NHL Coaches on the Hot Seat at the 2017 All-Star Break

For those of us living in Canada during the hockey season, the hot seat is a something you make sure is installed in your car for the winter. For NHL coaches, it's pretty much anything they settle into when things aren't going well for their team—regardless of the real reason it isn't performing up to expectations. 

Six of the league's bench bosses were canned in the 2015-16 season, including super successful regular-season coach Bruce Boudreau, which proved no one is safe unless they're posing with the Stanley Cup. 

Already this year, we've seen the axing of Gerard Gallant by the Florida Panthers and Jack Capuano from the New York Islanders. And as the league prepares for the annual All-Star event on the weekend, teams will be assessing the future of their leaders. 

There are plenty of teams in need of some sort of shakeup. The Tampa Bay Lightning sit in a pack of Eastern Conference teams that are a handful of points outside the playoff picture. The Dallas Stars went to the second round of the playoffs last spring after leading the Western Conference in the regular season. The coaches of those two teams, though, are in very different situations. 

Jon Cooper has already been endorsed by Bolts general manager Steve Yzerman. He's not one to go back on his word. As for Lindy Ruff, he's on the final year of his contract and surely won't get a new deal unless he manages to help his Stars find their way back to the postseason. 

The question is, will the team wait that long if another coaching candidate becomes available?

Read on to see where Ruff lands among the NHL coaches on the hot seat at the 2017 All-Star break.

Dan Bylsma, Buffalo Sabres

Jeffrey T. Barnes/Associated Press

When a team makes a massive jump in the standings the way the Buffalo Sabres did last season by climbing from 54 points in 2014-15 to 81 points in 2015-16, the expectation is that another leap will follow. A little one may be taking place for Dan Bylsma's squad if you look strictly at points percentage, with the Sabres at .521 right now after a .494 last season, but it's sort of a playoffs-or-bust mentality in Buffalo where ownership has shown a willingness to spend money to win it all. 

It's only Bylsma's second year. Patience is probably prudent, but a bad December during which the Sabres won just five games got people thinking maybe he'd get the same treatment as owner Terry Pegula's NFL team's boss—Rex Ryan, who was fired in his second season with the Buffalo Bills.

Fortunately for Bylsma, the team has had a better January, winning seven of 11 games ahead of Thursday's matchup with the Dallas Stars. But his relationship with his players is being scrutinized—especially since starting goalie Robin Lehner lost his mind after a pull. 

Willie Desjardins, Vancouver Canucks

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

When the Vancouver Canucks came out of the gates flying this season with four straight wins, then lost nine of their next 10 contests, the questions began about Willie Desjardins' future in his third season as an NHL head coach. 

Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet answered that with a "safe for now" proclamation in November, but the Canadian market is craving another taste of the playoffs after losing out in the first round in their one appearance since 2013. The Canucks are a team that should be going with a big rebuild but seem reluctant to do so. They're teetering on the playoff line right now, and a bad second half could result in a new direction at the coaching spot and then the roster. 

The still open Christmas poll that included a question on whether Desjardins should lose his job sits with a majority in favor of him being fired at 63.23 per cent as of this article's writing. 

Dave Tippett, Arizona Coyotes

LM Otero/Associated Press

If the Arizona Coyotes were a team with a bigger fanbase, the calls for Dave Tippett's head would be much, much louder. Although the team is in the midst of a rebuild, it's been out of the playoffs for five years, and Tippett isn't seeing the growth he expected from some of the key members of the core roster. 

The team is the second worst in the NHL at the moment, thanks to the epic bumblings of the Colorado Avalanche. The Coyotes are allowing the most shots against in the league, which is a real concern when the coach is known for his defensive teachings. It doesn't help that he's reportedly frustrated with the lack of progress. 

Tippett's situation is complicated, though, because he is part of the decision-making group along with young general manager John Chayka. The likelihood is the franchise is dedicated to the current vision, and Tippett's tenure is safe for another year at least. 

Paul Maurice, Winnipeg Jets

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

When a head coach starts screaming at his team, it often signals a boiling point of frustration. After that, it's a matter of time before the team either turns things around in the standings or someone gets sacrificed. The simplest sacrifice is always the coach. 

