Who will be the next head coach fired? 

The Columbus Blue Jackets got the head coach carousel for 2026 spinning on Monday when they parted ways with bench boss Dean Evason, amid a struggling campaign that had shown flashes of promise. 

Yet, they are far from the team in the worst situation in the NHL, sitting 27th in the entire league heading into Tuesday night’s action, leaving the potential of head coaches below and around them in the standings to be next out the door. 

On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton picked out their candidates to next leave their role as NHL head coaches in 2025-26. 

Carter Hutton: That’s a tough one, right? You try to go through the rosters and where they’re at. Travis Green in Ottawa is in a heck of a hot water right now, but I don’t know if it’s totally his fault. I’m going to go with Sheldon Keefe, because I think with the New Jersey Devils and Tom Fitzgerald, there’s a lot of pressure on both of them, and if this New Jersey team keeps trending in the wrong direction… I just think heads are going to roll everywhere in New Jersey.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I thought about both those guys, Travis Green and Sheldon Keefe, both guys signed four-year deals, and they’re only in their second years right now. I don’t think Ottawa is an organization that’s going to pay a guy for two years to not coach. Maybe New Jersey is the one name that comes to mind. 

I also wonder about Jim Hiller with the Los Angeles Kings. He’s not Ken Holland’s guy. I know Holland had a chance to make a change this summer when he took over, and he didn’t. But the Kings are still being kept afloat by a whole bunch of loser points; they’ve lost way more than they’ve won this season, and they’re starting to slip. They’re holding on to the last Wild Card spot right now, and I’m curious if Hiller survives. 

Carter Hutton: I think you could probably have the same conversation for André Tourigny with the Utah Mammoth, right? Like, he’s had a pretty good leash here with these guys, and Utah has played well as of late. They’re right there in the hunt, but as we view the second half, I think management-wise, they’re going to be proactive there, and I think they want this team to be in the playoffs. So there’s definitely a lot of pressure on those guys. 

You can catch the entire coaching segment, as well as the rest of Tuesday’s episode here.