When the New York Islanders fired Lane Lambert and replaced him with Patrick Roy on Saturday, it marked the fifth NHL coaching change already this season.
That’s an astounding number halfway through the season, especially considering there were six coaching changes in the offseason. So, 11 of the 32 teams, more than one third, have switched coaches since April.
If you’re looking for job security, standing behind an NHL bench is not the place to be.
Of the six teams that hired new coaches prior to the start of the season, two are in a playoff spot. The New York Rangers (Peter Laviolette replaced Gerard Gallant) are first in the Metropolitan Division and the Nashville Predators (Andrew Brunette replaced John Hynes) hold the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.
The Washington Capitals are three points out of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference with Spencer Carbery as coach. And Ryan Huska has the Calgary Flames within four points of the Predators.
Neither the Anaheim Ducks (under Greg Cronin) nor Columbus Blue Jackets (Pascal Vincent) are in playoff contention.
But let’s focus on which in-season coaching changes are successful, so far, and which are less so. Excluded from the list is the Roy hiring, since he’s coached one game, a 3-2 overtime win against the Dallas Stars on Sunday.
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Ranking 2023-24 in-season NHL coaching changes
4. Ottawa Senators
Let’s start from the bottom and work our way up.
The Ottawa Senators were falling way short of preseason expectations with an 11-15-0 record when D.J. Smith was fired Dec. 18 and replaced by the most successful coach in franchise history, Jacques Martin. However, things have continued to go downhill, even with the Senators turning back the clock to better days with Martin and Hall of Famer Daniel Alfredsson, who was hired as an assistant.
Ottawa is 6-9-1 since the coaching change, including a five-game losing streak from Jan. 2-11. They’ve allowed five goals or more seven times in the 16 games Martin has been behind the bench.
However, it’s getting a bit better for Ottawa. Forward Shane Pinto is back after serving a 41-game NHL suspension and the Senators are 3-1-1 in their past five games. Still they’ve won consecutive games once under Martin and are last in the Eastern Conference, set to miss the playoffs for the seventh straight season.
3. St. Louis Blues
Replacing the only coach in franchise history to have won the Stanley Cup with their former American Hockey League coach was an uninspiring move by the St. Louis Blues.
Craig Berube was jettisoned Dec. 12 with the Blues riding the .500 highway at 13-14-1. Drew Bannister was named the interim coach, due in large part to his having coached many of the Blues players in the minors.
The results have been OK, not great, which may have more to do with the roster makeup than whoever is behind the bench. The Blues are 9-6-1 under Bannister, winning five of six after the change but struggling to find consistency since the initial surge wore off.
The Blues remain in playoff contention, five points out of the second wild card in the Western Conference with four teams to pass.
2. Minnesota Wild
Like the Blues, the Minnesota Wild are a team from the Central Division that’s caught in no-man’s land. They’re not bad but they’re not very good. And that’s been the Wild’s lot for many years now and why they usually are first-round fodder in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
So, this season the Wild fired Dean Evason on Nov. 27 after stumbling out of the starting gate with a 5-10-4 record. Hynes was brought into replace Evason and does have Minnesota on an upswing, though it’s been a rollercoaster ride.
The Wild are 15-11-1 under Hynes. They’ve had two four-game winning streaks and a three-game streak since he took over as coach. However, the Wild also lost four in a row and six of seven at one point.
Injuries to goalies Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury have not helped, but the Wild have a minus-17 goal differential this season. And right now they’re six points out of the second wild card in the West with five teams to pass.
1. Edmonton Oilers
Here’s the biggest success story of a team that changed coaches during this season. The Edmonton Oilers have rebounded from a shocking poor start to now being the hottest team in the NHL.
And though a course correction was likely coming from Connor McDavid and Co. no matter who was coaching, Kris Knoblauch has been a steady hand in guiding the Oilers to a 23-6-0 record since replacing Jay Woodcroft on Nov. 12.
Knoblauch is a first-time NHL coach, but has had no issues gaining the respect of superstars Leon Draisaitl and McDavid. It helps that McDavid is healthy now, too, but it was hard to overlook how bad the Oilers looked in starting 3-9-1 under Woodcroft.
The Oilers have won a franchise-record 13 straight games and added Corey Perry on Monday for their playoff push. It’s still a tight race in the West, but the Oilers are now third in the Pacific Division and positioning themselves to meet high expectations.