The San Jose Sharks, and head coach David Quinn, are having a rough start to the season. Quinn and the Sharks went 11 games to begin the season without a win. Their first win came on Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers. To put it bluntly, the Sharks have looked like one of the worst teams in the history of the NHL early on.
However, Quinn and San Jose aren't the only ones having a poor start. Many teams have struggled out of the gate this season. Now, it is still early. The Vegas Golden Knights lead the league with 14 games played as of this writing. Meanwhile, the lowest amount of games played so far is 11.
That said, we are reaching a point where it's too late to say that it's too early. We are reaching a point where the contenders begin to pull away from the pretenders. At that time, some of these teams have to make very hard decisions.
NHL head coaches certainly do not have it easy. One day, they are on top of the world. But one slip-up could see them on the hot seat. Today, let's take a look at three coaches around the league who are in danger of being fired during the 2023-24 season.
David Quinn, San Jose Sharks
Let's start with an obvious one. David Quinn finds himself on the hot seat even after his team's first victory of the year. As mentioned, the Sharks have looked historically bad early on. In fact, prior to Tuesday's win, San Jose allowed 10 goals in each of their prior two games.
Many expected the Sharks to be bad this season. The issue isn't that the team is off to a poor start. It's the extent to which they've played terribly that has alarm bells ringing. San Jose is the worst team in the league, and it isn't particularly close, either.
General manager Mike Grier spoke with the team prior to Tuesday's win. And he added an intriguing young defenseman to the roster on Wednesday. But if the team's performance doesn't pick up following Tuesday's win, David Quinn may not have his job much longer.
Jay Woodcroft, Edmonton Oilers
Unlike David Quinn and the Sharks, the Oilers are not supposed to be bad. In fact, the Oilers are supposed to be incredibly good. Many, including Edmonton themselves, expected this team to contend for the Stanley Cup. And yet, head coach Jay Woodcroft finds himself in a rough spot.
Quinn and the Sharks are the only reason the Oilers are not eighth in the Pacific Division right now. They have received nightmarishly horrible goaltending early on. Their goaltending has been so bad that the team demoted veteran Jack Campbell to the AHL. Edmonton is turning to journeyman Calvin Pickard for some semblance of a spark in goal.
Job security for NHL head coaches can be volatile sometimes. Woodcroft has shown himself to be a good regular-season head coach. And we've seen he can get the best out of their best players. But if things don't change, and the Oilers continue to sink further away from contention for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Edmonton may need to make a change behind the bench.
DJ Smith, Ottawa Senators
Unlike with Jay Woodcroft and David Quinn, the situation for DJ Smith and his Ottawa Senators is more complex. They undeniably have a wealth of talent on their roster. However, they also lost a big piece in Alex DeBrincat during the summer. While DeBrincat didn't have the greatest tenure in Ottawa, he certainly wasn't a bad player.
Overall, the Senators should be better than they are. And yet, they are not. As of this writing, the Senators sit last in the Atlantic Division, two points behind the Montreal Canadiens. Ottawa isn't the only team in the Atlantic to underperform but they have crashed harder than other underperformers.
DJ Smith has some incredibly talented players on his roster. That is far from the issue. The issue is the team's inability to put it all together on the ice. Part of that lies on the shoulders of NHL head coaches. If things don't change in Ottawa, then Smith could be gone sooner rather than later.
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