ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski posted a “NHL Head-Coach Hot Seat Index” this morning, and he believes that Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde and Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson’s “hot seats” are “burning up” at present:
The Red Wings have regressed in the standings after last season’s 91-point campaign. Their offensive output is way down, from 3.35 goals per game last season to 2.53 after 19 games this season. Their 1.52 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 is 31st in the NHL. This isn’t about puck luck: Detroit’s 2.06 expected goals per 60 minutes is last in the league. They’re better in goals against per game season over season, but a lot of that credit should go to goalie Cam Talbot, who is making GM Steve Yzerman look smart.
But the biggest harbinger was the one that haunted Montgomery: Lalonde, in his third season with the Red Wings, does not have a contract beyond 2024-25.
The general speculation is that if the Red Wings don’t make the postseason, Lalonde surely pays for that with his job. But would Yzerman pull the plug in-season, in the hopes of getting Detroit back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016?
There also has been speculation that it might happen, and one rumor that made the rounds in NHL coaching circles this month was that Joel Quenneville might take over the Detroit bench.
“Two weeks ago, I heard Quenneville for Detroit,” a coaching source said.
Continued (paywall) with a few reasons as to why Quenneville, 66, might not want to join the Red Wings–and why the Red Wings might not want to hire him (see his $6 million salary with the Hawks).
In all honesty, I don’t see Quenneville coming to Detroit given that, as Wyshynski points out, he’s the kind of coach that you plug into a team that needs a reset as it attempts to win a Stanley Cup, not a team that is in the middle of a rebuild.
Stranger things have happened, but I don’t see the fit.
