With former Dallas Stars head coach Rick Bowness stepping aside after an exemplary not to mention epic career in coaching, that brings the current number of head coaching jobs available in the NHL to six. It would have been seven, but the New York Islanders last week tabbed longtime assistant Lane Lambert for his first-ever head coaching gig after they shockingly parted ways with Barry Trotz.

Each of the remaining openings – and we’re including Chicago, even though Derek King remains listed on the Blackhawks’ website as the team’s interim head coach – represents a different challenge and a different level of opportunity for whoever signs on.

To be clear, no one will balk at getting an NHL head coaching job. There are just 32, after all. But these openings are not created equally, so let’s have a look at how the current vacancies size up, with some pros and cons and who might be good fits.

1. Dallas Stars

Let’s start with the opening created by Bowness’s decision to step away from coaching. His assistants outside veteran goalie coach Jeff Reese were also relieved of their duties, creating a clean slate for whoever takes over in Dallas. The Stars had a magical run to the 2020 Stanley Cup final in the bubble in Edmonton but since have struggled to create and maintain an identity, missing the playoffs in ’21 and getting bounced in seven games in the first round against Calgary after netminder Jake Oettinger stood on his head for seven straight games.

Pros

The Stars boast great ownership and Dallas is a terrific city in which to live and work. True, the Stars, along with the MLB Rangers and NBA Mavs and every other sporting team and/or event, will always live in the giant shadow cast by the Dallas Cowboys. Is that a pro or a con? Discuss amongst yourselves. Certainly this is a city that requires the NHL team to create its own buzz, and we’re guessing that will factor into the hire on some level, especially after the team went with an unknown in Jim Montgomery at the start of the 2019 season. That ended badly with Montgomery’s alcohol issues leading to his dismissal and the promotion of Bowness to the top job. There is a terrific young core in place starting with the dazzling Oettinger and including defensive gem Miro Heiskanen and young offensive stars Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz. The defense is solid and deep. There’s a better-than-average pipeline of young players coming.

Cons

The challenge for any new coach in Dallas is going to be in coaxing more offense from a team that was 21^st in the league in goals scored per game and was tied for 29^th in 5-on-5 scoring. The Stars scored 14 goals in seven games against Calgary. That’s not great. Part of the problem is the ongoing decline in production from the team’s top two forwards (vis a vis salary cap commitment) in captain Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. The cap isn’t really the coach’s problem, but working around cap problems as it relates to the roster is the coach’s problem, and this is a big one for the Stars with Benn and Seguin swallowing almost $20 million annually in cap hit. So there’s a certain element of patching things together that must be administered if this team is going to be anything but a playoff bubble team and/or first-round fodder.

Who Fits?

Don’t sleep on Rick Tocchet getting a good, hard look. Given owner Tom Gaglardi’s desire to win and the failed experiment with former collegiate coach Montgomery, I fully expect this job will go to a proven NHL head coach. Trotz would likewise be a nice fit but you’ll see we think that of Trotz pretty much anywhere. Ditto for Tocchet. Pete DeBoer, recently fired by Vegas, would be a natural fit, as DeBoer’s teams are almost always playoff-bound and he knows the Western Conference like the back of his hand.

2. Vegas Golden Knights

Oh, don’t go changing you wacky Knights. Almost from the moment this team went to a Stanley Cup final in its first year in 2018, there has been an element of chaos to the franchise on The Strip. They’ve added big pieces like Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty and Alex Pietrangelo and that coveting of shiny things continued this season with the addition of erstwhile Buffalo captain Jack Eichel. But for all of that, the Golden Knights are a team of dysfunction and disconnect both internally and externally. One source familiar with the franchise said the early attraction for free agents has already started to wane. Not that the Golden Knights have any or much money to spend on free agents. But we digress. While injuries were a key factor in the team missing the playoffs for the first time and costing DeBoer his job, that disconnect and dysfunction no doubt played a role in a disappointing season and the search for the team’s third head coach.

Pros

This is a great place to live and play. It’s a dry heat after all. The facilities are top-notch and the lifestyle is attractive for a coach at any stage of his or her life. And this is a team that has never been shy about spending money. The roster is still top-notch, although there are lots of question marks starting with Stone’s back surgery and the status of netminder Robin Lehner. The team quickly divested itself of all kinds of top young talent in its pursuit of playoff success, so – barring a complete tanking in the standings – the cupboard is fairly barren. But for a coach looking for a roster that doesn’t have too far to go to get (back) to being a Cup contender Vegas is it.

