Pink Slip Index: Who's Next After Gordon?

by Kevin Schultz

Filed under: Devils, Flames, Maple Leafs, Panthers, Sabres

NHL teams change coaches about as often as a college kid changes jeans -- about every week or two. Throughout the NHL season, Kevin Schultz will be taking a look at the coaches who are most likely to be next up on the chopping block. Consider this fair warning.

As you've probably heard, we've had our first firing of the season: Scott Gordon formerly of the Islanders. Gordon gets this year's illustrious 'Quickest Exit' award for excellence and speed in getting fired. Of course, that's just a joke. There's no such award. But it's just as big of a joke as Gordon's firing.

Sure, it's easy to point to 10 losses in a row and say enough is enough for a coach in the final year of his contract. Actually, that's a really convincing case if there's no context to it. But, of course, there's context. There's the context that Gordon was thought of highly enough to earn an assistant spot on Team USA at the Vancouver Olympics. Then, there's the Islanders selling Gordon's "system" to their players and fans for the last two years only to abandon the man and, potentially, his system two-plus years in. Not only that, he was expected to make the playoffs with a roster that was exactly the same, if not worse, than the one that finished 25th in the league last season.

So there's the context and all we're left with is Garth Snow saying it was some sort of "confidence" issue. Right. But in all seriousness Gordon deserves an award for getting fired before John MacLean. I mean, really. Who saw that coming? Maybe Snow and Lou Lamoriello had a bet about who could wait longer to axe their coach.

Now, we move on to who should, or could, be next?

 

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