Is Nashville the Only Team That Could Make a Coaching Change?
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period was on TSN Radio in Montreal and was asked which coach was on the hot seat this season. All signs point to Andrew Brunette with the Nashville Predators.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Host: “Dave, Campbell and I a little bit earlier, we are counting down power rankings, top five coaches on the hot seat in the National Hockey League. And you know, Campbell and I, we rarely disagree on things as we got to one, as we got to one, it was narrowed down. We both landed on Andrew Burnette as being on the hottest seat in the league. What do you think?”
Dave Pagnotta: “His would be the hottest, and, quite frankly, probably the only one whose hot, whose seat is hot. He’s got one year left on his contract. Barry Trotz has said repeatedly in the last two weeks or 10 days or so that, at least, to the local media, that he is not considering a coaching change right now. He also indicated he does not have any desire to go back behind the bench as a head coach, maybe on the interim side for the rest of the season, maybe he would consider it, but for now, he’s not really contemplating a coaching change.
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Roster construction in Nashville is a mess, so they have to focus on that. So I understand that. Plus, another year on the contract, another head coach, you’ve got to pay him. When you got all these other changes, you need to make, there’s only so much that can be thrown the coach’s way.
Toronto is not making a coaching change now. (Craig) Berube’s got two years left on his deal. Ryan Huska just signed a two-year extension with the Flames. Excuse me, he’s not going anywhere. Chris Knoblach signed a three-year extension in Edmonton. He’s not going anywhere. So you’re really limited in terms of what you could do.
Now, some people were thinking, Okay, if LA falters, is Jim Hiller going to be a guy to look at? And what do we see with LA? But the Kings have been rolling a little bit here, and are in a playoff position, I think, at the moment, or close to it, anyway, so things are okay there. So really, you know, a lot of this and St. Louis isn’t changing Monty (Jim Montgomery) and so on and so on.
So, you look around the league, and you go, Hmm, these teams that are good, what’s the common denominator? Oh, they’re rosters. Their lineup sucks. They don’t have enough depth. They don’t have this. Sometimes it’s the management and GMs fault, and they got to figure things out.”
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NHLRumors.com Note: Brunette seems to be the most likely candidate given the situation in Nashville. Again, nobody knows what the problem is in Buffalo with Lindy Ruff. However, it appears Barry Trotz is considering it, as he told 102.5 The Game in Nashville that all options are on the table. That includes a coaching change.
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