Letdown seasons across the hockey landscape could soon lead to sweeping changes.

While the easiest and often most impactful move is to orchestrate a change behind the bench, these three coaches should be cautious of the hot seat:

Lindy Ruff

A coach is only as good as what he's given, and Ruff hasn't been provided with much in Dallas, particularly in goal.

The Dallas bench boss returned with a coin toss between the pipes this year, rotating between Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi, neither of which has provided stability and own the second-worst save percentage. The Stars' inability to keep pucks out of their own net is the biggest reason for a major step back after capturing the Central Division last season.

Also working against Ruff is the fact that he doesn't have a contract through next season, making it easier for general manager Jim Nill to facilitate a change.

Willie Desjardins

The Vancouver Canucks coach has spent the year under the gun, but with the team's season soon coming to a disappointing close, Desjardins may not avoid the ax much longer.

Desjardins is in his third season with the Canucks, with one playoff appearance to his credit. This year, the expectation in Vancouver was a return to the postseason, but that won't happen. The Canucks are already eliminated from the playoff chase, having collected 69 points in 76 games.

With the Sedins now staring down the back nine and the team inching close to a traditional teardown, the Canucks will continue to rework their roster, and could seek out a new voice behind the bench to boot.

Darryl Sutter

Will two Stanley Cups be enough to save Sutter? The Los Angeles Kings coach arrived in Hollywood in 2012 and guided the franchise to its first Stanley Cup, and then repeated the feat two years later. But the winning ways have been few and far between ever since, with just one playoff series appearance since 2014, as the Kings fell to the San Jose Sharks.

General manager Dean Lombardi opted to build a team to fit Sutter's grinding style, equipping his team with the likes of Dustin Brown, Jake Muzzin, and the recently acquired Jarome Iginla. But that hasn't paid off for Los Angeles this year, with the Kings on the verge of missing the postseason.

Sutter signed a multi-year extension with the club last May, after much deliberation, but the added term may not stop the Kings from changing course, particularly with a viable candidate in assistant John Stevens already in place.

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It’s been quite a week for the Boston Bruins, who have pulled ahead in the race for the second wild-card spot with just over a week remaining in the regular season. They’ll hope to get some help from the home crowd, too, as the B’s play four of their final five games at TD Garden.

And for fans looking to take in the final push towards a playoff spot, there are deals to be had on Bruins tickets through next Saturday.

On search engine TicketIQ, the average resale price for Bruins tickets over the team’s four remaining home games is $158. That’s on par with the season average of $160 across all 41 games at TD Garden, which indicates that no premium is being placed on the Bruins’ final homestand.

Tuesday’s game against the Lightning will be the cheapest remaining Bruins home game to attend this year. As it stands now the average resale price for tickets is $112 with a get-in price of just $45. The B’s welcome the Senators two days later in their second cheapest game, with tickets averaging $128 and starting from $55 each.

Should the Bruins still have ownership over the second wild-card slot come next Saturday, their matchup with the Capitals will be an early look into their first-round playoff series. Tickets to the game currently average $241, making it the Bruins' ninth most expensive game on average this season (a New Year’s Eve battle with the Sabres averaged a season-high $669 ticket). The cheapest available ticket is fetching for $90.

Expect prices to jump should the Bruins clinch a wild-card berth. Over three potential home games in the first round, Bruins playoff tickets are averaging $345 on TicketIQ. The team’s first home playoff game owns the cheapest tickets at $155 each. Additional savings on all Bruins games can be found on the TicketIQ app.

TicketIQ is a leading event ticket search engine with one simple goal: providing consumers with the most transparent and affordable buying experience. We aggregate listings from hundreds of certified sellers across every major sporting, music and theater event - including deals from Ticketmaster's Official Exchanges and our Low Price Guarantee listings. Start discovering and saving now.

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Auston Matthews isn't the only young NHL star with his own theme song.

Cadence Weapon dropped a new track dedicated to Connor McDavid on Wednesday, and it also features plenty of nods to the phenom's teammates.

The Edmonton-based rapper, whose real name is Roland "Rollie" Pemberton, told CBC News' Wallis Snowdon that the inspiration to write about the Oilers captain came back in December.

"I felt the energy when I was in Edmonton over the holidays and it was like a fever pitch," he said. "People were going so crazy about Connor McDavid and the Oilers and I wanted to harness that energy in a song, and it feels like the timing is perfect now."

