Pink Slip Index: Complications in Carolina

In the NHL, coach firings are as common as parking tickets in New York City. Throughout the NHL season I'll be taking a bi-weekly look at five coaches who are the most likely to get fired. Be advised your local coach may be axed at any moment. Consider this fair warning.

Things have changed quite a bit since our last look at coaches with warm cushions. For one, the Lightning are making me look bad at 3-1-3 since the last installment. The Leafs have won a few games and things have gone from bad to an Alexander Daigle brand of awful for the Hurricanes. We'll take a look at all of that and more after the jump.


Off the List (for now):
John Stevens, Philadelphia Flyers (Previous Rank: 4). The Flyers have won five in a row since we last checked in and are sixth in the conference. Nothing to worry about, John.

Peter DeBoer, Florida Panthers (5). The Cats got hammered twice over the weekend by the Caps but are still 4-2 since we last checked in. Basically, there are more folks in a lot more trouble than DeBoer.

Free Passes: Barry Trotz, Nashville Predators. Jacques Lemaire, New Jersey Devils (who will be listed here as long as Lou Lamoriello is in charge).

No. 6: Rick Tocchet, Tampa Bay Lightning (1). There was some disagreement in other parts of the blogosphere about Tocchet topping the last list. No matter if you agreed or disagreed, I think we can all say that the Lightning are playing some solid hockey at the moment. They're 5-1-3 in their last seven and Steven Stamkos is destroying defenders' lives with his play. This run has cooled off Tocchet's seat so much I was going to completely take him off the list. Then he went and called out Vinny Franchise and dropped him to the third line, blatantly pandering to me to keep him on the list. So here he is with his own special spot at six since he's either completely bat poop crazy or playing job roulette with Oren Koules.

Seat status: Confusing.

No. 5: Ron Wilson, Toronto Maple Leafs (2). Things have turned around for the Leafs since my last look at them. They've actually won a few games and could have a few more under their belt if they could just figure out how to work that darned overtime. They're 2-1-4 since we last checked in, and that includes a 5-1 spanking of Detroit on Saturday, which nobody saw coming. Things are looking up in Leaf Land but we're keeping Ron on the countdown since October was a complete and utter FAIL. You can't forget about something like that so quickly.

Seat status: A warm spring day.

No. 4: Randy Carlyle, Anaheim Ducks (3). This week, Carlyle cools off slightly and moves to the fourth position. I'm still a firm believer that he'll get a fair shake in Anaheim and likely will last the season barring a major turn of events. However, the Ducks got the dubious honor of giving the winless Leafs their first victory -- on home ice, no less! -- but have showed a very mild resiliency going 3-2-1 since we last checked in on them. Carlyle cools off as the Ducks break even and we put some more volatile candidates in front of him.

Seat status: One of those hot summer nights where you wake up sticky because the AC is broken.

No. 3: Todd Richards, Minnesota Wild (NR). The Wild struggled early this season and I gave Richards a pass in the first edition of PSI since he's a first-year coach. That usually provides a little Teflon with which to deflect criticism. However, Richards makes our list this time since the Wild have continued to stumble. The more they stumble, the less of an excuse "brand new head coach" becomes. They're 7-10-1 on the year, second to last in the Western Conference, and are owners of an awful 2-8-1 road record. I fully expect the brass in Minnesota to give Richards some time but this being the NHL and all, hey, you never know.

Seat status: Lukewarm.

No. 2: Paul Maurice, Carolina Hurricanes (NR). The Hurricanes finished sixth in the East last year and made it all the way to the conference finals before getting swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champs. Injuries can be to blame, as Eric Staal and Joni Pitkanen are hurt and Eric Cole has missed time. Losing Cam Ward last Saturday was a death blow to a team already in last place. But with the Kings extending the Canes' winless streak to 13 and Carolina winning two of 17 overall, it would appear as though Maurice is as good as gone. This team has been outscored 30-10 in their last seven games -- all regulation losses. And if you can't even make it to overtime in Gary Bettman's Everybody Gets a Point Most of the Time League, you're really doing something wrong.

So it seems like Maurice is an open and shut case to go, right? Well, not exactly.

As Bob Harwood over at Canes Country points out, the Canes have put themselves in a bind not only with players but with the coaching staff, too.

"[Canes GM Jim Rutherford] has severely limited himself on what he can do regarding the coaching staff because of his recent three year signing of head coach Paul Maurice. If he were to fire Maurice, he would officially have two ex-coaches on the payroll because the team is still paying Peter Laviolette."

Yeah, so under most any other set of circumstances Maurice is a sitting duck. Now that he's at the helm of a failing team that gave him an extension over the summer and is already paying one guy to not coach them? That's a big bullet for one GM to bite. Maurice is second on our countdown because his seat is unquestionably hot. But, as the evidence points out, he's probably not going anywhere soon.

Seat status: Molten lava. But the extension and Laviolette deal means the Canes will likely have to bite the bullet.

No. 1: Andy Murray, St. Louis Blues (NR). When the Blues went 9-1-1 to sneak into the playoffs last year, there were some rumblings that run may have saved Murray's job. The team was promptly swept by the Canucks and many of its young stars have struggled during the early going this season -- and are killing my keeper league fantasy team -- despite a kind of deceiving 6-7-4 record. TJ Oshie has six points in 13 games, Patrick Berglund has four in 16 and David Backes has three in 17. But maybe after a 6-1 rout of Vancouver on Tuesday things are turning around. We'll see.

Seat status: Southern style chili cheese dog.

Right now, Murray tops our list since he doesn't have a complicated situation like Maurice, a "rookie" excuse like Richards, a Stanley Cup ring with the team like Carlyle or a recent hot streak like the rest. So if anyone is getting axed in the next week or two, it's this guy. Unless Lou Lamoriello gets up on the wrong side of the bed one day, but I digress.