NHL Hot Seat Radar: Coaches With The Most To Prove In The Playoffs

Coaches will have something to prove in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

In the case of the four NHL coaches on the Hot Seat Radar, a first-round playoff series win is an absolute must.

It doesn't matter one iota that a team had regular-season success or made it far in previous playoffs. Coaching is a "what have you done for me lately" business, and no time is that clearer than in the post-season.

All it can take is one bad or great coaching decision that makes a team a winner or loser in the post-season. So coaches have to deliver on their end of things, just as players do.

Not every coach whose team doesn't meet expectations will get fired, and that includes some of the bench bosses below. But whether they're new to a team or have been trying constantly to get the squad to the next level, they have something to prove.

Let's take a closer look in this "most to prove in the playoffs" edition of the NHL Hot Seat Radar.

Although Brind'Amour has won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach just once, he could've won the award multiple times.

Since he took the Hurricanes' job in 2018, Carolina has made the post-season every season and hasn't lost in the opening round. (That's, of course, if you include them winning the best-of-five qualifying round in 2020 and losing in the first best-of-seven series.)

Although he hasn't led the Canes to a Cup, Brind'Amour has led Carolina to three Conference final appearances. The man knows what he's doing, and the buy-in he gets from his players year in and year out is outstanding.

However, Brind'Amour's focus now is on getting his team beyond the conference final. And he's putting his reputation in the hands of players who haven't proven they'll get the job done when games matter most.

In particular, Carolina's goalies – Brandon Bussi and Frederik Andersen – will dictate how far the Hurricanes go.

If things go sideways early in the playoffs, you have to wonder if bigger changes are in store for Carolina.

Are we expecting Brind'Amour to be fired if his team loses in an early round at the hands of the Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins or Philadelphia Flyers? No.

Besides, even if Carolina GM Erik Tulsky fires Brind'Amour tomorrow, you'd better believe the coach would be hired by another team the following day.

But there's no denying the pressure for the Hurricanes is ratcheting up in a hurry, and that also goes for Brind'Amour. If his team doesn't get beyond the Eastern final, there'll be big questions about this team's makeup.

Like Brind'Amour, Knoblauch has had more playoff series wins in recent years than many coaches get in their entire careers, with six in two seasons.

But there's no question that Knoblauch is facing more pressure than ever before to steer this Oilers team to a championship.

It doesn't matter whether Edmonton plays the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings or – gasp! – the mighty Colorado Avalanche in the first round. Any early exit would almost assuredly mean that Knoblauch will be fired shortly after Edmonton's dressing room clean-out day.

Knoblauch has a clear directive: this is a Cup-or-bust Oilers team. And you don't need to have this directive dressed up any differently. If the Oilers don't get the job done, they need to be aggressive in the off-season so that Connor McDavid has the chance to win not one Cup but two when his contract extension kicks in.

This is only Gulutzan's first year coaching the Stars – at least, his first year in his second go-around with Dallas.

In his previous two seasons coaching the Stars from 2011 to 2013, Gulutzan failed to get Dallas into the playoffs.

This year, Gulutzan led the Stars to the NHL's third-best record at 50-20-12. But that's not going to make much of a difference if Dallas loses to the Minnesota Wild in the first round of this year's playoffs.

Even if the Stars beat the Wild, they're likely to run into the Avalanche in the second round. And any Dallas playoff run that doesn't see them winning the Western Conference and advancing to the Cup final will be seen as a huge letdown for a squad that has been so dominant for much of the year.

That said, it's difficult to see Dallas GM Jim Nill giving the pink slip to Gulutzan if the Stars can't get to the Cup final. Nill fired coach Peter DeBoer after last season's disappointing results, and we don't see him pulling the trigger for the second straight year.

But this is a huge opportunity for Gulutzan – and the pressure will only increase from here.

Hynes has coached the Wild since November 2023. They missed the playoffs in 2024 but got there in 2025, losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round.

This year, theoretically, should be his best chance yet of getting to Round 2.

The Wild were one of the best regular-season teams in the league this year, finishing third in the Western Conference. Adding star defenseman Quinn Hughes has added to the expectations for this Minnesota team.

But because of the playoff format, the third-best team in the Central and the West faces the Stars, the second-best team in the division and conference.

Hynes' job may be in less jeopardy than any coach we've listed above, but Wild GM Bill Guerin showed how much he wants to win by trading a lot of young talent for Hughes and signing Kirill Kaprizov to a record-setting NHL contract.

This is a zero-sum line of work Hynes and Guerin are operating in, so if the Stars blow past the Wild in the first round, the status quo will come into question.

The Wild have benefitted from some of the NHL's best goaltending this season, which certainly helps. But Minnesota is obviously in win-now mode, and if Hynes can't demonstrate he's the right man to get the Wild to the promised land, Guerin will eventually turn to someone else.

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