Cons

In five years, the franchise has gone through two elite coaches in Gerard Gallant and DeBoer and is now looking for a third. Gallant, now with the New York Rangers, is a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy, which he previously won in Vegas. It was interesting that fellow finalist Darryl Sutter noted that Gallant got the shaft in Vegas and that Sutter hoped Gallant won the award in part because of it. So anyone taking this job has to understand there is a mercurial nature to the organization that starts at the top with ownership. Spending to win will never be an issue for owner Bill Foley, but at what cost in terms of treatment of people is another question. Multiple sources describe how the team tried to pressure Evgenii Dadonov into accepting a trade at the deadline to Anaheim even though he had a no-trade list that included the Ducks. That’s life in Vegas, and coaching there will mean dealing with that. In short, if you’re looking for security and a chance to build for the long haul then this likely isn’t your place, at least not the way management is structured now. If, as we are led to believe, Trotz would like to have a strong say in personnel matters, it’s hard to believe that’s going to happen with this group in Vegas. And while the team features all kinds of talent, the feeling is that is a group of individuals operating somewhat independently of the team concept, which could be a red flag for a prospective coach and will certainly be a top priority for whoever takes on the job.

Who Fits?

Travis Green deserves another shot and with very limited roster resources we thought he did a great job in Vancouver. Vegas may be a viper’s den but there are all kinds of tools and Green would flourish there. Because of the win-or-go-home mentality from ownership on down, it’s hard to imagine this is a spot that opens up to a coach unproven at the NHL level. In our mind, Tocchet or Trotz would have this team back in the playoffs next spring. And how about Claude Julien? The former Stanley Cup winner is 62 but, as we’ve noted, this isn’t a job for life. It’s a job for right now and Julien has the coaching chops to put his own imprint on this talented team.

3. Winnipeg Jets

Perhaps the most intriguing of the open coaching jobs is in Winnipeg, where the Jets surged to the edge Cup contention by advancing to the 2018 Western Conference final but since then have underachieved for a variety of reasons. The situation came to a dramatic head this past season when Paul Maurice abruptly stepped away from his post as head coach 28 games in, feeling he couldn’t get any more out of a talented Jets roster. Interim head coach Dave Lowry got even less, sadly, and the Jets fell out of playoff contention and ended up moving Andrew Copp to the Rangers for a tidy return at the trade deadline. But big roster decisions loom for GM Kevin Cheveldayoff as he contemplates not just hiring a new coach but what to do with star center Mark Scheifele, for whom the time may have come to move on as both the team and player seem disenchanted with the current relationship.

Pros

Cheveldayoff just signed a contract extension which reaffirms the Jets’ reputation for organizational stability. Or is that organizational inertia? Again, discuss amongst yourselves. Regardless, the new coach in Winnipeg will know he’ll be Cheveldayoff’s guy, which should bring a level of organizational security that frankly can’t be said of some of the other openings. Winnipeg is a great town. Great hockey market. I can’t imagine working in a better hockey environment as a coach. Does a new coach open the door to repairing things with Scheifele? An engaged Scheifele would go a long way to a rapid return to contention. Even if Scheifele is gone, the return should be solid and there is lots to work with here including an emerging superstar in Kyle Connor, an above-average defense, good to great goaltending, a decent collection of prospects and a realistic shot at jumping right back into the playoffs next season.

Cons

Great town. Great hockey market. But Winnipeg is what it is. It’s a small outpost city and the geography and weather can be difficult if you’re not prepared for it. The reality is Winnipeg struggles to attract free agents. That’s not necessarily the coach’s job, but it’s part of the dynamic. It will be important for Cheveldayoff to find someone who can embrace all that being in Winnipeg means. It’s no different, on some levels, than having a coach who can fit in Montreal or Toronto or Philadelphia. But Winnipeg is unique and it’s not the kind of job that can be accepted without a ton of thought on both sides of things. In terms of roster construction, as noted, it’s a place that isn’t necessarily at the top of free agents’ lists of places to go and often ends up on no-trade lists for players around the league. Fair or not, it’s the reality of how the Jets must be built. There are also lots of strong personalities in this room and discord has not been uncommon over the past couple of seasons. Repairing it will be a priority for the next man behind the Jets’ bench.

Who Fits?

Come on, Trotz coming home to Manitoba and bringing the Jets to Stanley Cup glory? Sell the movie rights right now. If he wants a role in personnel, as we are told is important to Trotz, then give it to him. Why wouldn’t you welcome that if you’re Cheveldayoff? Given the understated way in which this team operates would it be all that surprising that Cheveldayoff casts a wide net and, if Trotz can’t be had, tabs someone with potential that may not be a household name? No. Kris Knoblauch, currently coaching in Hartford of the American Hockey League, is getting lots of buzz. Mike Vellucci is an interesting figure having had success at the AHL level and gotten a taste at the NHL level as part of Mike Sullivan’s staff in Pittsburgh.

