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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
Life comes at NHL coaches fast after disappointing seasons.
Gerard Gallant walked into the news conference room at the New York Rangers‘ practice facility on May 3 and said, “I’m fine, I’m fine.” Speculation about his job status had swirled in the media — traditional and social — after the Rangers followed up an all-in trade deadline by blowing a 2-0 lead to the rival New Jersey Devils in a first-round elimination. Could he really go from Jack Adams Award-nominated coach of a conference finalist to unemployed in the span of a year?
“I can’t believe I have to answer some of these questions about me getting let go or getting fired, brought up by the media. Disappointing,” Gallant said.
In a way, he was right. Gallant wasn’t fired. He wasn’t let go. Two days after defiantly defending his record as a coach — “If I can’t stand by my record, and not just my record here, I think there’s something wrong” — he had a “mutual parting of ways” with the Rangers, with another year and a team option left on his contract.
Again, life comes at NHL coaches fast. Almost as fast as it does for coaching candidates.
“Once a vacancy happens, the tendency is that guys want to get their names on a list, like ASAP. But everyone needs to take a deep breath because every situation is different,” said Neil Glasberg, president and CEO of PBI Sports & Entertainment and a respected agent who represents coaches.
After a coach is fired, Glasberg connects with the general manager who will oversee the next hiring to get a sense of what that team is looking for — assuming it knows, which isn’t always immediately the case.
“It’s always a question of fit. That’s how this business works. It’s a three-letter word that means so much,” Glasberg said. “Fit in terms of experience, in personality, in where they are in their careers, in their ability to match with the roster. And fit in terms of having won before.”
That’s something Glasberg pushes with clients: proof of concept. “Having won is different than knowing what it’s like to win,” he said.
As of Thursday morning, there are five coaching vacancies in the NHL. More could come as teams are eliminated, expectations aren’t met and new general managers settle into their jobs. Here’s a look at which teams needs a coach, what they are looking for … and some incredible speculation surrounding that Rangers job.
Pat Verbeek has hired coaches before. Prior to becoming the Ducks’ general manager in February 2022, Verbeek owned the Junior B Sarnia Blast of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.
“One time,” he told ESPN, “I even hired myself.”
While we’ll never underestimate the self-confidence of NHL general managers, that’s not the likely result of Verbeek’s current coaching search of the Ducks.
Verbeek parted ways with Dallas Eakins after the coach’s fourth straight losing season. The only surprise was that it took that long for Verbeek to seek his own head coach; Verbeek didn’t hire Eakins yet picked up his option for the 2022-23 season. In the end, Eakins did his job this season: overseeing a roster built to maximize Anaheim’s draft lottery odds. The Ducks finished last in the NHL and ended up with the second overall pick in June’s draft after the draft lottery gave the Chicago Blackhawks selection No. 1.
“At the end of the day, I simply feel that a fresh perspective and new voice will be beneficial for the team,” Verbeek said.
Whoever the Ducks add at No. 2 overall — and logic would dictate it will be Michigan center Adam Fantilli — that player will join an impressive collection of young stars and prospects. Forwards Trevor Zegras and Mason McTavish as well as defenseman Jamie Drysdale are already making an NHL impact. This week, the Ducks became the first NHL team to have its prospects sweep all three defenseman of the year awards in the Canadian Hockey League: Olen Zellweger (WHL), Pavel Mintyukov (OHL) and Tristan Luneau (QMJHL).
The Ducks’ future is bright. But how does being a team methodically building a contender impact Verbeek’s coaching search?
“I’m trying to have an open mind about the whole process, going across a different spectrum of coaches that I’m going to interview,” he said. “Not all of them are the same. They come from different backgrounds, different type of avenues, to how they’ve gotten to where they are.”
Verbeek said he “wouldn’t write a guy off if his track record’s not long.” He also said that having a previous relationship with a coach, while beneficial, isn’t as important as work ethic and character.
Verbeek didn’t indicate if he is leaning toward a young coach who can grow with this team — and he shouldn’t have trouble finding one of those — or a former NHL head coach who could serve as a mentor to the prospects.
