It’s been a terrific start to the year for the NHL and there have been a number of fresh and interesting themes that have surfaced this season.

One of the most common themes that typically arrives around this time of year is that of change. Ownership and General Managers take a look at their teams and identify areas of weakness and opportunities for improvement. Is there a trade that can be made to improve a team’s offense? Do the defense need another top-4 player?

However, from a management perspective, oftentimes the easiest change to make is the coach. When a team comes out of the gates slowly, it’s very easy to lay blame on the coach and make him the skape-goat.

For example, last season, the Chicago Blackhawks stumbled to a 1-2-1 start and quickly replaced Dennis Savard with Joel Quenneville as head coach. Clearly, management in Chicago were serious about icing a winning team and weren’t willing to see if Savard could get it done or not. Did it work? Well, Joel Quenneville put together a 45-22-11 record in the regular season and helped the Black Hawks advance to the Western Conference Finals.

A similar situation occurred in Pittsburgh where expectations were high following their loss to the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals in the 2007-2008 season. With 25 games remaining in the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins were 9th place in the Eastern Conference and the team seemed to be waiting for a change to happen. Out goes Michel Therrien, in comes Dan Bylsma, and the rest is history.

But the question is, do mid-season coaching changes really work? In the cases of both Pittsburgh and Chicago above, the answer appears to be yes. It’s worth noting that both teams were extremely talented and could’ve arguably turned their seasons around with any coach, including their existing coach. Here were the other coaching changes that occurred last season, and what the end result was:

• Tampa Bay Lightning – Fired Barry Melrose on Nov. 14’08 and replaced him with Assistant Coach Rick Tocchet. Tocchet finished the season with a 19-33-14 record and Tampa, while a much better and improved team, missed the playoffs.
• Carolina Hurricanes – Fired Peter Laviolette on Dec. 2’08 and replaced him with former ‘Canes coach Paul Maurice. Carolina finished 33-19-5 under Maurice, including a red-hot 12-3-2 finish to the regular season. They stunned New Jersey and Boston in the playoffs before bowing out to Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference Finals.
• Ottawa Senators – Fired Craig Hartsburgh on Feb. 1’09 and replaced him with Cory Clouston. Ottawa were 17-24-7 under Hartsburgh and 19-11-4 with Clouston as head coach. Ottawa still missed the playoffs for the first time in 12 seasons.
• New York Rangers – Fired Tom Renney on Feb. 23’09 and replaced him with John Tortorella. The Rangers finished 12-7-2 in the regular season and despite their first round exit to Washington, it appeared that Torts was bringing a new level of accountability to the Rangers – until Sean Avery’s meltdown.
• Montreal Canadiens – Fired Guy Carbonneau on Mar. 9’09 and replaced him with current GM Bob Gainey. Carbonneau guided Montreal to a 35-24-7 record, while Gainey finished the Habs season with 6-6-4 record. The tailspin that was the Canadiens season finished in a first round loss to Boston in 4 quick games.

So do mid-season coaching changes really work? The results are mixed. The change definitely worked for Pittsburgh, Chicago and Carolina. You could probably throw Tampa Bay into that category too, although that’s more because Barry Melrose should have probably just stayed in the broadcast booth. In the case of Ottawa, yes, they played better under Clouston and appear likely to make the playoffs this year, but Clouston was part of the reason for Dany Heatley’s trade demand.

When you look at the Rangers and Canadiens, I don’t think the coaching changes helped either team. Both teams struggled to hold on to their playoff spots and they both lost in the first round of the playoffs, though the Rangers put up a much better fight than the anemic Canadiens did. Ultimately, I feel badly for guys like Carbonneau and Renney because their teams basically performed at the same level before and after their dismissals. To me, that says that coaching wasn’t the problem. Renney had notched at least 42 wins in each of the previous 3 seasons as head coach of the Rangers, earning playoff births in each season. Carbonneau was a good coach as well, and was a finalist for the NHL’s Coach of the Year award the season before he was fired.

The reality is that sometimes, change is needed for struggling teams and that’s the reality of all professional sports leagues. If your team starts sinking around or near playoff time, that’s never a good sign for a head coach. While I don’t always agree with it, it’s much easier to fire a coach than to fire an entire team of players. It’s a quick way to send a message and make an instantaneous change to your team. Creating a salary cap has made coaches more expendable.

Fortunately, there haven’t been any coaching changes yet this season, but you get the feeling that this might change soon. Teams like Carolina, Florida, St. Louis and Anaheim are the obvious picks to make changes, but only time will tell if those changes will push these teams back into the playoff hunt or not.

Your Reporter in the Field,

Fantana

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