Paul Maurice has had enough of the Winnipeg Jets' losing ways and let everyone know it during a timeout in a recent ugly loss and in a profanity-laced media interview afterward. The Jets are among the bottom feeders in the Western Conference standings and were 3-6-1 in 10 games ahead of Thursday's finale before the All-Star break. 

The team made the playoffs two years ago but hasn't taken the expected steps forward so far this season and boasts one of the worst defensive performances this year despite an electrifying offense. Goaltending has been abysmal, but as Maurice's red-faced rant would indicate, the play in front of them is a factor, too. 

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said earlier this month he was told Maurice is safe...but would a GM thinking of making a change tell the truth to an NHL insider?

Lindy Ruff, Dallas Stars

LM Otero/Associated Press

No plummet has been greater than that of the Dallas Stars, last year's top seed in the Western Conference. Injuries have played a role with potential top six forwards Jiri Hudler, Patrick Sharp and Ales Hemsky all missing significant chunks of time. And they lost Russian Valeri Nichushkin to the KHL in the offseason as well. That's not to excuse Ruff, who hasn't managed to get the best out of his key players. 

His answer to the struggles that have seen the Stars drop from the top tier in scoring last year with an average of 3.23 goals per game, to 17th this season with 2.67, is to ask for more from star Tyler Seguin (who, by the way, is already a top-10 scorer this season.)

Tyler Seguin has been a top-10 scorer, but Ruff needs more from others in the lineup. And as bad as it must be to be saddled with a goaltending tandem consisting of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi, Ruff hasn't been able to manage those two in order to get the best of either. His hands may be tied by GM Jim Nill, who has to share in the blame for some of his decisions over Ruff's four years, but it seems like the Stars might be tuning out the bench boss.

Because Ruff's contract expires at the end of the season anyway, Nill won't have to fire him. However, it might be the one thing that motivates these guys to play at a level worthy of playoff qualification.

Jared Bednar, Colorado Avalanche

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Jared Bednar may be the least fortunate member of this group. The Colorado Avalanche weren't expecting to be hiring so late in the summer, but when Hall of Famer Patrick Roy decided to call it quits over irreconcilable differences, they were forced to find a new bench boss well after the top free agents—like Bruce Boudreau—were scooped up in the offseason. 

Working against the first-year NHL coach is the fact the team is doing even worse than it did over the past couple of disappointing seasons. The Avalanche are hands-down the worst in the league in pretty much every way. Their points percentage is abysmal, their minus-63 goal differential is more than 15 worse than the Arizona Coyotes thanks to an average only slightly over two goals per game scored and 3.37 against. 

The Avs finished just shy of a playoff spot last year but barring a miraculous second half won't get anywhere near it this season. Semyon Varlamov's goaltending is atrocious, but the team as a whole is a complete disaster, and it may have to rethink the hiring of the successful minor league coach to guide this bunch of NHL misfits. The Avs clearly aren't adapting to his system, so it's either ship out a bunch of players or try again on the coach. 

Claude Julien, Boston Bruins

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

The Boston Bruins are flirting with a third straight season without making the playoffs. Head coach Claude Julien has been in place for a decade but may be clinging to his spot given the lack of recent success and the fact he survived when previous general manager Peter Chiarelli was fired.

Things are getting nasty in his media scrums these days. Julien refused to answer a question about his job security earlier this month with a bristly comment about shock journalism. But the truth is it would not be shocking in any way to see him let go and replaced by someone like Cam Neely on an interim basis if ownership and GM Don Sweeney decide it's a move that can help the team get back into the playoffs. 

He did talk about his job the next day with reporters, as per the Boston Globe, but admitted it's out of his control. His comments to Kevin Paul Dupont of the Globe actually seem to indicate changes that it's up to the coach to inspire from his charges. 

"At this stage, right now, we are not viewed as a high-skilled team. So we have to be willing to go to the net," Julien said. "We’ve got to be willing to do it the dirty way, and the dirty way is by getting some net-front presence and grinding it out in that net-front area, so that’s where our team is right now.”

If that doesn't change, something else will. 

All stats via NHL.com.