The NHL coaching market: Who’s available now, in the near future and in the long term?

October ends, the NHL season settles in, most teams surpass the 10-game mark, and one fire pops up. Then another. Before long, several of the NHL’s markets are giving off smoke, their fan bases beginning to panic, calling for mid-season coaching changes. And recent precedent suggests the frenzy is not an overreaction. Heads may soon roll across NHL benches.

In 2021-22, we saw seven mid-season coaching changes:

Joel Quenneville resigned as Florida Panthers coach Oct. 28.
The Chicago Blackhawks fired Jeremy Colliton Nov. 6.
The Philadelphia Flyers fired Alain Vigneault Dec. 6.
The Vancouver Canucks fired Travis Green Dec. 6.
Paul Maurice stepped down as Winnipeg Jets coach Dec. 17.
The Montreal Canadiens fired Dominique Ducharme Feb. 9.
The Edmonton Oilers fired Dave Tippett Feb. 10.

Again, that was just during the season. Many more got axed after the season: Barry Trotz in Long Island, Rick Bowness in Dallas, Bruce Cassidy in Boston, Pete DeBoer in Vegas, Bob Boughner in San Jose, Jeff Blashill in Detroit. Just 19 of 32 head coaches in place at the start of last season still have their jobs today.

So when we look at the smoldering situation in, for instance, Toronto with Sheldon Keefe, or Vancouver with Bruce Boudreau, or Nashville with John Hynes…any prospective coaching candidates out there should have their LinkedIn profiles up to date.

Who are the best available options if and when any NHL teams make coaching changes this season? Here’s a tiered list, ranging from big fish to retreads to emerging new names that might not be available until the offseason.

BIG FISH

Barry Trotz
After his shocking ousting from the Isles this past offseason, the two-time Jack Adams Award winner is weighing his options. He turned down an offer to return home and coach the Jets. He mentioned last week that coaching an Original Six team would intrigue him. Does that mean he’s Toronto-bound in the event of a Keefe firing? It might depend on whether Trotz wants to explore the management side of the sport. That’s why it’s worth keeping an eye on his original team, the Predators, who might be able to offer more variations on any potential gig.

Rick Tocchet
Tocchet’s last head coaching job ended after 2020-21 when he and the Arizona Coyotes came to a mutual agreement to part ways. He’s currently working as a TNT panelist but still regularly tops most lists of coaching candidates. He’s known for his relatability as a players’ coach.

RETREADS

Alain Vigneault
Vigneault is a stopgap hire for a veteran-laden team that still wants to make the playoffs this season and needs a seasoned coach who brings defensive structure. He’s reached the postseason in 10 of his past 13 tries.

Dave Tippett
Tippett brings a similar profile to Vigneault’s: best suited to a win-now, veteran team, preaches defense-first hockey, moderate track record of success.

Andrew Brunette
Brunette is less than a year removed from being a Jack Adams Award finalist on a Presidents’ Trophy-winning Panthers club. Yes, they choked in Round 2 of the playoffs, but he’s a cerebral guy who clearly deserves another shot. He’s currently working as an associate coach with the New Jersey Devils.

Travis Green
We arguably don’t know who a coach really is until we see him with a second NHL team. Look at Cassidy during his first try, a tepid one with the Washington Capitals. Green couldn’t get the Canucks room to follow him in the end, but the Canucks are struggling under a different coach now, too, so what if Green wasn’t the problem? Think about all the bad contracts GM Jim Benning saddled Green with during their overlapping tenure in Vancouver.

Jeff Blashill
Blashill took the Detroit Red Wings to the playoffs in 2015-16, his first season, but that was a team in decline, being dragged to the bottom of the ocean by bad veteran deals. Blashill was then pretty much asked to attach an anchor to his leg and let himself sink for the rest of his time in Detroit. He was a shepherd for a tanking franchise. We thus don’t have much of a sense of what he could do leading a team that wants to win in the present. For now, he’s operating as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Todd Nelson
Nelson got just 46 games of head coaching runway with the Oilers in 2014-15 and helped a bad pre-Connor-McDavid team to a respectable 17-22-7 record. He went on to win a Calder Cup coaching Grand Rapids in the AHL and was one of Bowness’ trusted assistant coaches on the Dallas Stars team that reached the 2019-20 Stanley Cup Final. Nelson is now head coach of the AHL’s Hershey Bears, the Washington Capitals’ affiliate.

