(poll) Next coach fired

[yave1964]

  With the somewhat surprising firing of Claude Julien last week, I gave it some thought and to me these are the next most likely candidates to be whacked next

 

JEFF BLASHILL Has watched the Wings slip into a funk as by seasons end this will be the worst two year stretch in Wings history. OH!! He is the third longest tenured head coach in the NHL right now. Really.

 

JOHN TORTORELLA There is not a bigger fan of Torts in this forum than me, but he has a shelf life and it looks like he is officially curdled.

 

RALPH KRUGER The team is lackluster to put it mildly. They have no heart, no soul and the players love Kruger but he isnt getting anything out of them.

 

TRAVIS GREEN The Canucks are stacked up front with quality forwards and a kid named Hughes leading an underrated defense. Somehow they are 8-14-2 barely ahead of the woeful Senators for last in the North. If he makes it through the year it is a miracle.

 

OR.......SOMEONE ELSE Guys like Quinn with the Rags, Bowness with the Stars and Eakins with the Ducks are all worth mentioning.

[yave1964]

I would like it to be Blash but I picked Travis Green out in Vancouver. I listen to way to many podcasts, my God do they hate him out there. The fans are frustrated and expected more this year and I think he is next on the chopping block. Truthfully when I heard a coach was fired I thought for sure it was Green.

[ruxpin]

JEFF BLASHILL He is most deserving.   My hesitation crowing him the "next" is that if they were going to fire him, why haven't they yet?  

 

JOHN TORTORELLA They need a change, but I'm not sure Columbus' management has come to the same conclusion.   If they haven't, I'm not sure what's left to convince them.  Setting the employee lounge on fire?     Wrong coach for the wrong crew at this point.     The carousel of goalie issues isn't helpful and not his fault, but I agree with you on the shelf-life thing.

 

RALPH KRUGER Man, I wouldn't be stunned.  That's the MO in Buffalo:  Blame the coach.   Failing that, blame the GM.   Kruger hasn't been fantastic, but I have a hard time putting blame on him giving the situation this organization has created.   Whomever is responsible for the crap show that is their front office needs to go and they need to spend the effort on rebuilding the hockey business operations side of things from talent scouting on up.    On both the pro level and the amateur level.

 

TRAVIS GREEN I'm going to vote for Green.    I am not a fan of their goalies, so that's a problem, but other than that they have a team that should be playing better.    The entire team seems off.   I know people point at their defense, but it's a team defense thing not specifically defensemen.   

 

QUINN:   Maybe.   Kakko and Lafreniere just aren't doing what they should be.   They have brought them both along too quickly.  If it wasn't for their goalies, things could be a lot worse.

 

BOWNESS.   Boy would that be unfair.    They've had a really fitful start with COVID, incessantly PPD games, more PPD games because they can't figure out how to run a power grid in Texas, injuries, etc.  Nearly impossible to find any kind of cohesion.  Their point total is due to a lot less games played.  They're record isn't great and they need to find some cohesion, but it's way too early to jump that ship.

 

EAKINS.   I don't know what he's supposed to do there, but his time is probably short.

[Math]

Reporter: "So, do you guys look at the standings?"
Bowness: "No, no, we don't look at that."

 

Oleskiak before Tampa's game: "I think it's chance for us to prove that what we did last year isn't a fluke"

After the game: 5-0 loss, 0-6 on the PP (one SH goal allowed) where Benn, Gurianov, Hintz and Pavelski combined for 0 (zero) shots on goal.

 

I'd like to be Bowness. I like him a lot but the team is going nowhere and is running out of options. I'm starting to think the SC run was a kind of a fluke, the Stars were barely average from the time Montgomery was fired and now. Problem is, he's very liked by his players (of course, he's the nice grandpa who never raise the voice) and Nill and I don't think the organization is willing to pay his salary for this year and the next one for nothing. My vote is going for Green: the franchise is not afraid of making big changes.

[OccamsRazor]

I went with Kreuger because why not.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Wow...LOTS of viable choices for next head to roll...seriously.
However, when I look at the teams, where they are in their competitive curve, and what the expectations were, it is HARD to get past Vancouver and Travis Green as Yave pointed out.

There is too much talent on the Canucks for them to be where they are in the standings and on their development curve as an organization.

Yes, I know they have some issues in areas, particularly on defense where I still feel they never quite replaced what they lost, and in goal, where it seems Demko has regressed while Holtby isn't the guy they thought they were getting, but I have watched enough Canuck games to see where Travis Greens usage of certain players is a bit....puzzling to put it nicely.

But you know, let's not gloss over the fact that the Vancouver GM is the one who made certain moves (such as signing Holtby) that hasn't worked...and if there is any truth to some of the scuttlebutt going on about trades, he may make another big "Doh!" move by trading Jake Virtanen for pennies on the dollar.
Yea, yea, I know, this thread is about coaches, and the coach likely sees his head chopped off first.
So if the Canucks don't pull a green n blue rabbit out of their Northwestern arses soon, it will be bye-bye Travis Green....

One other honorable mention no one seems to be talking about, but could be on the chopping block if his team doesn't start to look better on the ice is Craig Berube in St. Louis.

I am aware the Blues are still very much in the playoff picture, but honestly, from the games I've watched, they've hardly been dominant in any fashion, have looked downright TERRIBLE in others, and on other nights, just look disjointed out there..... and now, they've got Jordan Binnington thinking he is Enrico Ciccone or Joey Kocur out there.....NOT good.....

If the Blues start to slip some more in the standings, the FO may think that in order to salvage the season a change may need to take place behind the bench.
They may still be sitting near the Knights and ahead of the Avs, but the Blues certainly don't look as good as those teams once on the ice, and they even have Minnesota ahead of them and the Kings nipping at their heels.

The team should be operating better on the ice and not just sit where they are in the standings because the division is filled bottom feeders like Anaheim, San Jose, and the very disappointing Coyotes.
So Berube beware..... "Must climb standings HARDER!"

[lynxrattle]

Torts for me. They can't be losing like this. It's not on Torts, but what can you do?