from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe,
During the regular season, Michel Therrien, Claude Julien, Ken Hitchcock, Jack Capuano, and Gerard Gallant were informed they were no longer needed.
In-season coaching changes prompted revivals in Montreal, Boston, and St. Louis, and one near-miss in Brooklyn. Within that context, job security became nonexistent for Darryl Sutter, Lindy Ruff, Tom Rowe, and Willie Desjardins once the door closed on their former teams’ regular seasons. Dan Bylsma, who’s coached the Sabres to two straight thuds, may be out the door next.
Joel Quenneville, on the job in Chicago since Oct. 16, 2008, is currently the longest-tenured coach. The Coyotes have employed Dave Tippett, despite five straight postseason no-shows, since Sept. 24, 2009.
There is no such stability in the Eastern Conference. On March 25, 2013, the Lightning hired Jon Cooper to replace Guy Boucher. Cooper wears the crown in the East as the currently longest-tenured boss.
General managers paint themselves into corners with onerous contracts. It is close to impossible to clear the decks of such errors. In LA, where Dustin Brown and Marian Gaborik occupy more than $10 million annually in ill-advised investments, it cost Dean Lombardi his job.
It is easier for executives to correct their errors by replacing the coach. It has become the new normal, reinforced by the points that Julien 2.0, Bruce Cassidy, Mike Yeo, and Doug Weight squeezed out of their rosters this season; how Mike Sullivan straightened out the Penguins last year; and the results that Boucher, Bruce Boudreau, Randy Carlyle, and Glen Gulutzan achieved in their first seasons in their respective cities.
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