NHL Hot Seat Radar: Evason's Firing Should Put The Pressure On Other Coaches

The Columbus Blue Jackets firing coach Dean Evason on Monday should put other bench bosses on struggling teams on notice.

Evason was only in his second season coaching the Blue Jackets, which exceeded expectations last year. So if Evason could get fired, then those on this week's Hot Seat Radar face even more pressure now to help their squads improve quickly.

The NHL is a zero-sum business, so for every coach, GM or player who is thriving, there are others who aren't. And those people will quickly find themselves on the Hot Seat, facing tremendous pressure to change their team's competitive trajectory, whether their job is at risk or not.

Here are this week's group on radar.

Winnipeg has cratered its season, and the Jets were the worst team in the Western Conference last week when GM Kevin Cheveldayoff was on the Hot Seat Radar.

Although things have slightly improved, with Winnipeg winning three straight, coach Scott Arniel and the Jets are not nearly out of the woods yet. They're still second-last in the West, with 41 points, and eight points out of a wild-card spot.

Arniel must get much more consistent efforts out of his players, or he could find himself replaced behind the bench.

The Blue Jackets fired Evason with only 47 points, and they were seven points out of a wild-card spot in the East. So there are similar situations for Columbus and Winnipeg, although the former missed the playoffs last year, and the latter won the Presidents' Trophy.

Cheveldayoff may sell off a few veteran players by or before the March 6 trade deadline, but the core of this Jets team is likely to remain intact. That means Arniel has to coax better performances and more wins out of his group, or face the consequences.

We don't believe Arniel is in danger of being fired imminently, but so long as the Jets stay out of the playoff picture, the easiest change Cheveldayoff can make is to replace the coach.

Arniel was a finalist for last year's Jack Adams Award as the NHL's best bench boss, but as we all should know by now, things can change in a hurry.

The Devils have been on a downward slide for weeks now, and last week, New Jersey GM Tom Fitzgerald made the Hot Seat Radar. But things have not changed for the better for the Devils, which are 3-6-1 in their past 10 games. Wednesday's win means they're four points out of a wild-card spot and three points out of last in the East.

Thus, people are asking questions about Keefe, who is in Year 2 of his run with New Jersey with very little to show for it.

The Devils have the NHL's fifth-worst offense at 2.62 goals-for per game, and they have too much talent on offense to be where they are in that regard. Even since Jack Hughes returned from a hand injury, the Devils actually rank last in goals per game in that span, at 2.08.

Their penalty kill, meanwhile, is the sixth-worst at 76.7 percent. A penalty kill is something a team's coach can influence, so Keefe has to be better at providing his team with a framework to be more effective when killing penalties.

In any case, the bottom line for Keefe is that he needs to turn this group into a playoff contender in a way they aren't right now. The fact that five teams stand in the way of New Jersey being in a playoff position should be concerning to Devils fans – and to Keefe in particular.

After getting out to a 6-12-4 start to the season, the Predators have gone 16-8-0 to climb up the Western ranks to 10th place – just two points behind the eighth-place Los Angeles Kings.

Predators GM Barry Trotz has been patient with Brunette amid the struggles of the past year-and-a-half in the standings. And while some of the focus has shifted away from Brunette in recent editions of the Hot Seat Radar, this team can't blow this opportunity to get into a playoff spot.

There are still some troubling Preds metrics. Their 2.74 goals-for per game are the seventh-fewest in the NHL, and their 3.28 goals-against per game are tied for the seventh-most.

Nashville needs improvement in all areas, and that falls on Brunette to figure out.

Though Brunette should get credit for his role in Nashville's resurgence, they'll need more consistently positive play the rest of this season to get Brunette off the hot seat.

Drury's seat was warming up last week, as he made the Hot Seat Radar with the Rangers sinking fast in the East.

But with Igor Shesterkin injured, things turned ugly for the Rangers. It's gotten to the point where fans are chanting "fire Drury."

They're last in the East, and their four straight losses were 5-2 to the Buffalo Sabres, 10-2 to the Boston Bruins, 4-2 to the Seattle Kraken and 8-4 to the Ottawa Senators.

At this point, a rebound season is looking like a lost cause for the Rangers. And Drury's task is to salvage something this year – either in terms of dealing star left winger Artemi Panarin for help down the line, or in trying to make some sort of late-season push up the standings.

We don't see Drury being fired anytime soon, but regardless of what happens in Manhattan, Drury is facing significant pressure to offer some hope to Rangers fans who've now been dealing with two straight seasons of dismal play.

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