🔥 5 NHL Coaches on the HOT SEAT Heading Into 2025–26

Peter Klein

Which NHL coaches are feeling the heat heading into the 2025–26 season? From Rod Brind’Amour in Carolina to Lindy Ruff in Buffalo, we break down five bench bosses who could be coaching for their jobs this year.  🏒 In this video: - Jim Hiller (Kings) after last year’s playoff collapse - Lindy Ruff (Sabres) with the pressure mounting in Buffalo - John Hynes (Wild) in a make-or-break year with Kaprizov’s contract looming - Andrew Brunette (Predators) after a brutal first season in Nashville - Rod Brind’Amour (Hurricanes), despite regular-season success  🔥 Who do you think is first to get the axe? Let me know in the comments.  📺 This clip is from Couch Potato Diary — catch the full episode on the channel for more NHL, fantasy football, and combat sports coverage.  #NHL #Hockey #NHLHotSeat #NHL2025 #CouchPotatoDiary  🎧 Listen on: Apple https://apple.co/49NGm2L | Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM?si=icY7NEBvT7yZadv_JFlT6Q  💬 Follow for live breakdowns: X.com/primetimepk | Twitch.tv/primetimepk  | Kick.com/primetimepk  🔗 Support the Show:   - Tip Jar: https://streamelements.com/couchpotatodiary/tip (fuels more content!)   - Partners: C of Dead http://cofdead403.ca/ | Swift Energy https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=mriusnqm PROMO CODE: PKPrimetime for 25% Off!

Transcript

00:00Let's take a look at the five coaches who could be coaching for their job in the upcoming NHL

00:05season. Every year the coaching carousel turns in the National Hockey League and this year there

00:20are five that I think could potentially find their way knocked off of that ride. Here are the five

00:26coaches on the hot seat for the upcoming NHL season. At number five starting out with the

00:33hottest take of this one I have Rob Brindamore. Now I want to say Carolina has had a lot of great

00:40success and Rob Brindamore is a very big reason for that but they have stalled out at the exact

00:48same spot multiple years in a row and it feels like they're getting further and further away

00:52every single year from those real upper echelon teams in the NHL and so this isn't a coaches that

01:00need to be fired segment. This is really it's coaches under the most pressure but coaches on

01:05the hot seat. If Carolina has any form of a speed wobble I would say before the conference finals

01:11I would not be surprised if Carolina was like okay that's it we have to make a change here

01:17we have because this roster has been really good for a while offensively defensively the

01:22goaltending is a bit of a meh right like Freddie Anderson your mileage may vary but for the most

01:27part this is a really really high level roster that has felt like it has underachieved for the

01:32honestly better part of like half a decade now right like five to ten years it feels like the

01:39ten years part is over exaggerating I know but I still feel like Brindamore is an excellent coach

01:45he is a culture setter he is a tone setter he is someone who you want running your team but if you

01:52keep having the same problem every single year then at some point you have to make a change and I think

01:58this year it's going to be very interesting to see with a player like a Nikolai Ehlers do you open it

02:04up offensively a little bit more to allow your team to be a bit more dangerous instead of just the

02:10trap defense lock it down team that they have been so Brindamore the reason he is on this list

02:16is just because it feels like the bar that he has to clear feels the highest of all of the guys

02:24on here like a few of these are show improvement make playoffs whatever he kind of feels like if

02:29they get bounced in five in the second round then we're probably seeing the CJ tweet that Brindamore

02:36has been let go by the Carolina Hurricanes so he feels like he has the highest that he the furthest

02:42that he has to go to keep that job title for the upcoming season so he's at number five at number

02:47four is Andrew Brunette last year was the year from hell with Nashville no one was putting it on the

02:53coach but multiple seasons like that don't tend to be benefited to the same coach right so if it is

03:03another atrocious season in Nashville I would suggest that among several other changes head

03:12coach would probably be one of the ones and look I think Brunette's a good coach again I think like

03:17Brindamore's a good coach I think Brunette's a really solid coach I think that the big moves that

03:21they made didn't really work it is now on him to make sure he can make everything mesh for this season

03:26so they they need to have a good start I think for Brunette to be able to hang around uh in the chat

03:33Tall John back on the Carolina thing anything less than a cup final is a disappointment for the

03:37chance uh for the the Canes uh sorry for the chances he has had with that Carolina team I would

03:41agree like they need to at least be playing for a Stanley Cup this year and that's tough when you

03:48have the two-time defending champions out there but you look at like I I think they're a good team

03:54Carolina but you look at the division they've been able to play in for a long time it has not been

04:00close to Ascalif fans it has not been close to as competitive as the top of the Atlantic that has

04:06had Florida it has had Boston Tampa Bay and begrudgingly we will put Toronto in there when

04:10you look at what has been going on in the division with Carolina for the last few years where the

04:14Rangers have fallen off and been a little inconsistent Washington has found another gear but they haven't

