way the season is ending here will force the Sabres GM to re-evaluate everything including the head coaching position.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Housley will be replaced, but I would suggest it’s now a realistic possibility.

It seems like another former NHLer could also share Housley's fate. 48 year old former NHL defenseman Bob Boughner currently finds himself the head coach of the Florida Panthers and like the Sabres the Panthers have largely failed to deliver on the expectations their organization had for them this season. Unlike Housley however there may be additional outside pressures that could be playing a major role in this potential decision from Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon.

Again from LeBrun:

Already people have speculated the obvious connection Tallon has to his old pal from Chicago, Joel Quenneville. There will be more than one team inquiring on Coach Q after the season but it certainly wouldn’t be shocking if Florida was one of them. And when you consider how much Artemi Panarin loved playing for Quenneville in Chicago, coupled with Florida’s believed interest in the pending UFA star, it’s easy to connect the dots, even if there’s no sure thing any of this will transpire.

The fact that the Florida Panthers are likely to make a pitch to acquire both the aforementioned Artemi Panarin as well as Columbus Blue Jackets star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky in free agency this summer is one of the worst kept secrets in the NHL, and the addition of a coach like Quenneville would certainly improve the quality of their sales pitch to those type of players. It sounds like both these first time head coaches could soon be unemployed.

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