NHL coaching controversy creating more questions than answers

NHL coaches are getting fired for more than poor performance as scandals erupt. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the drama is ending any time soon.

The NHL season begins with 31 head coaches, and not all 31 make it to the finish line. Some changes are better than others. For example, Craig Berube replaced Mike Yeo on the way to a St. Louis Blues Stanley Cup championship. Other times it’s nothing more than a fruitless effort to reverse a team’s failing fortunes (like my New Jersey Devils did with John Hynes).

Most coach exits are unceremonious, but very rarely do they border on hockey’s version of being a walk of shame. That’s all since changed since the Bill Peters scandal broke with the Calgary Flames. Now whenever there is a coaching change, the presumption and speculation will be “is there some sort of scandal behind this?” Thus, opening up a new door to hockey speculation.

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Take last week’s multiple coaching changes for instance. When the Dallas Stars surprisingly fired Jim Montgomery, fans and media alike knew there was more to the story. While nothing has been confirmed as to what Montgomery’s “material act of unprofessionalism” was, the team went as far as to say no other employees were involved and no criminal charges were involved. Even though that was intended to clear some things up, it led to more questions than answers.

Then a few days later, Peter DeBoer was fired as head coach of the San Jose Sharks. The team went out of its way to specify that DeBoer’s firing was a hockey decision and nothing else. A good old-fashioned firing for bad performance was something the LA Times called “a return to normalcy”.

Gary Bettman and the rest of the NHL tried to kick this to the curb with the news that the league would launch initiatives to deal with what has been described as hockey’s “Me Too” movement. Bettman was vague on details, pointing to proposed classes and a player hot line, and what exactly the league [plans to do remains unclear. For what it’s worth, both Bettman and Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill said that the timing of Bettman’s press conference and Montgomery’s firing was pure coincidence.

Montgomery was the most surprising coaching fire, while Peters’ was the most publicized in his fall from grace. Marc Crawford’s status with the Chicago Blackhawks remains up in the air. Surprise coaching changes for reasons other than poor team performance are starting to become an unfortunate norm.

And with new drama comes new speculation. Which coaches are on the seat? With these problems seeming to be secrets kept behind hockey’s closed doors, should we be surprised at anything? One thing is for sure, the era of coaches getting fired for losing teams and losing teams only seems to be that of a bygone era.

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DeBoer likely isn’t the last coach to be fired before the book is closed on the 2019-2020 NHL season. When the unfortunate bench boss who’s next to get his moving papers leaves his post, the same speculations and questions will arise. Just how many cases we have to keep wondering about remains to be seen.

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