8 NHL Coaches and GM That Will Be On the Hot Seat This Offseason

The downside for teams that miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs is that it gives them a lot of time to think about what went wrong. It also gives them an immediate window to point fingers and decide who's most to blame for the team's shortcomings, and that means coaches and general managers alike have to worry about their job status.

For all the surprise teams we've seen climb into the playoff picture this year, that means there are more than a few teams we thought would be there that will more than likely not be. Some of the suspects are obvious, but there are a few others whose seats might start feeling uncomfortably toasty.

We'll take a look at a few coaches and GMs who may not be looking forward to the offseason because it might be one in which they have to decide about something other than their team's lines or roster.

Chris Drury, New York Rangers

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This is probably a bit dumb on our part to say that Rangers GM Chris Drury is on the hot seat. After all, he was on it last year and came away from it with a contract extension, and it would be hard to believe that Rangers owner James Dolan would have a rapid change of heart.

Drury's team is set to miss the postseason for the second straight year after winning the Presidents' Trophy, and after the trades that rocked the team last season and the continued tumble down the standings this season, those would be reasons enough to find a new GM in most cases. But the Rangers' job is not at all like most cases.

If Drury's job was at all in jeopardy, would he and the team have put out (yet another) letter to the fans telling them they'd do their best to right the ship? Would they have traded Artemi Panarin and not tried to retain him? Probably not. Still, this is Dolan's team, and if things break right or wrong on the right or wrong day, he could shake things up completely without warning.

If the Rangers were a regular operation, Drury's seat wouldn't be warm; it'd be fully engulfed.

Brad Treliving, Toronto Maple Leafs

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To say it's been a mess in Toronto this season would be a vast understatement, but assigning the blame for how bad it's gone is tricky. The problems stem from the roster makeup to how they've played on the ice, and the kind of fall they've had means no one's job is safe. General manager Brad Treliving, however, has been in the spotlight for his work there over the past few seasons.

It wouldn't be fair to blame Treliving for how things broke down with Mitch Marner and led to his departure to Vegas, especially since Marner seemed ready to move on himself. What's worth noting, however, is how much depth of talent the Leafs lost under his watch. Injuries happen to everyone, but Toronto seemed less able to weather them, especially this season.

Some of Treliving's moves have gone predictably awry, while others have been deeply unfortunate.

He signed Chris Tanev to a six-year contract at age 34, knowing full well how hard he's played over the years, which could lead to injuries. He also dealt prospect Fraser Minten and a conditional first-round pick to Boston for Brandon Carlo, only to see Carlo struggle to fit into the Leafs' system. Last year, he traded away a prospect and a first-round pick to get Scott Laughton, only to trade him away this year to Los Angeles and get a third-round pick in return.

A lot of what's gone wrong this year hinges on injuries, yes, but it wasn't helped by some of the holes the team dug for itself in how to get help from within.

Craig Berube, Toronto Maple Leafs

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As much as Brad Treliving has his hands in how poorly things have gone for the Toronto Maple Leafs, head coach Craig Berube is right there with him.

When Berube was hired as head coach in 2024, there were two schools of thought. One view took into account how he led the St. Louis Blues to the Stanley Cup in 2019 and how his simplified, harder-to-play-against style of hockey was the kind of thing the high-flying, loose-playing Maple Leafs could use to hone themselves into a championship team. The other view took all of that into account and felt it would be a bad mix, and Berube's old-school style on the ice would stunt them and lead to a team without an identity.

The Leafs very nearly were of the first thought last season when they were up 2-0 on Florida and oh so close to taking a 3-0 lead in the series before blowing a 3-1 lead in Game 3 and needing to tie the game in the third at 4-4 before losing in overtime. They went on to lose Game 7 to Florida and are now looking ahead to this year's draft lottery rather than another playoff run.

That said, the Leafs found ways to win both because of Berube's simpler style of play, and lost because their elite offensive players couldn't take games over by skating circles around opponents and scoring at will. They needed a balance of those two styles, and a balance never was struck, and a new voice behind the bench could be the way out.

Then again, a new coach and a new GM might be what's in store for Toronto.

Kyle Davidson, Chicago Blackhawks

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Much like with Chris Drury in New York, it's probably bonkers to think that anything could happen to Chicago GM Kyle Davidson. After all, Chicago is still rebuilding, and no matter how far out from drafting Connor Bedard they are, until they start sniffing at the postseason, they can still claim to be putting things together.

Rebuilds can take a long time to come together, just ask the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres, but the Blackhawks landing Bedard changed the clock in all of our minds, but maybe not theirs. Make no mistake, Bedard is having a very good season, while the other young players coming up with and around him are dealing with the usual bumps in the road. Heck, Bedard dealt with it last year, remember?