UP-AND-COMERS (summer 2023 candidates)

Spencer Carbery got attention this past summer after he turned the Toronto Maple Leafs’ power play from middling to the league’s best. He interviewed for the Sharks coaching vacancy.

Ryan Warsofsky was right there in the Sharks’ coaching hunt before they opted for David Quinn in the end. They ended up hiring Warsofsky as an assistant coach. He coached a dominant Chicago Wolves squad to the AHL Calder Cup title last season.

Nate Leaman likely sits high on many lists of the next great college coaches to get an NHL look. He’s been an institution at Providence College for the past decade.

Kris Knoblauch Was a massively successful major junior coach, winning league titles in the WHL and OHL, before working as an NHL assistant coach with the Flyers. He’s now in his fourth season coaching the New York Rangers’ farmhands with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack.

Jay Leach Has extensive experience behind an AHL bench and has worked his way up to the NHL level now, working under Dave Hakstol as a Seattle Kraken assistant coach. He interviewed with the Arizona Coyotes for their opening before the 2021-22 season.

Ryan Huska is a steady riser. He had a great WHL run with the Kelowna Rockets, put in his time with the Flames’ AHL affiliate and now apprentices under Darryl Sutter at the NHL level in Calgary. Huska interviewed for the Detroit vacancy over the summer.

Rocky Thompson was head coach on some strong Windsor Spitfire teams in the OHL and took the Chicago Wolves to the Calder Cup Final in 2018-19. The former NHL and AHL enforcer was an associate coach with the Sharks for a couple seasons and now holds own an assistant gig with the Flyers.

Seth Appert, like Don Granato, is especially suited to mentor young players on a rebuilding squad. Appert, like Granato, has worked with the U.S. NTDP under-18 club, and Appert now coaches the Buffalo Sabres’ AHL affiliate in Rochester while Granato handles the NHL club.

Ian Laperriere spent eight years as an assistant coach for the Flyers and finally got a look in head coaching duty with their AHL club in Lehigh Valley beginning last season.

OVERDUE

Mike Vellucci still hasn’t been a head coach in the NHL yet? He took the Charlotte Checkers to a Calder Cup victory in 2018-19 and is now one of Mike Sullivan’s assistants in Pittsburgh, but possibly not for long. Vellucci interviewed for the Bruins’ coaching vacancy after they fired Cassidy – and for the Flyers’ vacancy.

Benoit Groulx, currently coaching the Tampa Bay Lightning’s AHL affiliate in Syracuse, has been around forever. His name was linked to the Coyotes and Canadiens the last time they had vacancies. He’s played an important role in helping the Lightning churn out viable NHLers from the farm.

Rikard Gronborg hasn’t gotten his shot yet after so many years coaching all things related to the Swedish national team. Now he’s bench boss of the Swiss League’s ZSC Lions.

TOO MUCH BAGGAGE?

Mike Babcock’s reputation was sullied when reports surfaced in late 2019 of the psychological warfare he used on young Toronto Maple Leafs players such as Mitch Marner. Babcock hasn’t touched an NHL job since being fired in November 2019. He coached the University of Saskatchewan in U Sports last season.

Joel Quenneville’s one of the most successful NHL coaches of all-time, but hiring him would bring significant – and justified – blowback. He resigned from the Panthers in disgrace last year because of the revelations about his role in covering up the Brad Aldrich sexual assault when coaching the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010.

LONG-TERM SLEEPER

Jessica Campbell is climbing quickly. In the past three seasons alone, she’s jumped from Swedish League skating coach to German League assistant coach to AHL assistant coach. It might not be long before she’s first woman to earn a head coaching gig in the AHL, and the NHL would be the next logical step after that.

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