The Best NHL Landing Spots for Coaches on the Market
The NHL announced the Jack Adams Award finalists Thursday, which means three coaches can (probably) say they are safe to keep their jobs beyond this season: the New York Rangers' Gerard Gallant, Calgary Flames' Darryl Sutter and Florida Panthers' Andrew Brunette.
These are three very different coaches with varying styles. Gallant is considered an affable players' coach. He's a motivator and has his players' backs, all while guiding them through the season with an even-keeled demeanor.
Sutter is as old-school as they come. He grew up playing in the frozen farmlands of Viking, Alberta, was previously the coach and general manager of the Flames before he returned to the farm for a year and then came back to help the Los Angeles Kings win two Stanley Cups. He has long implemented a grinding, physically demanding style of play.
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Brunette, who carries the interim label, stepped into a difficult situation and deftly guided the Panthers to the Presidents' Trophy after Joel Quenneville resigned.
Other teams aren't quite as lucky with their coaching situations. The week began with the New York Islanders filling their opening by promoting assistant Lane Lambert shortly before the Vegas Golden Knights fired Peter DeBoer, the second coach in the franchise's five-season history.
Barry Trotz is still on the market, having been fired by the Islanders last week, though he has already interviewed with the Winnipeg Jets. Openings exist in Detroit and Philadelphia. Speculation looms that there may be another vacancy in Dallas, and the bench bosses in Chicago and Montreal still have interim tags ahead of their names.
With that said, let's take a look at the landscape and try to predict where a few coaches will end up, as well as examine some up-and-coming coaches who could vie for head jobs soon.
Detroit Red Wings: Mike Vellucci
General manager Steve Yzerman recently fired Jeff Blashill and will keep his cards close to his vest in the search for the Detroit Red Wings' new coach. This is how the franchise legend has always operated, and there is no reason to expect he'll suddenly do things differently.
It gets tough to move in complete secrecy in this business unless you're Lou Lamoriello and all you have to do is tell the club's owner that the coach is getting fired without consulting anyone who could leak information.
But if Yzerman wants to cast a wide net, he'll have to talk to agents and team executives in order to receive permission to speak with candidates. And he should talk to Pittsburgh Penguins president Brian Burke and general manager Ron Hextall regarding the availability of assistant coach Mike Vellucci.
Vellucci is a Detroit-area native from Farmington, Michigan, and he was the longtime head coach of the OHL's Plymouth Whalers before he worked up the pro ranks in the front office with the Carolina Hurricanes, as the head coach of the AHL's Charlotte Checkers and as the head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Vellucci brings experience but isn't a recycled NHL head coach. Yzerman has gone outside the traditional pipelines to fill head coaching jobs in the past, hiring a relatively unknown commodity named Jon Cooper when he was the GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Given Yzerman's history with Cooper, if Vellucci doesn't move him, then maybe Cooper's assistant Derek Lalonde will.
Philadelphia Flyers: John Tortorella
John Tortorella proved to have some behind-the-times views when he said on ESPN that the lacrosse-style goal that burgeoning Anaheim Ducks stars Trevor Zegras and Sonny Milano combined for earlier this year was bad for the game. There is no doubt the lightning rod of a coach would get the fans talking in Philadelphia if nothing else.
He is known for being demanding and holding his team accountable, but behind the curtain, his demeanor is that of a coach who fiercely protects his players, which would also be helpful with a demanding, blue-collar fanbase such as the one in Philadelphia.
He has the credentials: Tortorella led the Lightning to the 2004 Stanley Cup title, is a two-time Jack Adams Award winner, has coached a team to a season of 100 or more points three times, reached the playoffs 12 playoffs times and recorded 10 series victories.
His calling card is defense, and the Columbus Blue Jackets were adept at limiting chances when he was at the helm. The Flyers had little structure under Alain Vigneault and later under interim coach Mike Yeo, bleeding chances in the defensive zone.
Last season, Philadelphia allowed nearly 2000 five-on-five scoring chances (1,971), per NaturalStatTrick.com, which was the eighth-most in the NHL. Playing like that certainly can't help when it comes to developing a goalie like Carter Hart.
However, Tortorella's effectiveness can wane as the tough love wears thin, especially if his teams aren't winning. But hey, it's worked for Sutter. Tortorella might not be a long-term solution but instead a way to bridge the gap to the next coach.
If not Tortorella, then Trotz could be the answer.
Winnipeg Jets: Barry Trotz
Few coaches do more with less than Trotz.
The system is the star with the 59-year-old, and it's heavily predicated on defense and limiting chances. But he has proved this style of play can win, as is evidenced by his 914 career victories and a 2018 Stanley Cup.