4. Detroit Red Wings

Okay, maybe it’s Detroit that has the most interesting of openings when it comes to the NHL coaching carousel, and maybe it’s a combination of factors that makes this hire so compelling. First, GM Steve Yzerman is inscrutable. Think you know what he’s going to do vis a vis drafting or hiring staff or picking a coach? You don’t. Yzerman hired a relatively unknown Guy Boucher in Tampa when Yzerman took over there in 2010, and Boucher took the team to a conference final in 2011. It wasn’t a long-term fit, but Jon Cooper was. Yzerman didn’t rush to push Jeff Blashill out in Detroit until it was abundantly clear from the team’s play it was time. Now, if Yzerman has his way, this will be the last coaching hire for a long time. So it may not be a ‘traditional’ hire but it’ll be as close to the right one as anyone can get.

Pros

The Red Wings have all kinds of shiny young assets starting with Moritz Seider, who should be the rookie of the year in our books. And they have the eighth-overall pick in this summer’s draft. And you are in a relatively new arena in an Original Six market where ownership has been nothing but supportive of the team for decades. What’s not to like so far? In spite of that, expectations are relatively modest, which isn’t to say coaches look for an easy path, but having realistic expectations that are in sync with management and ownership is critical to a long and healthy relationship. Could the Red Wings make the playoffs next year? Not likely, but whoever Yzerman tabs will be expected to show meaningful steps forward after a disastrous year statistically. Plus you get to work with one of the best minds in the game.

Cons

The cons are pretty much all on the ice. The defense is still a mess. The goaltending is, well, fluid at best and marginal at worst. You had a talented player in Tyler Bertuzzi who thought so little of his team and teammates that he wouldn’t get vaccinated and thus couldn’t travel to Canada when the Red Wings crossed the border. The Red Wings, after a solid first third of the season, ended up 31^st in goals against per game, 25^th in goals scored per game, 26^th on the power play and owned the league’s worst penalty kill on top of a monstrous minus-82 goal differential. In short, as much as the narrative suggests the Red Wings are poised to turn a corner…are they? It’s up to a new coach to answer in the affirmative but there’s a ton of work to be done to make it so.

Who Fits?

Again, expect the unexpected from Yzerman. What about David Carle, coming off an NCAA championship in Denver, and a young but accomplished coach who could grow into a contender with this Red Wing team? Top non-North American coach Rikard Gronborg has been at least given some consideration by a number of NHL teams in recent years and, given the strong Swedish connection that has long been part of the Red Wings’ DNA – Yzerman recently promoted Hall of Fame defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom to a management position – if Yzerman feels Gronborg can take this team where it needs to go, he would have no hesitation in hiring him. I’ll continue to advocate for a tandem of DeBoer and Maurice, both of whom have strong connection to the Detroit area and, well, it would be a ton of fun plus they might just be able to get the Red Wings back to contender status in short order.

5. Chicago Blackhawks

The Blackhawks are in a kind of limbo world with their head coaching position as interim head coach Derek King, who took over for Jeremy Colliton, who was fired by interim GM Kyle Davidson before Davidson took on the role full-time late this season (are you still with us?), is apparently still in the mix for the Chicago head coaching job. In fact King, is still listed on the team website as interim head coach, so there’s that. Credit Davidson for not rushing to fill a position that frankly doesn’t need to be filled by any sort of deadline (he’s mentioned July, which makes sense with the draft set for July 7 and 8 in Montreal). But there are all kinds of factors when it comes to the Blackhawks, not the least of which is trying to repair their battered reputation in the wake of the Kyle Beach sexual assault scandal. Whoever takes on the head coaching job has to be aware of and sensitive to the fact it will and perhaps always be part of the narrative for this once-proud franchise.

Pros

Great city. Great hockey market, although the fan base has been rocked by the team’s shoddy handling of the sexual assault of Beach by team employee Brad Aldrich shortly before they won their first of three Stanley Cups in 2010. The team has always paid top dollar for its staff, so that is another positive in attracting top caliber coaching. In terms of roster development, the Blackhawks are sort of a mishmash. They have star players like Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat and Seth Jones – whom the team paid a king’s ransom before the start of last season and now begins the first of eight years at $9 million per season – and youngsters who may or may not be real NHL players. Given the upheaval in terms of the roster and the organization as a whole, we’d expect a new head coach to have a lot of latitude on how to get this team back to playoff contention.

