Pressure's building on the Detroit Red Wings and Vegas Golden Knights to get hot at the right time. Otherwise, Detroit's GM and the Knights' coach will remain on the hot seat.
It's tough to picture anyone other than Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman with the hottest seat in the NHL right now.
The legendary Red Wings player has not had the success he may have anticipated when he took the Wings' job in April 2019. The way things are trending for the Wings late this season, Yzerman may not hold the position much longer.
Don't forget, someone warming up on the Hot Seat Radar is facing more pressure to succeed, while someone who's cooling down is facing less pressure to prove themselves.
With that said, here is a trio of NHL staffers facing pressure as the season hits the home stretch.
Red-Hot: Steve Yzerman, GM, Detroit Red Wings
Yzerman's seat was warming up two weeks ago because the Red Wings were sliding down the Eastern Conference standings, going 4-5-1 in their previous 10 games. They were in the first wild-card spot after sitting in the top three of the Atlantic Division for most of the season.
That slide has continued, and it's getting more serious than ever.
Detroit now sits 10th in the East heading into Thursday's NHL action. They're one point out of a playoff spot as the Ottawa Senators leapfrogged them.
With only 11 games left in the Red Wings' season, it's now time for full-on panic in Motown. And Yzerman is squarely in the eye of the storm.
If Detroit does miss the playoffs for the 10th-straight season after looking like near locks to end the drought for months, you have to expect Yzerman will fall on his sword or be fired by the end of April.
The Red Wings have the 10th-hardest remainder of their schedule, with games against high-end teams, such as the Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota Wild, Tampa Bay Lightning and the surging Columbus Blue Jackets, according to tankathon.com. Just getting a wild-card berth could be enough damage limitation at this point.
With due respect to veteran trade deadline acquisitions Justin Faulk and David Perron, Yzerman's relative lack of major moves on the trade front this year will be used against him if the Wings don't make the playoffs. Detroit has more than $10 million in unused salary cap space.
Detroit really needed to upgrade its center depth. Injuries to Dylan Larkin and Andrew Copp proved that, with the squad going 3-3-1 and averaging 2.71 goals-for per game during Larkin's absence.
Yzerman has built a core in Detroit, featuring Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, Alex DeBrincat and Simon Edvinsson. He's also gotten contributions from Emmitt Finnie, Patrick Kane, Copp, Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Marco Kasper and more. He deserves credit for that.
But at some point, the Yzerplan either works or it doesn't. Falling out of a playoff spot this late in the season could be the end of it if the Wings don't climb back in.
Warming Up: Bruce Cassidy, Coach, Vegas Golden Knights
The Golden Knights have the fourth-worst point percentage in the NHL since Feb. 1, and that partially falls at the feet of Cassidy.
It's true Vegas has struggled in no small part because their goaltenders have been subpar. All four goalies they've used this year have posted a save percentage of .893 or worse.
No bench boss can out-coach bad netminding. Considering the Knights have a top-five penalty kill, the third-fewest shots against per game and the second-fewest high-danger chances against, per naturalstattrick.com, the goaltending has hurt what otherwise could've been a great season for Cassidy and his club.
At this point, if Cassidy can ensure his defense remains stingy, then what he needs to do now is improve the offense so the Knights can outscore their goaltending issues.
That brings us to the real head-scratcher with Cassidy – his line combinations of late, specifically his use of Mitch Marner.
We argued earlier in the week that Marner will have to pick up his scoring by the playoffs because a point per game is slightly below his high expectations. He is clearly not the only reason Vegas is struggling, but he still has to take ownership of his play, and Cassidy has to put the star in a position to succeed.
Right now, Marner is playing at center – and that should be alarming to Vegas fans.
Marner rarely played as a pivot in his time in Toronto, but right now, he's playing as Vegas' second-line center. Meanwhile, another star center the Golden Knights acquired in a trade – Tomas Hertl – is Vegas' third-line center. That's a problem, as is Marner's faceoff percentage of 40.7 percent.
Marner does have a reputation as a terrific performer on offense and on 'D,' but it appears that Cassidy is trying to put a square peg in a round hole right now.
A playoff position isn't assured for Vegas, but even if the team hangs onto a playoff spot, a first-round exit wouldn't be acceptable.
Cassidy has achieved great things with this Knights team, but this is a 'what-have-you-done-for-me-lately' business, and that's why he must figure out how to unlock his team's offensive weaponry and take pressure off the Golden Knights' defensemen and goaltenders.
Cooling Down: Rick Tocchet, Coach, Philadelphia Flyers
It's been a rollercoaster season for Tocchet and the Flyers, which are still on the fringes of the playoff race.
But the pressure on Tocchet has been easing, given that the Flyers are 6-3-1 in their past 10 games. And one of the issues early in the season – the play of budding star winger Matvei Michkov – is seeing some positive change.
Michkov's numbers are still a disappointment overall – he's posted only 16 goals and 37 points in 69 games after putting up 26 goals and 63 points in 80 games last season. But his average ice time is increasing.
Since the Olympics break, Michkov is averaging 16:11 of ice time, up from his season average of 14:54. He's played at least 16:30 in five of his past games, recording four points in that span. That shows Tocchet has more trust in Michkov.
Tocchet doesn't need to make the playoffs for this first season to be considered a success. Tocchet and GM Daniel Briere are developing a year-in, year-out front-runner, and as we know, progress isn't always linear. But if Tocchet can steer his team to play meaningful hockey right through the end of the regular-season, that will be an important step forward.
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