NHL Hot Seat Radar: Which Coach Could Be Fired Next?

The past couple of weeks have seen unpredictable developments in NHL coaching and management circles. 

In Toronto and New Jersey, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving and Devils counterpart Tom Fitzgerald were fired.

In Vegas and on Long Island, Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy and New York Islanders counterpart Patrick Roy lost their jobs. John Tortorella and Peter DeBoer took their places.

Another move came on Wednesday night when the Seattle Kraken announced president Ron Francis will step down after the season.

The pressure to perform is staggering, whether you're in or near a Stanley Cup playoff position like the Knights and Isles, or whether you cratered your season like the Devils and Leafs.

We'd never completely put it past NHL teams making another major management move in the next week.

An intriguing development right now is the status of four NHL coaches. For varying reasons, the coaches below are feeling the heat.

Here are this week's picks for TheHockeyNews.com's Hot Seat Radar:

The coach of a different team that's won six of its past eight games, as the Oilers have, may not have made the hot seat. But it's another story with Knoblauch in Edmonton.

He's coached the Oilers to recent wins over the Utah Mammoth, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Golden Knights. But the only thing Edmonton fans care about is what happens in the playoffs.

On a general level, NHL coaches are always coaching for their jobs. But it's not an exaggeration to say Knoblauch is coaching just to remain another day as the Oilers' bench boss.

If Edmonton loses in the first round, Knoblauch could be fired shortly after the series ends. The same goes for an Oilers loss in every round. That's how urgent it is for the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup while Connor McDavid is under contract for the next two seasons.

While it would be an accomplishment to get Edmonton to the Cup final for the third consecutive season, the reality is that Knoblauch is in a Cup-or-bust situation. If the Oilers win it all, Knoblauch stays. If they don't, Edmonton GM Stan Bowman could look for another coach.

In the zero-sum industry that is the NHL, one team's triumph is many teams' tragedy. And if he can't get the job done, Knoblauch could soon be looking to coach elsewhere.

The fallout from Treliving's firing is still being felt in Toronto, as Maple Leafs fans now focus on the search to replace the former GM.

That's a good thing to focus on, because the optics of the Leafs quitting on Berube are, to say the least, not ideal. That will adversely affect his status as Buds coach.

Since the Olympics, the Maple Leafs have gone 5-11-5, and they've lost seven of their past 10 to sink to last place in the Atlantic Division. That's not bad if they want a top-five draft pick, but like we saw on Wednesday in a 4-0 loss to the Washington Capitals, the way they're losing is another cause for concern.

It doesn't matter that, only one year ago, the Leafs were the Atlantic's top team. This is a 'what have you done for me lately' business, and that's why it seems like Berube is coaching out the string of Toronto's final four games.

This is a clear case of a coach being fired immediately after the season ends, and that gives Berube a chance to be hired by another team. But with the next Leafs GM likely wanting their own coach in place, Berube's days in Toronto seem to be nearing an end.

That's an anticlimactic end to what began as a promising situation for Berube with the Leafs. But that's reality.

This isn't the first time Brunette has been on the hot seat. In fact, Brunette has been coaching to keep his job all season long.

The good news for him is the Predators have gone 3-0-1 in their past four games, and Nashville now holds the second Western Conference wild-card spot.

But the Preds' hold on that spot is not firm, as the Los Angeles Kings currently sit just one point behind them with a game in hand.

The Preds' final four games will not be cakewalks, as they'll be against the Mammoth, Minnesota Wild, Sharks and Ducks. 

Nashville will also be bringing in a new GM since Barry Trotz is stepping down. Like in Toronto, there's a chance the new GM will want to hire their own coach.

It feels like the only way Brunette keeps his job is if Nashville gets into the post-season and unexpectedly wins a round or two. But given that the Predators' likely first-round opponent would be the leviathan Colorado Avalanche, the odds of doing so are not in their favor.

The Devils are approaching a crossroads with Sheldon Keefe.

Now that Fitzgerald is gone, his replacement will look at the Devils missing the playoffs after making them last year and evaluate whether Keefe deserves a second chance.

There's been an obvious step backward for this organization, and while the blame for that ultimately fell at Fitzgerald's feet, Keefe may also pay for it with his job.

It matters little that New Jersey has gone 12-6-1 in its past 19 games. It's too little, too late to salvage the Devils' season, and when Fitzgerald's replacement comes aboard in New Jersey, they don't need to show loyalty to Keefe.

Keefe has done some great work in his time coaching the Maple Leafs and Devils, so we expect he'll get another kick at the can with a different team down the road. But the Devils' underachieving ways this season are a blemish on his resume.

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