Top Five NHL Coaches that could be shown the door next -NHL Special Feature Part 2
Continuing our discussion about the top five National Hockey League (NHL) coaches that might potentially be the next to be shown the door in the near future due to their team's performance in the 2011-2012 NHL regular season so far, there has been one similarity amongst the major names that they are leading a club full of young players.
It is certainly difficult to move up in the ranks and revolutionise a team’s performance when most of the players lack experience or in their first major league year.
The Colorado Avalanche, which we discussed about in the first part, was the same case, a team full of youngsters with barely any skilled leadership. However, looking at the coaches who have been fired this year, most of them had teams that were once known as one of the best.
For example, Bruce Boudreau, who was let go by the Washington Capitals, had an excellent offensive team, full of knowledge and playing experience, but were still unable to deliver any noticeable results especially when it came to the playoffs.
Randy Carlyle also had one of the best teams, Anaheim Ducks, including future NHL hall of famers like Teemu Selanne, Corey Perry, Bobby Ryan and Ryan Getzlaf, but still, the Anaheim Ducks is sitting at number 14 out of a total of 15 positions in the Western Conference, with a disappointing 21 points and an 8-16-5 record.
We can conclude that in the end, it does not matter whether the team is younger or older, the coach must create that perfect balance in playing by setting up special teams for different moments in the game.
Teams like Minnesota Wild and Florida Panthers have managed to change this season, taking some of the top spots in their conference and seem to be headed towards the postseason with the type of performance they have been showing recently.
The next coach we will be talking about has been in the franchise’s coaching staff for nearly six seasons, making his experience more than enough to judge him at the moment.
Jack Capuano (Head Coach, New York Islanders)
Jack Capuano is one of the most respectable coaches in the entire league, since he leads a team that can barely match the performance of its inter-city rivals, the New York Rangers, but he has still done a great job of making Islanders visible on the hockey map.
Capuano was hired during the 2005-2006 NHL regular season as an assistant coach for the Islanders and late in the 2010-2011 season, he was officially named the head coach after a few months of serving as the interim head coach, following the firing of Scott Gordon.
It is not a surprise that Capuano is in the good books of Islanders' general manager, Garth Snow, and team owner, Charles Wang, but eventually, he will need to show them something significant, because in the end, they want to see the business of the club boom and until they perform in an outclass manner, it is just not possible.
The Islanders currently stand at the number 14 slot of the Eastern Conference with 24 points, above Carolina Hurricanes, which had its head coach, Paul Maurice, fired recently, and below Tampa Bay Lightning, with a 9-12-6 record.
Only time will tell whether Capuano will be heading towards the same fate that many counterparts of his faced in the season so far, but seeing the way he is headed right now, it is not hard to imagine that he may have the door slammed behind him
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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