The NHL coaching carousel is turning even if there’s no organ music or plastic horses that are bobbing. The Pittsburgh Penguins appear to be stuck waiting for the teams to fill the big jobs, and when it may end is as much of a mystery as who will fill the four NHL head coaching vacancies.
This offseason, the Penguins have already granted excuses to two coaches: associate head coach Todd Reirden and bench boss J.D. Forrest of the AHL.
That makes two positions with the Penguins and two that are still open due to the availability of former Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe, who was fired by the team in a predicted move.
However, because the Penguins’ vacancies are subordinate, they’ll probably have to wait to fill them while head coaches are interviewed.
Sheldon Keefe, Prospective
Keefe shadowing Penguins coach Mike Sullivan as an assistant or the WBS Penguins coach would be quite unsettling. It cannot be completely ruled out, though, as president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas has employed Keefe three times in his career.
But the head coaching positions need to be filled before Keefe would take a second job (and we’re still not sure if a Dubas reunion makes sense).
For a few weeks now, the New Jersey Devils, Seattle Kraken, Winnipeg Jets, and San Jose Sharks have been placing help-wanted advertising in the Sunday papers. However, so far, only two coaching vacancies have been filled: Craig Berube of Toronto and Travis Green of the Ottawa Senators.
Coach Jim Hiller’s interim tag hasn’t been formally lifted by the LA Kings yet, either.
There are still some assistant coaches behind lock and key when the NHL Final Four gets underway this week. But of the four remaining teams, only Glen Gulutzan, an assistant coach in Edmonton who has served as head coach twice before (in Dallas and Calgary), has generated any talk.
Although Gulutzan’s tenures as head coach of the NHL and AHL teams only lasted two seasons each, he enjoyed considerable success as a minor league coach, leading the ECHL’s Vegas Wranglers from 2003 to 2009 and the AHL Texas Stars in 2009 and 2010.
Alain Nasreddine, a former coach of the WBS Penguins, works as Pete DeBoer’s assistant in Dallas.
However, neither the name nor the league are sustaining this train. Keefe is not at fault either for attempting to catch a painted pony while riding the spinning wheel. Teams have had plenty of time to conduct interviews, clear the area, and start evaluating.
There are rumours that New Jersey is almost ready to select their next coach this week, which might start a domino effect of hirings. Though Berube was a contender for a number of the positions, we might have to wait a little longer if his acceptance of the NHL’s most demanding job didn’t cause the first dominos to fall.
There are at least six seasoned NHL coaches available, but Joel Quenneville, who is presently unpopular with the NHL because of how he handled the Chicago sexual assault accusation, is still a wild card.
Although his name has surfaced for a few jobs, the NHL declared him persona non grata three years ago. He would have to request reinstatement, but if a team chooses to ask, it appears there is some momentum for it.
At least two of them have direct links to Dubas. Keefe and D.J. Smith, the former head coach of the Ottawa Senators who served as Toronto’s assistant coach for four seasons before to accepting the Ottawa position. Smith is presently Hiller’s assistant in Los Angeles, although that position is temporary until Hiller is confirmed as Hiller’s formal employee.
The Penguins are left to wait till a few positions are filled and a few names are removed from the board. After all, the wheel is turning true, and someone is waiting just for you.