5 NHL coaches who could be on the hot seat by Thanksgiving
By Kyle McKenna
While it’s still early for the 2019-20 NHL season, find out which teams could have head coaches on the hot seat as early as late November.
The NHL enters its third week of the 2019-20 regular season, and already there have been several surprising starts around the league. Depending on which city you’re rooting for that can be for the better, or worse.
With that being said, here are five coaches whose jobs could be on the hot seat by the Thanksgiving holiday.
5. Paul Maurice – Winnipeg Jets
It wasn’t out of the ordinary to see the Winnipeg Jets and head coach Paul Maurice picked to at least reach the past two Stanley Cup Finals, but after failing to do so – the longtime NHL coach is on the hot seat.
Yes, the Jets suffered some turnover on the team’s blue line during the offseason, and the surprise absence of defenseman Dustin Byfuglien hasn’t made Maurice’s job any easier to begin his sixth full season with Winnipeg.
However, the Jets are built to win a championship now and with a young core of offensive studs in Patrik Laine, Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, there’s no room for comfort when it comes down to Winnipeg’s coaching staff.
While the Jets aren’t off to a terrible start (4-3-0), the next month should be telling on where Winnipeg and Maurice stand moving forward.
Along with Tampa Bay Lightning head coach, Jon Cooper, Maurice is one of the longest-tenured head coaches to date in the NHL. It seems that coaches lasting longer than three seasons with an NHL team is quite the challenge given the current state of the league’s overall parity.
It’s been a good run for Maurice in Winnipeg, but is someone else the “answer” behind the bench for the Jets to take that next step forward?