5 NHL teams who’ll be next to fire their head coach

Vegas firing Gerard Gallant ran the tally to seven NHL head coaches fired this season, and these five teams may be next to dismiss their coach.

On Wednesday morning, after a fourth loss in a row, the Vegas Golden Knights fired head coach Gerard Gallant. That makes seven head coaches fired in the NHL this season, as Vegas joins Toronto, New Jersey, San Jose, Calgary, Nashville and Dallas as teams who have made that change, with a wide range of circumstances in play.

It’s not uncommon for there to be a lot of coaching turnover in the NHL, and a general model of recycling coaches has continued this year as two coaches who were fired have already landed new jobs with a team who also made a change. But this level of activity could approach a record for a single season when it’s all said and done, since it’s only Jan. 16.

With teams out there that are sure to fall short of expectations, the heat will turn up on those coaches. Sometimes those moves work in-season, as a fresh voice sparks something, while some wind up proving to be short-sighted.

So which NHL team will be next to fire their coach? These five teams are worth watching.

5. Ottawa Senators

The Senators are in a rebuild stage, heading for the third straight season finishing seventh or eighth in the Atlantic Division, so a coaching change may not be wise or particularly palatable with D.J. Smith only in his first season behind the bench. But they’ve lost eight games in a row entering Thursday, and they have the third-lowest point total in the NHL (40).

Smith should get more of a chance to succeed, in line with the talent level in Ottawa ideally being raised over the next year or two. A coaching change being a smart decision for the Senators right now is a separate conversation. But it absolutely can’t be ruled out at some point between now and the end of the season, or certainly when the season is over.