5 NHL teams who should hire Gerard Gallant right now

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For the second time in under five years, a team has shocked the NHL by parting ways with Gerard Gallant. He won’t be out of a job for long, as these five teams will likely come calling.

The Jack Adams Trophy curse has returned. This time, it has claimed former Vegas Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant, who was removed from his position on Wednesday, Jan. 15, and replaced by former San Jose Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer. Gallant won the Jack Adams Trophy back in 2017-18 after leading the Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in their first season.

This isn’t the first time Gallant has been fired. Heck, it isn’t even the first time a team firing him has shocked the NHL. Gallant was famously fired by the Florida Panthers back in 2016. The veteran of 541 regular season games behind the bench is back on the open market. Gallant might want to take his time to find a new team. But you can bet teams are interested in adding him right now.

It’s rare to see a Jack Adams winner (and one who didn’t just rely on comically high shooting percentages or save percentages) become available in the middle of a season. Gallant is one of the best coaches in the business. While the Golden Knights have underachieved this season, their issues are, in my opinion, roster related, not coaching related.

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Gallant will be available as long as he wants to be. If he wants to wait, teams will happily do so. But if Gallant wants to keep coaching, these five teams need to give him a call.

Honorable Mention: San Jose Sharks

I would love nothing more than for the San Jose Sharks and Golden Knights to effectively swap coaches. Gallant and DeBoer hate each other and I’m all for more pettiness in the league. Every Sharks versus Knights game would have the drama of Monday Night Raw during the WWE’s Attitude Era.

5. Seattle

Seattle’s NHL expansion team doesn’t have a name yet. They don’t even have a head coach yet. Heck, they’re not even a darn team yet and won’t be one for a little bit. But you can bet general manager Ron Francis has put Gallant on the top of his head coaching list. Coaching an expansion team is very hard to do. It requires a special person. Gallant is the kind of person.

He has the experience of turning an expansion team into an immediate Stanley Cup contender. Remember, Vegas was quick to pounce on Gallant when he became available. He was fired in November and was hired by April. Seattle should start talking to him because there couldn’t be a more perfect candidate to lead the NHL’s newest expansion team.

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4. Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars are on the verge of being Stanley Cup contenders. They’ve done quite well since firing Jim Montgomery because of personal issues. Since Rick Bowness replaced him, the Stars have gone 10-4-1. However, Bowness is not Gallant. Gallant is the kind of coach who could help the Stars win a Stanley Cup.

Bowness was never hired to be a full-time head coach anyway. He’s currently their interim head coach. And though Bowness has done a darn good job during his trial period, let’s be honest, Gallant would be a fairly significant upgrade.

Let’s compare the two coaches’ resumes and see who’s better. The answer should be overwhelming.

Bowness

478 regular season games
133 wins
293 losses
48 ties
.333% regular season point percentage
4 overtime losses
15 postseason games
8-7-0 postseason record

All stats are as of Jan. 15, 2020

Gallant

541 regular season games
270 wins
216 losses
4 ties
51 overtime losses
.550% regular season point percentage
33 postseason games
18-15 postseason record
1 Western Conference championship (2018)
1 Jack Adams Trophy (2018)

It’s obvious Gallant is the better coach, with all due respect to Bowness. Also, the Stars are a team built to win now. Not in a few years. Right. Now. Gallant is a coach who can help them do that. Hiring Gallant would make the Stars serious Stanley Cup contenders. I get why they might stay away from him – why fix something that isn’t broken? But it’s that kind of thinking that can make you complacent.

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3. Detroit Red Wings

Quick – who’s the third-longest tenured head coach in the NHL? Jon Cooper is the first. Paul Maurice is the second. Would you believe it’s Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill? Because, for some odd reason, it is. Blashill was hired to replace Mike Babcock back in 2015. Since then, the Red Wings have made the playoffs just once and have gone 148-177-50 in 377 games, as of Jan. 15, 2020.

Now, is it completely Blashill’s fault the Red Wings have gone from perennial playoff team to perennial last-place contender under him? Absolutely not. The Red Wings roster is horrific. However, it’s clear Blashill is not the right coach for the Red Wings unless they want to continue losing.

Gallant’s teams have traditionally been strong. Their underlying stats are impressive. Just this season, the Golden Knights are a top five team in just about every underlying stat you can think of, whether it’s Corsi, scoring changes, or expected goals. This proves Gallant has a strong system that can have success.

The Red Wings are one of the wealthiest teams in the NHL. They need to start acting like it if they’re going to get out of the slump they’ve been in since the start of the 2015-16 season. Hiring Gallant would change the fortunes of the Red Wings. General Manager Steve Yzerman should understand the importance of having a great coach. Jon Cooper helped him have quite a bit of success in Tampa.

Maybe they shouldn’t fire Blashill now since they’re clearly trying to win as few games as possible and obviously, Gallant would be counter-productive to this goal. But after this season, the Red Wings should be very interested in parting ways with Blashill and hiring Gallant.

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2. Winnipeg Jets

Paul Maurice has been the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets since January 12, 2014, which makes him the second-longest tenured head coach in the NHL, trailing only Jon Cooper in Tampa. During that time, he has taken the Jets to the postseason thrice (2015, 2018, 2019). They failed to make it out of the first round in 2015 and 2019.

I think it’s time for the Jets to part ways with Maurice. He’s been relatively successful in Winnipeg, but they’ve been underachieving for well over a year now. The Jets are simply too talented to be where they are – barely hanging onto a wild card spot.

What’s scary is the Jets should be a lot worse. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has masked a lot of their flaws. The Jets problems aren’t roster related. Sure, their blueline is bad. But it was also bad last year when it was better. No team that has Patrik Laine, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Blake Wheeler should be fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot.

One thing Gallant does well is getting his players to buy-in. If they buy-in, they’re going to have success. That’s a fact Gallant has proven in recent years. He commands respect but at the same time, he is still a player’s coach because he understands his players. Gallant knows how to push the right buttons. He’s a coach who could help the Jets unleash their true potential.

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1. Montreal Canadiens

Frankly, I don’t think that hiring Gerard Gallant would save the Montreal Canadiens season. Watching them, I can tell their problems aren’t system-related. The Canadiens dominate possession and can consistently set up scoring chances. Their issue is they can’t finish them and they don’t have enough depth. Neither of those issues is the fault of head coach Claude Julien.

This doesn’t have to do with what I would do. Rather, this is about what I think Habs general manager Marc Bergevin will do.

Knowing how teams tend to operate, Bergevin could blame Julien for the team’s flaws and go after Gallant. It’s something he would do. Bergevin hasn’t shied away from firing his coaches during the season. Remember Michel Therrien?

Something else to consider is that Bergevin probably needs to do something. He doesn’t want to trade Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, or Carey Price. Changing the roster likely isn’t an option because nothing short of adding quite a bit of skill would change much. However, changing the man behind the bench is something Bergevin could sell to ownership.

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Julien is a good coach, but Gallant is arguably better. The latter has certainly done more with less than the former has. True, Gallant hasn’t won a Stanley Cup like Julien. However, he’s had more recent success than him. Also, Julien’s Stanley Cup was won nine years ago and it took a historic performance from Tim Thomas for him to win it.

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