from Jared Clinton of The Hockey News,

in a year that has been among the most coach-unfriendly in NHL history, here are five candidates to be next in the firing line:

Jeff Blashill, Detroit Red Wings

Blashill has the remainder of this season and the entirety of next on his contract, but it’s almost impossible to imagine a scenario in which he’s back behind Detroit’s bench to finish out his pact. The truth is that there’s not much about this season that is solely Blashill’s fault. His roster is among the worst in the league, the Red Wings lack depth at all positions, the veteran players they do possess are on the back-nine of their respective careers…the list goes on. Those are all the failings of past management, areas that current GM Steve Yzerman has been tasked with addressing.

That said, it’s impossible to believe any coach, particularly one who’s not a first-year bench boss with the organization, is going to be able to survive a season that has been this abysmal. The Red Wings are on pace for the lowest point total of any team in an 82-game season in the post-lockout era. Detroit only recently scored its 100th goal of the season. The Red Wings have a minus-81 goal differential. If we wanted to keep piling on here, we definitely could.

Let’s just leave it at this: Blashill appears to be a sitting duck and it’ll be legitimately surprising if he’s coaching the Red Wings next season.

four more coaches...