7 NHL Coaches at Risk of Losing Their Jobs at the End of the Season

The NHL regular season is rapidly nearing its conclusion, with the focus of most fans now firmly on potential playoff matchups (or, for the less fortunate, the draft lottery and Connor McDavid). But it's also the time of year where we can start to guess at summer moves, including summer moves involving coaches and managers.

Which teams might be looking at making a change? The following slideshow identifies seven leading candidates for dismissal and explains in each case why the clubs employing these bench bosses might want to make a change. We also look at each coach's history and how his team has performed under his watch this season. 

Read on to see where coaching vacancies might open up and which coaches might need to update their resumes. 

Craig Berube, Philadelphia Flyers

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Team Record: 28-26-13, 69 points

Coaching History: A longtime Flyers' player, Craig Berube has been with the organization in one coaching capacity or another for the past decade. He took over the coaching reins early last season and guided Philadelphia to a first-round loss in his first campaign as an NHL head coach. 

Why He's in Danger: The Flyers have had a disappointing season, with work ethic a significant concern in some quarters. As NJ.com's Randy Miller noted on Monday, several players on the team noted that the club hasn't always competed as hard as it needs to, and Berube may well end up paying the price for that. 

Ken Hitchcock, St. Louis Blues

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Team Record: 41-19-5, 87 points

Coaching History: Ken Hitchcock is a veteran head coach who has won both the Jack Adams Award and the Stanley Cup behind the bench. He's now in his fourth season with St. Louis, and the team has yet to win a second-round game under his watch despite excellent regular-season performances.  

Why He's in Danger: If the Blues fall in the first round for the third consecutive campaign, Hitchcock's future with the team will come into question. The Blues on paper should be able to compete with Los Angeles and Chicago but have gone just 4-12 in their last three series against the best teams in the West, resulting in early playoff exits every time.

Peter Horachek, Toronto Maple Leafs

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Team Record: 5-19-2, 12 points

Coaching History: Peter Horachek started at the bottom as a coach in the late 1980s and has worked his way up the ladder. After a long stint as an assistant/associate coach in Nashville, he got his first head coaching job as a midseason replacement in Florida last year; now he's in the same role in Toronto.

Why He's in Danger: The "interim" tag attached to Horachek's title means that the back half of this season is essentially a long job interview, and the trouble is that the Leafs have been a disaster under his watch. Toronto wasn't good under Randy Carlyle, but it was in the playoff hunt; now it's a bottom-five NHL team. 

Claude Julien, Boston Bruins

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Team Record: 33-22-10, 76 points

Coaching History: Claude Julien is another accomplished veteran as an NHL coach. He's won the Jack Adams Award and the Stanley Cup, and Boston is his third NHL team and a place where he's spent most of a largely successful decade. 

Why He's in Danger: The Bruins are struggling through a disappointing campaign and if they miss the playoffs (or even if they squeak in and get bounced in the first round), then Julien might be sacrificed. Nobody doubts he can coach, but he's been at the helm for a long time, and there are likely going to be consequences for Boston's poor season. 

Todd McLellan, San Jose Sharks

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Team Record: 32-26-8, 72 points

Coaching History: Todd McLellan has been pretty successful everywhere he's coached. Strong work in the WHL led to an AHL head coaching job; a championship win at that level led to an assistant position in Detroit. San Jose is his first NHL head coaching stop, and the team has been consistently good but not great over most of a decade under McLellan.

Why He's in Danger: McLellan is a staple in the annual debate over which coach is going to get fired, mostly because he hasn't been able to guide the Sharks to playoff success. With the team currently outside the playoff picture, it's not hard to imagine that missing the postseason entirely might be the final nail in his metaphorical coffin. 

Todd Nelson, Edmonton Oilers

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Team Record: 11-15-4, 26 points

Coaching History: Edmonton's interim head coach has spent most of the last five years doing an exceptional job at the AHL level. He had previously been an AHL and NHL assistant coach and a head coach in the low minors.

Why He's in Danger: Like Horachek in Toronto, Todd Nelson is coaching with the interim label and consequently has no security in the top job. He's helped the Oilers to a better record in the second half of the season and several young players have improved under his watch, but Edmonton may opt to go with a veteran hand. 

Ted Nolan, Buffalo Sabres

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Team Record: 19-42-5, 43 points

Coaching History: An exceptional young coach back in the early 1990s, Ted Nolan had a falling out with the Buffalo Sabres in 1997 and spent most of the next decade in exile in a situation that can only be described as weird. He returned to the NHL with the New York Islanders, and then landed in Buffalo as a midseason replacement last year. 

Why He's in Danger: The Sabres are terrible, which isn't Nolan's fault, but it also makes it easy to let him go. Nolan wasn't hired by current general manager Tim Murray, and Murray may well want his own handpicked candidate in the post as Buffalo rebuilds. 

Statistics via NHL.com, hockey-reference.com and hockeydb.com.