The Jets could have some key long-term pieces in place to retool around in forward Kyle Connor and defenseman Josh Morrissey. Franchise cornerstones Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Connor Hellebuyck will still be around for a few more years, and Pierre-Luc Dubois is in need of an extension, as he'll be a restricted free agent this summer.
Trotz, a Dauphin, Manitoba, native, once brought the Cup back to the province during his day with it after he won the title with Washington, but he has a chance to bring it back as more than just a display item.
The other name that could be in the mix is Randy Carlyle, the 66-year-old former Anaheim Ducks and Toronto Maple Leafs coach.
Carlye hasn't coached since he was fired from his second stint with Anaheim in 2019. According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the former Winnipeg defenseman is interested in getting behind a bench again.
Carlyle's style was a little stale toward the end with the Ducks, though the second time around in Orange County, he did prove to have a softer demeanor and showed an ability to adapt.
He could be continuing to evolve, and if that's the case, then it makes sense for a team to at least inquire about the 2007 Stanley Cup-winning coach.
Vegas Golden Knights: Rick Tocchet
Rick Tocchet made some strides with the Arizona Coyotes, taking them to the playoffs in 2020. But the TNT analyst wasn't given much of a chance to show what he could do as a coach in Arizona since the club decided to rebuild and go in another direction in 2021, hiring former Ottawa 67's coach and Team Canada World Junior coach Andre Tourigney.
Prior to that, Tocchet's first head coaching job came in 2008, when he got the interim role in Tampa Bay after the Lightning fired Barry Melrose. Tocchet was fired after the 2010 season, having posted a 53-69-26 record in two years.
The 58-year-old has played in 1,144 career NHL games and won two Stanley Cups as an assistant coach on Mike Sullivan's bench, overseeing a power play that often featured Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.
It's tough to get a read on the Golden Knights given the club's tendency to make decisions on a whim, like parting with former coach Gerard Gallant in the middle of the season and trading away former franchise face Marc-Andre Fleury. But Tocchet developed a respected, no-nonsense approach in Arizona, and with a roster of veterans who want to win and who know what it takes to do so, that style could be effective.
Dallas Stars: Peter DeBoer
Look, this is a shot in the dark, but it seems as though Rick Bowness has outlived his effectiveness. The Dallas Stars made it to the first round of the playoffs and pushed the Flames to seven games, largely based on the performance of emerging young goalie Jake Oettinger.
But getting into the playoffs shouldn't be the goal for a team that was in the Stanley Cup Final while in the bubble two years ago. Sure, we could point to the flukey nature of the bubble, but it was an even playing field for everyone in Edmonton and Toronto, so no one can say they didn't earn it.
The Stars are in a tough place with an aging core and some top young talent. They either have to move on from players such as John Klingberg or risk clinging to the past and mediocrity. That won't be easy, considering Tyler Seguin has five years left on his contract and Jamie Benn has three.
The club was at an impasse with Klingberg, an impending unrestricted free agent, earlier this year, but he has expressed a desire to stay in Texas.
No decision has been made on Bowness, but if Dallas decides it has enough talent to continue on this same path and go for it in the near future, it might want a win-now coach such as DeBoer, who has led two teams to the Cup Final (New Jersey Devils in 2012, San Jose Sharks in 2016).
Under-the-Radar Names
There is a dearth of European coaches and executives in the NHL. Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen (Finland) and Vancouver Canucks GM Patrik Allvin (Sweden) are the only two Europeans to hold high-level executive positions. There are no European head coaches.
Marco Sturm could soon change that. A veteran of nearly 1,000 NHL games, Sturm is getting NHL coaching experience as a Kings assistant on Todd McLellan's bench. He has also coached the German national team in international competition.
Rikard Gronborg's name comes up every year. The longtime Swedish national team coach is guiding Switzerland’s ZSC Lions but has worked in North America in collegiate ranks.
Patrik Elias has also coached the Czech junior national team and with the Devils as a special assistant of sorts. He expressed interest in coaching in the NHL a few years ago, though he may need some experience as an assistant or as the coach of an AHL team first.
And speaking of the Devils, Alain Nasreddine, who briefly served as New Jersey's interim coach when John Hynes was fired in December 2019, parted ways with the Devils recently. Nasreddine could either take his lockdown penalty-killing system elsewhere in the NHL or try to become an AHL head coach to gain experience in the big chair.
Kris Knoblauch's name was mentioned last year after the Rangers fired David Quinn. The coach of the AHL's Hartford Wolfpack since 2019 and a former assistant coach with the Flyers, Knoblauch could be ready to make the jump to an NHL head coaching job.
Quinn is also on the market, as is Claude Julien. Both coached at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
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