Edmonton clinched its first playoff berth in over a decade Wednesday night, and McDavid now leads the league in both assists (63) and points (91).

If that doesn't deserve a tribute, we don't know what does.

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Only a few more weeks until Reid Duke has some new teammates.

Duke, the first play to sign with the Vegas Golden Knights, appeared in a video Friday, poking fun at the franchise that has not yet compiled its roster.

The former Brandon Wheat Kings forward is the only player on the Golden Knights after joining the team as a free agent.

Duke showcased that independence by taking part in a pregame tradition, even though he was short a few participants.

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Patrik Elias and the New Jersey Devils were synonymous with success.

The franchise's all-time leading scorer and the chart topper in several other categories, Elias' 18-year run with the Devils was decorated with winning, and the Czech winger played a major role during the team's dominant years.

Eliminating the Flyers

On the road to the franchise's first Stanley Cup, the Devils ran into some stiff competition, matching up against divisional foes the Philadelphia Flyers. The two sides squared off in a seven-round bout, with the deciding game appearing destined for overtime.

Enter Elias. After opening the scoring in the first frame, only for Philadelphia to tie it in the second, Elias fired home the game-winner with just over two minutes remaining in the third period, beating a sprawling Brian Boucher and clearing the Devils' path to the Stanley Cup Final.

Creating the overtime winner

Elias captured his first Stanley Cup with the Devils in 2000, and did so in style. Ahead 3-2 in the series and with the silver mug in their sights, the Devils battled the Dallas Stars through a double-overtime Game 6, a contest that went into the early hours in Dallas.

Midway through the second bonus frame, with Elias positioned in the corner, he fed a no-look, backhand pass into the slot. Jason Arnott buried the setup past goaltender Ed Belfour to bring New Jersey its first Stanley Cup.

Taking down the Ducks

Fast forward three years and Elias was competing for his second Stanley Cup, this time against the then-Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Riding red-hot netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere to hockey's final round, it appeared Lord Stanley was headed to Disneyland, but the Devils had plans of their own.

Elias scored 20 points during the team's 2000 Cup run, but wasn't nearly as dynamic three years later. Luckily, he seemed to save his show for the Final. There, Elias once again came up clutch, posting seven of his 13 playoff points from that run - including another game-winner - as New Jersey claimed its second Stanley Cup in four seasons.

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A new lawsuit doesn't exactly paint Eugene Melnyk in the best light.

The Ottawa Senators owner and his club are the targets of a court filing by former chief marketing officer Peter O'Leary, who argues that his termination was a breach of contract and that Melnyk both verbally and electronically abused team executives, according to Wayne Scanlan of the Ottawa Citizen.

Melnyk allegedly "at times used profanity and leveled insults at executive team members, including constantly calling into question their competency. Mr. Melnyk sent abusive emails to the executive team and frequently threatened to dismiss them."

O'Leary was fired in December 2016 after more than two years with the organization.

The Senators owner and his holdings group, Capital Sports, have filed a notice to defend, with Melnyk declining comment to Scanlan via email.

The allegations have not yet been tested in court.

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This is just the beginning for the Carolina Hurricanes.

A slow and steady rebuild has begun to take shape in Raleigh, where general manager Ron Francis has collected youth through lost seasons to construct his current club.

That patience has started to pay off. The Hurricanes are currently riding a 13-game point streak (9-0-4), a late surge that has lifted Carolina within four points of the playoff picture after spending most of the season near the bottom rung.

Now in his third year of stewardship, the Hurricanes have improved each season under Francis. After finishing with 71 points in 2014-15, Carolina jumped to 86 points a year ago and is on pace to pass that number this season, at 84 points with six games remaining.

The Hurricanes faithful are hoping for the playoffs after seven seasons on the outside looking in. Carolina's last postseason trip came in 2009, its only such appearance since winning the Stanley Cup in 2006.

While the March charge may not be enough for a last-minute ticket to the postseason dance - the Hurricanes are chasing two teams for two spots, the Bruins and Lightning - it's the first step toward building a better tomorrow.

The Hurricanes are realizing the fruits of their labor, having slowly built through the draft. A budget team, Carolina's success is born at the draft table, where the club has hit home runs outside of the opening round in recent seasons:

That's not to overlook the success Carolina's had with early picks either, selecting Jeff Skinner (seventh overall) in 2010, Elias Lindholm (fifth overall) in 2013, and defenseman Noah Hanifin, the No. 5 pick in 2015.