Whoever it is, Verbeek hopes to have a healthy relationship with the coach. Given the Ducks’ slow growth back to contending, it could be a lengthy one.
“I think there has to be a decent amount of chemistry,” Verbeek said. “I don’t know if, I guess ‘chemistry’ is the word. It’s about whether you communicate well together and the coach understands the vision that you have for the team.”
What a weird situation in Calgary.
Elliotte Friedman, a journalist as plugged in as they come, reported that general manager Brad Treliving and the Flames parted ways on April 17 partly because of a rift with coach Darryl Sutter, who was signed through 2024-25.
“It is believed a deteriorating relationship with Sutter played a major role in the GM’s decision, that the two could not continue working together and really hadn’t communicated well in some time,” Friedman wrote. “If Sutter didn’t have an extension, maybe the outcome is different.”
This was framed by some as Sutter winning a “power struggle,” but it didn’t do anything to fix the Flames’ main problem: their players’ discontent with Sutter as their coach. One source heard that Sutter could be kicked upstairs with Treliving out, which seemed like a reasonable solution to these problems.
Instead, Sutter was fired May 1, with president of hockey operations Don Maloney saying, “It became clear to me we needed a new voice.”
Obviously, the Flames aren’t going to hire a coach until they hire a general manager. The candidates for the latter job range from current Calgary assistant GM Craig Conroy to the OHL’s London Knights GM Mark Hunter — the runner-up to Kyle Dubas for the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ job — to Arizona Coyotes‘ chief development officer Shane Doan, who has history with Maloney with Arizona.
I truly thought the Blue Jackets were going to end up with Connor Bedard and that we’d all be praising GM Jarmo Kekalainen for signing Johnny Gaudreau to play with a center he didn’t even know he was drafting yet. That would have been some 4D chess right there.
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Kekalainen said picking third overall instead isn’t going to impact his choice to replace couch Brad Larsen, who was fired after two seasons of .429 points percentage hockey. The coaching search is ongoing and should take more emphasis after the team completes its amateur scouting meetings.
“We should expect a decision on that sooner rather than later, but we want to make sure that we do our due diligence very carefully,” Kekalainen said.
This will be the third coach Kekalainen will have hired in Columbus. Kekalainen is the fourth-longest tenured GM in the NHL, having been with the Blue Jackets since February 2013. He hired John Tortorella in 2016 and Larsen in 2021, after parting ways with Tortorella.
I asked Kekalainen for the broad strokes on the kind of coach he is looking for this offseason.
“Well, I think it would take a long time to get into all the details of that. That’s obviously a very important position,” he said.
OK … how about a hint?
“Experience is something that’s always an advantage; it’s never going to work against you,” he said. “But at the same time, every great coach in this league had to get a start at some point. So it’s not the only criteria we have.”
Kekalainen said that “the standard they set every day” for the players and the team, in general, is perhaps the biggest focus.
“We felt that we’ve had a real good culture here for many years where the standard was high. The way we work, the pride we take in our work, that was very high. We had let it slip a little bit in the last couple years here. Now it’s time to get back to it.”
Kekalainen said he wanted to wait until the playoffs progressed to see if there were head coaches or assistant coaches that shook loose and could become viable candidates. But one name keeps coming up in discussions about the Blue Jackets — and the call is coming from inside the house.
Pascal Vincent is the associate coach of Columbus. He was an assistant coach with the Winnipeg Jets (2011-16), head coach of the AHL’s Manitoba Moose (2016-21) and associate coach with Larsen for the past two seasons after not getting the Columbus head-coaching gig.
It’s beyond time for Vincent to get a crack at an NHL bench. He obviously knows the roster well. Among the questions are whether he has the temperament Kekalainen is seeking and whether the Jackets are down with doing the assistant-to-head-coach thing for a second straight time.
The theories surrounding the Rangers’ coaching vacancy are born out of denial. Why would the Rangers have fired a coach with a conference finals appearance, a Jack Adams nomination and a .662 points percentage in two seasons if they didn’t have an upgrade already in mind and, potentially, in place?
