After the Toronto Maple Leafs fired Brad Treliving, a trio of GMs remain on the hot seat.
To say NHL GMs can be fired at any moment is no understatement.
The Toronto Maple Leafs proved that Monday by firing GM Brad Treliving.
It didn't matter the Leafs had only eight games left this season – Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment president-CEO. Keith Pelley decided the time was now to pink-slip Treliving, so the Leafs did to him what the Vegas Golden Knights did to coach Bruce Cassidy a day before.
This is why nobody in coaching and management should feel 100 percent safe or secure in their jobs. It only takes a few ill-timed stretches of losing before ownership moves in new directions.
These three GMs on the Hot Seat Radar could be next to go.
Remember, someone whose hot seat is warming up means that person is dealing with more pressure to produce positive results, while someone whose hot seat is cooling down means the opposite.
Still Red-Hot: Steve Yzerman, GM, Detroit Red Wings
Steve Yzerman's Detroit Red Wings have gone 4-7-2 in their last 13 games to fall to 10th place in the Eastern Conference.
It goes without saying that, should the Wings fail to make the playoffs, Yzerman will be fired the day after the season ends, right?
Unless Detroit rebounds in its remaining eight games – something that's not at all impossible – this has to be the end of the road for Yzerman in Motown. When you not only can't get your team into the playoffs, but you build a team that sits in a playoff spot by the beginning of March and falls out three years in a row, you have to wear that as an executive as well.
Yzerman must know this is a results-driven league, and the results he's posted just aren't where they should be. That's not to ignore the injury to Dylan Larkin, but it's also not to use it as an excuse.
Yzerman has held the Wings job since April 2019. He's had seven years on the job, with not a single playoff series to show for it. That's long enough.
Warming Up: Patrik Allvin, GM, Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks cratered like no other team this season, sinking to dead-last in the NHL standings. Who should be feeling the heat for that? You'd have to start with Allvin, wouldn't you?
Sure, the president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, has to be blamed as well, but Allvin is the GM. He's supposed to be making the changes. And given that this Vancouver team got worse last season and even worse this year, Allvin has to wear that, too.
The Canucks once again are showing signs of a rebuild, and they have older players who likely would not want to be part of one.
So, who does Allvin cater to – the people who want a wrecking ball taken to this roster, or the people who think Vancouver doesn't need to start from scratch?
Allvin probably gets time to make more changes, but if they don't work out, he may not get more opportunities.
Many Canucks fans have given up on the team making the playoffs, and they're ready for a rebuild. Allvin has to make the right decisions all along the way. Because if he can't, the knives will be out for him in Vancouver.
Warming Up: Stan Bowman, GM, Edmonton Oilers
In his two-season tenure running the Edmonton Oilers, Stan Bowman has made the Stanley Cup final once, but his changes to the squad haven't been outstanding.
This season and the next two are all-in campaigns for Edmonton, since that's as long as Connor McDavid is under contract. So Bowman's team should get to at least the Cup final to save his job. Because if the Oilers get eliminated in the first or second round, the pressure would rise significantly, and it would anger Oilers fans.
Bowman's roster tweaks have not panned out yet. Tristan Jarry's stats are worse than Stuart Skinner's were before the trade. Andrew Mangiapane was signed during the off-season and eventually traded. Trent Frederic has 10 points in 80 games for the Oilers between the regular season and playoffs. Trade deadline acquisitions Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson have a combined four points, and both have negative plus/minus stats.
Edmonton has to make a sustained push from this point on this season, and they can't afford an early exit. While firing Bowman would seem pretty early after just two seasons, if they fall far below their goal, such an aggressive move could be the way to go.
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