Cons

The defense is not very good (26^th in goals allowed per game and 24^th on the penalty kill). And the goaltending is not very good. The offense is top-heavy and finished 29^th in the league in goals per game. But other than that they’re fine. Ha. Ha. Just kidding. Overall the team as it stands now is not very good. And what remains unclear is whether a new coach will oversee a rebuild or a retooling or just an ongoing tire fire. It’s looked like a little bit of everything over the past couple of seasons. There’s also the potentially thorny issue of what to do with captain Jonathan Toews, who missed the start of the season but ended up logging 71 games and collecting just 37 points with a minus-14 rating.

Who Fits?

Maybe it’s King after all but, watching the team repeatedly blow leads and melt down defensively through the last third of the season, it’s been hard not to consider him a placeholder. Unless, of course, the plan is to save some dough and keep King in the fold and perhaps let the team bottom out completely and figure out what to do post-Kane and Toews, who are under contract through 2023 (which is sort of what Detroit did when Yzerman took over in Detroit with Blashill behind the bench). But that hardly seems like a way to endear yourself to fans and to young players like DeBrincat or Taylor Raddysh or anyone else the Blackhawks might like to lock up long-term in the next couple of years. Tough spot for Davidson no matter which way he decides to go.

6. Philadelphia Flyers

To say the Flyers are, well, a mess might be charitable. They finished 29^th in the league, 39 points out of the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. They had a minus-87 goal differential and the sad part is the goaltending was actually pretty good. They were 31^st in the NHL in goals for, and their power play was dead last. They fired their head coach, Alain Vigneault, and then left Mike Yeo to try and make chicken salad out of, well, you know, the rest of the way. They traded away long-time captain Claude Giroux at the deadline, the ultimate waving of the organizational white flag. Fans have stayed away in droves. GM Chuck Fletcher has tried to plug the many holes in the lineup and there have been promises to spend more money on scouting and development but, well, hard to imagine this team has been as low as it is now in many, many moons.

Pros

Well, the bar’s set pretty low in Philadelphia now for what constitutes success. And even though ownership/senior management insists it’s not really a rebuild, blah, blah, blah, no coach is coming in here with the realistic expectation of anything but trying to slowly put the pieces back together. And it’s Philadelphia. The team will pay top dollar in the hopes of stopping the bleeding. Travel is easy. Fans are knowledgeable and invested (except when they vote with their feet and wallets when the product is substandard). There’s a franchise goalie in Carter Hart as long as the losing doesn’t break him. Hopefully defenseman Ryan Ellis will get better (healthier) and help bring stability to the lineup.

Cons

Where do you start? Hard to imagine this job appeals to the high-end free agent coaches like Trotz, DeBoer or Tocchet even though Tocchet has a long history with the club, because there are lots more attractive openings. In fact, one long-time NHL executive and former player noted that it’s shocking that of all the openings the Flyers would be easily the least desirable. “That’s not good. At all,” the observer said. At the crux of this, for anyone considering the job is this question: what is the real mandate here? Promising young players seem to have hit a wall, so is that coaching, development or just mistakes in talent evaluation? The transition from the venerable Ed Snider to the corporate monolith Comcast Spectacor as the ultimate decision-makers on hirings, firings and direction led by Dave Scott has not been seamless. There is also the specter of the old Flyers that continues to haunt this club. It caused friction with former GM Ron Hextall with complaints that he wasn’t open to including those figures who remain around the team. A new coach has to decide how he or she will approach the very tangible element of the Flyer dynamic. This is a critical hire for Fletcher (duh, really?) and after Hextall’s experiment with long-time collegiate coach Dave Hakstol cost both Hextall and Hakstol their jobs, paving the way for Chuck Fletcher to arrive and install Vigneault as head coach, there isn’t an obvious path to a new coach for a team that has no obvious path road to respectability.

Who Fits?

Let’s assume the big boys aren’t going to be a fit. Chuck Fletcher needs to find the next Jon Cooper, a teacher who can accelerate the learning curve of the team’s young talent, then take them the next steps back to playoff contention and to being a legitimate contender. And Fletcher needs to have ownership’s backing to do it. Montgomery has a strong connection to the Flyer organization, seems to have truly embraced sobriety and has been an important part of the Blues’ renaissance as part of Craig Berube’s staff. Gronborg may be a better fit in Detroit (see above) but again, if Fletcher is looking to move out of the comfort zone of recycling an existing NHL head coach, Gronborg’s resume is impressive. I can see Green fitting here as well.

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1. Dallas Stars

2. Vegas Golden Knights

3. Winnipeg Jets

4. Detroit Red Wings

5. Chicago Blackhawks

6. Philadelphia Flyers

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