The Vancouver Canucks recently fired Bruce Boudreau to bring in Rick Tocchet as the new bench boss of the team. The move was long overdue and handled poorly by the Canucks, but that is a different column. For now, let’s discuss the possibility of some other teams making changes this season.
Will Bruce Boudreau be the only coach fired this season in the NHL?
Coaching changes are a normal part of hockey. Season after season, teams make changes to try and bring about a change in the locker room. Some years, the change ends up being really successful, like with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, when they would go on to win the Stanley Cup after adding Craig Berube in January of that same year.
For other teams, like the Canucks this season, a coaching change can help usher in a retool of the roster. It helps to bring a new system and play style for the group and can be a good thing to start this season so that players can get used to their coach for the following year.
It makes sense for two teams to make a change right now during the season. They are the St. Louis Blues and the Florida Panthers. The Blues look like they are heading towards a retool of their roster, with Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly both potentially getting traded at the deadline.
Bruce Boudreau leaves the ice to a "Bruce there it is!" chant. 💙 pic.twitter.com/RF8OjR2Ngd
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 22, 2023
Now is the perfect time to bring in a new voice and start the process of improving for the future. Or maybe a coaching change in January once again could usher in a new round of success that could lead the Blues back to another Stanley Cup.
The Florida Panthers were the Presidents’ Trophy winners last season. Now they find themselves outside of the playoff picture with a very small chance of getting back in. Head coach Paul Maurice might not be entirely to blame for the lack of success this season for the Panthers, but he isn’t blameless either.
The Panthers do not have a first-round draft pick for this summer, so losing this season is not an option. With that in mind, sometimes a coaching change can spark a team to win more after the fact. That was the case last season for the Canucks last season with Bruce Boudreau. Maybe a change this season for the Panthers could spark a similar turnaround.
There are a few other teams that a change might make sense for right now, like the Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins. However, despite a change looking like the right move, it seems as though neither of the Penguins or Senators are actually going to make a move considering they haven’t yet in the past few months.
The Boudreau firing was anticipated for a long time. It was probably the biggest mishandling of a coaching change by an NHL team in recent memory. Hopefully, Boudreau gets another chance in the NHL sooner rather than later!