The whispers about Gallant’s job status started during the first round against the Devils. Who would be an upgrade over Gerard Gallant? Joel Quenneville would!
So the speculation started that the Rangers would ask the NHL for permission to interview Quenneville, who resigned as Florida’s coach in October 2021 when a report detailed how the Blackhawks mishandled allegations that an assistant coach sexually abused a player during the team’s 2010 Stanley Cup run.
Quenneville was Chicago’s coach at the time. He resigned after a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who has said Quenneville must gain his approval before taking another NHL job.
The NHL has not lifted its soft ban on Quenneville. The Rangers reportedly will not ask the league to do so. Moving on …
Who would be an upgrade over Gerard Gallant? Mike Sullivan would! Better yet, Sullivan has history with the Rangers as an assistant coach from 2009 to 2013 under John Tortorella.
One problem: Sullivan is currently the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, with a contract extension through 2026-27 that doesn’t even kick in until 2024-25!
The last week has produced several “Pelican Briefs” on how Sullivan could become the Rangers’ coach. Among the best:
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New York Post writer Larry Brooks passed along a scenario in which GM Kyle Dubas leaves Toronto — please recall he does not have a contract beyond this season — to take the open general manager job in Pittsburgh, brings Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe with him and fires Sullivan. The Rangers then hire free agent coach Sullivan.
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One I heard at the rink: The Fenway Sports Group doesn’t like how the Penguins are trending, regrets handing Sullivan a long-term contract and fires him so the Rangers can basically assume the money he’s owed.
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One more I heard: Sullivan assists the Penguins in hiring a new general manager then gracefully bows out to allow that general manager to hire his own coach, and the Rangers then hire Sullivan.
None of this really explains why a Penguins team desperately trying to win in the remaining years of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang would allow one of the league’s best coaches to leave their bench. But squint your eyes enough and they all feel sort of plausible?
Who would be an upgrade over Gerard Gallant? Patrick Roy would?
So here’s the latest name floating around the Rangers. Roy was the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche from 2013-14 to 2015-16, winning the Jack Adams in his first season. That tenure ended with him taking his puck and going home in August 2016. He has been the head coach of the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts since 2018.
Roy and Rangers GM Chris Drury were teammates with the Avalanche, which fulfills the requirement that almost every hockey hiring has to involve people who played together, worked together or are at least second cousins. But would that take precedence over Roy being known to have a rather volatile personality … or the fact that Drury would be hiring someone who quit his last NHL gig because he didn’t have enough control over player personnel decisions?
Again, all of these theories follow the firing of an experienced, successful NHL coach in Gallant. There has to be a plan. It can’t just be AHL coach Kris Knoblauch getting the promotion to take over a veteran team with lofty expectations. Can it?
The Capitals and head coach Peter Laviolette agreed to part ways after three seasons when the Caps missed the postseason cut.
GM Brian MacLellan said the team needed a coach with experience when he replaced first-time head coach Todd Reirden with Laviolette. This time, MacLellan is singing a different tune, saying the Capitals would be “more open” to a first-time head coach.
Two people seeking their first head-coaching gig have been linked to the Capitals.
The first is 41-year-old Spencer Carbery, an assistant coach with the Maple Leafs. He left for Toronto in 2021 after three seasons coaching Washington’s AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears (2018-21). He was AHL coach of the year in 2020-21. Carbery is the buzziest NHL assistant coach with regard to head-coaching gigs.
Then there’s Jeff Halpern, an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning since 2018. A Potomac, Maryland, native who played six seasons with the Capitals, the 47-year-old is another hot coaching prospect. The Detroit Red Wings hired from Jon Cooper’s bench last offseason with Derek Lalonde; could Halpern be next?
Of course, the Capitals still do have a veteran core — including Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie and John Carlson — and intend to contend as Ovechkin chases Wayne Gretzky’s goals record. Could that mean another veteran coach behind the bench?
These are the current openings. There could be more. Some of these teams will upgrade. Some might downgrade. And some of the coaches hired could find themselves trying to make the best of a bad situation … or, perhaps, turn things around to earn a Jack Adams nomination.
Again, life comes at NHL coaches fast.