04:19been really playoff dynamos the devils are waiting to take a step forward like there hasn't been

04:23that real challenge to the throne so yes Carolina didn't win the division in the regular season last year

04:28but it wasn't a challenging trek through the postseason and then they came up against a real

04:33challenge and they faltered so you could like people made the case that Tom Brady's greatness

04:38was only because he got to play in that division so you can easily make the case that they have been

04:44able to get not a free ride but a bit of an easier ride into the conference finals than their Atlantic

04:50neighbors the last few years and they haven't been able to do a thing with it so I would agree

04:54anything less than a Stanley Cup at this point feels like a disappointment given the cap space

04:58they still have given the roster they have and the moves that they made bringing in Nikolai Ehlers

05:02and Stankoven another year of development it feels like a a gigantic year in Carolina I will say that

05:10number three on the list is John Hines out in Minnesota there's a lot of pressure on the wild

05:16this year and with Kaprizov's contract apparently he's turning down mucho mucho dinero with Minnesota

05:23so there is a lot of pressure on the wild if there's any sort of a wibbly wobble out there this

05:30year that feels like it could be a desperation move to try to make the kid happy and again I think

05:35Hines is a fine coach but I think that team's a problem and that's going to be a tough one to

05:40navigate as a coach because of the distraction that now feels like it is at play with the Kaprizov

05:48contract all season long because it's not like you're signing another one of him in free agency

05:53and I think already the pressure kind of starts because everyone had Brock Besser going there right

05:57and so when he signs with Vancouver basically as soon as the puck drops on free agency

06:02I think all of a sudden the heat got really turned up on Minnesota we have a couple left on the coaches

06:09on the hot seat as we get ready for the start of the NHL season but a reminder that we are streaming

06:15these live on multiple different platforms and the next live stream is going to be Tuesday at 10 a.m.

06:22we'll be taping the Tuesday and Wednesday podcast on that day and then hopefully a video game pod

06:27or a video game stream sorry in the afternoon number two on the coaches on the hot seat list

06:33it is Lindy Ruff yes only back for a year but it is beyond acceptable or unacceptable sorry in Buffalo

06:42what has happened right now so they have to make some kind of progress this year or else it's just not

06:49happening for them um like it has to take a step forward and Lindy Ruff is the one at the center

06:56of that you have a team that has focused on defense when drafting for a long time now offensive defense

07:02but still and they gave up some of the most goals in the league last year and uh goal scoring

07:09I mean I feel like they still need some pieces and I don't think coaching has been the issue in

07:15Buffalo this whole time but he has a bit of an antiquated way of looking at things and the style

07:22that he is supposed to play they were bad at a season ago there needs to needs to needs to be

07:28some improvement in Buffalo this year or else it is a full house cleaning again with the Pagoulas

07:33and the Buffalo Sabres so Lindy Ruff is number two on my list and at number one it is Jim Hiller now

07:39maybe there is some recency bias in here but when you look at how the playoffs went last year

07:44Hiller I believe coached his team out of the playoffs with bad challenges bad lineup management

07:50and just a bad overall strategy in how they attacked some of those games allowing the Oilers

07:56to come back in games and come back in that series I don't think he's been blessed with the best roster

08:01for this upcoming season but the guys who made that roster are the ones making that decision

08:07there's already been big changes in LA Jim Hiller didn't exactly like we said uh just

08:14shower himself in glory in the playoffs last year he needs to show that he can be the guy

08:18to get this team across the finish line in the Pacific Division even just into the second round

08:24or else there's going to be a new man at the helm with Los Angeles for this upcoming season so those

08:29are the five coaches that I have on the hot seat for this upcoming NHL season what do you think uh keep

08:37the chat's coming uh some good stuff in there from uh tall john on the um on the Carolina Hurricanes

08:44I would agree Connor D like we didn't do general managers here Steve Iserman's on the hot seat there

08:49is no question in my mind he is on the hot seat and that needs to be needs to be a playoff team this

08:55year they've been so close for the last couple years but when you see Montreal has passed them when

08:59you see Ottawa has passed them the time is now for this Detroit team to take that step and the

09:06problem like they've drafted really well right like Sider's awesome um and they have a lot of pieces

09:12on offense that you like but the things that he's supposed to be able to do and be effective at that

09:17he was able to do in Tampa Bay and get that depth and get that organizational depth he hasn't been able

09:21to do it was the depth forwards in Detroit that kept him out of the playoffs last year I like the

09:26signing of Appleton but aside from that they haven't really done a lot to address it it's just a lot of

09:30the same guys quite overpriced when you look at Comfer and Kopp making around five million dollars

09:36they need those guys to step up and it's looking worse and worse on Stevie Y as the uh the years go

09:42on so I absolutely agree that he is a general manager on the hot seat but what else let me know

09:46in the chat and uh if you're watching this after let me know in the comments down below

09:52it's just like a little bit of a problem

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