Still, it's up to Davidson to better surround Bedard, and when that didn't work out a year ago with older veterans, he pulled back and gave younger players space to seize the opportunity and run free under new coach Jeff Blashill. It hasn't worked either. Chicago has two 20-goal scorers in Bedard and Tyler Bertuzzi, and only five other players have reached double figures.

Changing up attack plans like this is a way for a GM to wind up on the hot seat, that is, if Chicago's ownership didn't fully entrust him to handle it from the get-go anyway. His job is most likely safe, but in any other situation, it'd be really warm.

Tom Fitzgerald, New Jersey Devils

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This season was supposed to be one where the New Jersey Devils shook off the injury plague and returned to the playoffs. Instead, they still dealt with freak injuries and appear set to miss the postseason, but with the added twist of trade speculation potentially causing discord amongst the players.

The Devils had to go a month without Jack Hughes because of a dinner mishap, but they also had to deal with speculation that Dougie Hamilton was in trade rumors, and GM Tom Fitzgerald didn't exactly throw cold water on it. He also signed Luke Hughes to a massive contract extension, putting even more pressure on the young defenseman's shoulders.

It's messy in New Jersey, and even though coach Sheldon Keefe has had his hands full trying to get everything into balance, having that much noise going on around the team from the outside makes it even harder to square things away, especially when the noise is coming from your own boss.

The Devils' ownership tends to take a hands-off approach to matters, and Fitzgerald has earned their trust, especially given how injuries plagued previous seasons. That said, injuries haven't been nearly as much of a problem this year, and the team has had a tough year. If something shakes loose this summer, it's probably not going to be the coach that suffers for it.

Ryan Huska, Calgary Flames

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It's been a really tough year for the Calgary Flames. As much as they appeared to punch above their weight a year ago and just missed out on the playoffs, they've seen their good luck disappear this season.

Calgary's goalie Dustin Wolf had a rough start to the season, but has rebounded well in the second half. The Flames' offense has struggled all year long. As a team in all situations, they're shooting 8.6 percent, the lowest mark in the NHL, and average the fewest goals-for per game at 2.46. They generate shots, they just don't score enough, and part of that reason is that they lack scorers. Still, GM Craig Conroy's job seems to be secure.

This will most likely be Huska's worst season as coach of the Flames, and if he gets them close to .500 this season, he'll have done some miraculous work. But after the Flames got so close a year ago and showed growth from his first year behind the bench, this season is a tough one to sit on. We're not saying he should be fired after the season, but his seat might be a bit warmer than he'd like.

Patrik Allvin, Vancouver Canucks

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There may be no stranger situation than the Vancouver Canucks. From ownership on down, everything there is run in such a way that it makes you understand why Canucks fans are as intense as they are. After all, if you had to deal with that kind of madness every day, you'd yell a lot, too.

The Canucks will be the worst team in the NHL this season and odds-on favorites for the top pick in the NHL Draft. These are things that should perk the fans up, but you have to wonder if GM Patrik Allvin will still be part of it. The Canucks just brought Adam Foote in as coach last year, so the team's failings on the ice aren't all on him. Allvin and the president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, have been there for a few years and have been tinkering and pulling things apart to the point they're managing the league's worst team.

Unless the plan from management was to, indeed, sink to the bottom and try their hand at ping pong ball luck after trading Quinn Hughes away and deciding later on what they will or won't do with Elias Pettersson, then maybe Allvin and Rutherford are the guys who should have to handle that themselves and not allow someone else to clean it up. Then again, if they're going to pull it all apart, maybe that means doing it completely from the front office on down.

Andrew Brunette, Nashville Predators

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There's part of us that is rooting for Andrew Brunette to get the Nashville Predators to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and become a Jack Adams Award finalist, given how badly things went for them last season. He's a coach who can coax wins out of teams and has a handle on things behind the bench.

That said, Brunette is coaching a team that might miss the playoffs, and, more importantly, one that will have a new general manager in the near future. At least, we think it'll be near since Barry Trotz stepped down months ago and is only steering things along until they find a successor.

It's that unsettled part of the future that makes us put Brunette on the hot seat. It's not so much what he's done as the head coach, although the Predators are in playoff contention in a Western Conference that's having a very down year. But whenever a new GM is named, that GM tends to want to hire their own head coach rather than go with the guy the previous executive hired.

Things haven't been totally smooth in Nashville, and if a coaching change was wanted, it would be understandable to a degree, but with a new GM and iffy results during Brunette's time, it would be hard to feel comfortable in his shoes.