COACHES ALREADY ON THE HOT SEAT

GMs may be looking to make changes

There is a reason why hockey coaches spend the entire game standing behind the players’ bench. If they had a seat, most would be too hot to actually sit on. That’s the life of a hockey coach.

The proverbial hot seat might rise and fall in temperature during the season, but most feel it at one time or another. Often, it gets hottest in November when general managers take their first real look at the standings and begin to assess whether or not their team will make the playoffs.

Columbus had already replaced Todd Richards with John Tortorella by this time last year and about a month later, Pittsburgh fired Mike Johnson and promoted Mike Sullivan, who went on to win a Stanley Cup.

With that in mind, don’t be surprised if GMs of non-playoff teams, such as the New York Islanders, Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars, are contemplating a coaching change in hopes of turning their fortunes around. We’ve purposely left out Carolina and Arizona, because both are rebuilding teams whose place at the bottom of the standings is no surprise, and instead focused on five teams that might benefit from a new voice behind the bench. (Note: all stats are current as of Wednesday afternoon)

JACK CAPUANO, NEW YORK ISLANDERS

It’s never a good sign when a coach takes a shot at the GM. But with the Islanders owning the second worst record in the Eastern Conference, having lost five of their last seven games, Capuano seemed to take aim at the questionable moves Garth Snow made in the summer. “We took 134 points out of our lineup,” Capuano told reporters last week, referencing the losses of Kyle Okposo, Frans Nielsen and Matt Martin. Those losses have been compounded by the fact that off-season acquisitions Andrew Ladd and Jason Chimera have combined for two goals. It was another way of saying, Don’t blame me, blame the guy who dismantled this team. Of course, when it comes to the pecking order, the coach almost always gets fired first.

WILLIE DESJARDINS, VANCOUVER CANUCKS

Few had picked the Canucks to make the playoffs at the start of the season, so it’s not shocking to see the team on the outside looking in. What is particularly troubling, however, is the way they are losing. Vancouver, which has been shut out four times in its last eight games, is averaging a league-worst 1.86 goals per game and ranks second-last with a 9.3 per cent success rate on the power play, although the Canucks did defeat the N.Y. Rangers 5-3 on Tuesday night. Obviously, the team is relying too much on the Sedin twins to carry the offensive load — an increasingly tough task for the 36-year-olds — and is not getting enough out of free agent acquisition Loui Eriksson, who finally scored his first goal on Tuesday in what was his 14th game, or youngsters like Jake Virtanen (no goals and one assist), who was re-assigned to the AHL’s Utica Comets on Wednesday.

JOHN TORTORELLA, COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS

Let’s be honest: if not for a recent 10-0 win against Montreal, things would be looking a lot grimmer for Tortorella right now. While that lopsided win skewed many of the team’s stats — the Blue Jackets have the league’s best power play, second best overall defence, second best penalty kill and fifth best overall offence — Columbus still has one of the worst records in the Eastern Conference. Maybe the win will galvanize the young team, which is getting great performances out of rookie defenceman Zach Werenski (10 points) and sophomore forward Alexander Wennberg (12 points). If not, the same coach who oversaw Team USA’s meltdown at the World Cup of Hockey could be back on the hot seat.

LINDY RUFF, DALLAS STARS

There’s an old saying that goes “show me a good coach and I’ll show you a good goaltender.” The opposite is true in Dallas, where both Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi own sub-.900 save percentages and are a big reason why the Stars, who owned the best record in the Western Conference last season, are two points out of a wild-card spot and struggling to find traction. On Tuesday, Lehtonen and Niemi each allowed four goals in an 8-2 loss to the Jets. If you are Ruff, who has enough difficulty filling out a roster with the injuries to Ales Hemsky, Jiri Hudler and Jason Spezza, whom do you turn to?

JARED BEDNAR, COLORADO AVALANCHE

It’s been a difficult start to his NHL coaching career for Bednar, who was hired shortly after Patrick Roy’s sudden resignation in the summer. The Avalanche, who barely missed out on a playoff spot last year, shares the Western Conference basement with the Arizona Coyotes. After Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to Arizona, which featured a goal against in the opening 30 seconds, things aren’t looking up. Colorado has scored five goals in its last five games, is receiving spotty goaltending from Semyon Varlamov (. 881 save percentage) and, outside of Matt Duchene (six goals and 11 points), is not getting enough offence.