Who will be the first NHL head coach fired in 2025-26?
Friday marked the one-month mark of the 2025-26 NHL season. It may feel early, but history suggests the hour is likely late for a head coach or two. Last season, we saw the first two axings before November was up, with the Boston Bruins firing Jim Montgomery and the St. Louis Blues firing Drew Bannister. Two more coaches got pinked slipped in December.
It’s thus not too soon for the Roundtable to speculate: Who will be the first coach fired in 2025-26?
MATT LARKIN: Andrew Brunette may be the low-hanging fruit, but if the Nashville Predators are going nowhere this season, they don’t have to rush their next hire. An early-season axing often comes from a team with high expectations and urgency. That’s the Los Angeles Kings for me, with Jim Hiller on the hot seat. He hasn’t guided his team out of Round 1 of the playoffs, the Kings are sputtering around the playoff bubble this season, and there are a few turnkey veteran bench bosses on the market right now. All Pete DeBoer does is coach teams that go to the Conference Final or deeper. Would it surprise anyone to see him in L.A. by season’s end?
SCOTT MAXWELL: There’s a couple of interesting options, what with a desperate Buffalo Sabres team possibly looking to jump ship from Lindy Ruff if things go sideways again, or Ryan Huska’s ChatGPT comments feeling like one of many examples that he doesn’t know what he’s doing with a struggling Calgary Flames team. But, the Minnesota Wild have higher expectations than most of the teams mentioned so far, and they have the most to lose if they continue to disappoint. They may be the trigger-happy to move on from John Hynes, who just hasn’t felt like a fit in the two years he’s been there. With the aforementioned DeBoer available, there won’t be too many better opportunities for Minnesota to find a replacement, so you have to wonder if they’re considering that. Plus, we may be reaching the point where GM Bill Guerin’s job is on the line, so he may be looking to buy himself a bit more time.
PAUL PIDUTTI: With the NHL’s first month looking like The Season of Parity™️ so far, there are only a handful of teams limping badly out of the gate. I’m aligned with Scott’s choice of John Hynes getting the boot in Minnesota first. While no one seems to doubt Hynes is a capable NHL coach, the heat is cranking up further on Guerin. General managers don’t fire themselves for poor play, so Hynes may prove the natural scapegoat. The Wild issued the biggest contract in history to Kirill Kaprizov, and their young guns are now in place on this roster. We’re effectively looking at what ownership and fans expect is a highly competitive group for the foreseeable future. Minnesota has plenty of winnable games over the next 30 days, including a five-game homestand starting Sunday. This leaves Hynes and crew a window to right the ship — and potentially save his job.
ANTHONY TRUDEAU: To Paul’s point, there just aren’t that many coaches doing fireable work. The Seattle Kraken have some of the league’s worst metrics, but they’re winning games, and Lane Lambert only just got there. Jim Montgomery is already the Blues’ third bench boss in three seasons; Doug Armstrong must realize by now his roster is the issue. That leaves few options other than Hynes, but I’ll pivot to Andrew Brunette in Nashville for variety’s sake. ‘Bruno’ has an excellent track record as an assistant and won the Presidents’ Trophy as interim boss in Florida, but his return to the Music City has fallen as flat as the rest of Barry Trotz’s big swings as GM. The Preds’ roster might be old and ill-conceived, but it’s hard to argue that Brunette has gotten the best out of it, or that he has the developmental chops to helm a badly needed rebuild. Something’s gotta give.
MIKE GOULD: I’m pretty confident it won’t be Ryan Huska, who is barely a month removed from signing a contract extension with the Flames. In all honesty, I don’t see a ton of obvious candidates to go, save for Hiller, whom Matt already mentioned off the top. But I have to admit I’m curious to see what happens with Adam Foote, who has always seemed like a bit of a stopgap to me since taking over from Rick Tocchet with the Vancouver Canucks. Strictly speaking, he’s not an interim guy, but Foote has never felt like a clear stylistic fit for what should be more of a high-flying team. And with the Canucks off to an iffy start — and Jim Rutherford possessing one of the itchier trigger figures in the game — I wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually made a change.
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