Have NHL teams found success so far after firing their head coaches? The answer is no, unless you're the St. Louis Blues under Ken Hitchcock.
Dec 19, 2011 - The NHL season is not even halfway over, and 20 percent of the league's teams have fired and replaced their head coaches. Now, it's time to start tracking who panicked, who made the right move before it was too late, and who simply scapegoated the wrong guy for a bad team.
Former Los Angeles Kings coach Terry Murray is already not the latest coach to be fired -- just one win short of 500 on his career -- but he's the latest to have a replacement named: Kings general manager Dean Lombardi took his time wooing Darryl Sutter from the clutches of an existing contract with the Calgary Flames and the lure of the family farm in Alberta.
In between Murray's firing and Sutter's arrival, the Montreal Canadiens fired Jacques Martin and named Randy Cunneyworth interim coach to finish out this season.
Some pundits say the rash of firings is because the alternative -- shakeup trades -- are too hard to make this early in the season. Others think the salary cap and shootout create both real and illusory parity throughout the league, meaning teams that are down on their luck have little hope nor time to test whether patience is a virtue.
Out goes the coach, in comes the hope.
That means it's time to track how these teams -- we're up to six and counting -- do before and after their coaching changes. Without further ado, here are the NHL Replacement Coach Standings. Guaranteed to change (and even add teams!) or your money back:
| Team | Fired Coach | Pre-Firing | New Coach | Post-Firing | Diff. |
| St. Louis Blues | Davis Payne | 6-7-0 (.462) | Ken Hitchcock | 12-2-4 (.778) | +0.316 |
| Anaheim Ducks | Randy Carlyle | 7-13-4 (.375) | Bruce Boudreau | 2-5-1 (.313) | -0.062 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | Paul Maurice | 8-13-4 (.400) | Kirk Muller | 2-5-1 (.313) | -0.087 |
| Washington Capitals | Bruce Boudreau | 12-9-1 (.545) | Dale Hunter | 4-5-0 (.444) | -0.101 |
| Los Angeles Kings | Terry Murray | 13-12-4 (.517) | John Stevens* | 1-2-0 (.333) | -0.184 |
| Montreal Canadiens | Jacques Martin | 13-12-7 (.516) | Randy Cunneyworth | 0-1-0 (.000) | -0.516 |
*John Stevens is interim coach. He will be replaced by Darryl Sutter for Thursday's home game versus the Anaheim Ducks.
So far, just one team has improved its points percentage since changing coaches, and it's the team that made the first move.
Granted, some of these new coaches have too few games under their belts to have even superficial fun with their percentages. But it's interesting that two of the worst teams to fire their coaches retain two of the worst records. (Perhaps it's the roster?) Meanwhile, the coaches with NHL-style "winning" records at the times of their firing have yet to shake the perceived funk that ailed them.
As for the best team after a firing? The Blue are simply flying under new coach Ken Hitchcock, but the dirty secret is they weren't that bad even when they fired Davis Payne. While Payne suffered from a tough early season schedule and awful goaltending, Hitchcock has benefited from a rebound by Jaroslav Halak, continued stellar play from Brian Elliott, and a friendlier schedule since he took over at the beginning of a homestand. Regularly outshooting opponents, the Blues were dominating at even strength before and after he took over.
That's not to say Hitchcock hasn't had a real effect tidying up the Blues' play; rather, he just had quite a bit to work with upon his arrival. His coaching peers might wish they were so lucky.
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Davis Payne was killed by special teams.
At the time of his firing, the Blues were dead last on both the power play and penalty kill. League-average special teams would have improved the team’s goal differential by 8-9 goals; instead of 6-7-0, they’d likely have been something like 8-5-0, and Payne would probably still be the coach.
The power play still stinks under Hitchcock, scoring at just a 13% clip; but the penalty kill has improved to 85.1% during his tenure, which would be a top-ten percentage in the league. The improved PK, combined with Halak’s rebound, have been the primary factors in the Blues’ resurgence.
by BleedBlue42 on Dec 19, 2011 2:58 PM EST reply actions
Given that, do you think they made the right move?
I saw those factors at the time of the firing and figured Hitchcock would benefit from an inevitable bounce the other way. But it’s tough to argue with how he has them playing so far.
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
by Dominik Jansky on Dec 20, 2011 5:00 PM EST up reply actions
Martin was killed by injuries and the power play
Montreal leads the NHL in man-games lost, dollars-games lost, and icetime-games lost. Even now they have over 20 million in salary on the shelf, including their #1 D-man and their entire second line from last year’s playoffs.
And still they might not be doing so poorly if it weren’t for epically bad shooting luck on the PP (their 5-on-4 sh% was, for the longest time, worse than anyone’s 5-on-5 sh%, including their own!).
Granted, the Habs blowing several leads in the third period may also have been a factor.
That means that it may take a while, but Cunneyworth might end up “righting the ship”, simply by waiting for players to heal. Oh, and he’ll turn around the PP for sure.
by MathMan on Dec 19, 2011 5:46 PM EST reply actions
The magic of the coaching change
Thinks are likely to change one way or another … so do something and hope you look like a genius for the rebound!
It’s funny: Whereas the Blues switched coaches right before a homestand, Montreal’s done the opposite. By design, or insanity?
Lighthouse Hockey: A flute with no holes is not a flute. A Dane with no holes is Frans Nielsen.
by Dominik Jansky on Dec 20, 2011 5:04 PM EST up reply actions
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