The Hurricanes have turned over the reins to many of these picks this season, particularly on the blue line, where 22-year-old Slavin leads the team in ice time by taking in more than 23 minutes a night. It's a defensive corps where, at 25 years old, Faulk is the elder statesman.

A similar movement is just around the corner for the forward ranks as the Hurricanes integrate their next wave of offensive talent. That process began with Aho, and the second phase isn't far off with Julien Gauthier, Nicolas Roy, and Janne Kuokkanen, among others.

All will play key roles for the Hurricanes in the coming years as Carolina continues its charge back into the league's elite.

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Follow theScore's fantasy feed on Twitter (@theScoreFantasy) for the latest news, features and more. And download Squad Up, theScore's free-to-win-money sports game.

Here is a look at the Squad Up daily NHL fantasy picture for Friday, March 31 (all advanced statistics courtesy of Corsica.Hockey and apply to 5v5 situations):

Dynamic Duos

• LW Marcus Johansson (45K) and D Kevin Shattenkirk (46K), Capitals (at Coyotes): Washington's big guns are all on the pricey side, but in a plum matchup against Arizona, which allows the second-most goals and shots per game, its secondary stars should thrive. Johansson is on a four-game point streak (one goal, seven assists), while power-play specialist Shattenkirk has seven assists and 16 shots over his last five games.

• C Patrik Berglund (42K) and D Alex Pietrangelo (46K), Blues (at Avalanche): There's no better matchup than one against Colorado, which has allowed at least four goals in seven straight games. Vladimir Tarasenko and co. are extravagantly-priced, but the affordable Berglund has been in fine form, with three goals and two assists in his last five games. Pietrangelo has four points and 16 shots in that span.

• C John Tavares (97K) and LW Josh Bailey (50K), Islanders (vs. Devils): Tavares is almost prohibitively expensive, but is hard to look past considering the success he's had with Bailey and Anders Lee (56K), both of whom are left wingers in Squad Up. The trio has managed a 55.74 Corsi For percentage in over 550 minutes together, and Devils netminder Keith Kinkaid allowed six goals in his lone start against the Islanders this season.

Goalie Breakdown

• TARGET - Sergei Bobrovsky (86K), Blue Jackets (at Blackhawks): A road matchup in Chicago is tough, but Bobrovsky has been playing too well to ignore, especially at such a friendly price. He's won nine of 10 starts in March, with a 0.99 GAA and a .971 save percentage. His teammates will be playing on back-to-back nights, but Bobrovsky was rested Thursday in Carolina.

• BARGAIN - Aaron Dell (75K), Sharks (at Flames): Dell has lost his last three starts during the Sharks' ongoing swoon, but he still boasts a 10-6-1 record with a 2.09 GAA and a .928 save percentage through 18 appearances. He looks to be the safest selection from the assortment of minimum-priced netminders.

• FADE - Henrik Lundqvist (112K), Rangers (vs. Penguins): Since returning from injury, Lundqvist has allowed five goals in each of his first two games back, on the road against Anaheim and San Jose. He'll have the comforts of playing at home against the scuffling Penguins, but his salary makes him difficult to back.

• CONTRARIAN- Jaroslav Halak (113K), Islanders (vs. Devils): In his first start since being recalled from the AHL, Halak made 37 saves in a 4-3 win over Pittsburgh last Friday. Another win looks like a solid bet, given that the Devils have lost six of their last seven games and score the second-fewest expected goals per 60 minutes.

Bargain Plays

• RW Brock Boeser (25K), Canucks (vs. Kings): Joining the Canucks following the conclusion of his college career at the University of North Dakota, Boeser has two goals and nine shots over his first three professional games. He's seeing time on Vancouver's top power play unit, helping his appeal against a stingy Kings team that allows the fourth-fewest expected goals per 60 minutes.

• C Tanner Kero (25K), Blackhawks (vs. Blue Jackets): Chicago's lines seem to constantly change, but Kero is currently centering a high-powered line with Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin. He recorded a goal, an assist, and five shots in Chicago's most recent game. The matchup with the aforementioned Bobrovsky looks difficult, but Kero's salary lessens the risk involved.

• LW Conor Sheary (32K), Penguins (at Rangers): Pittsburgh's in a bit of a skid, having lost four straight games (two via shootout), scoring a total of seven goals in that span. Sheary had an assist and nine shots in that stretch, but he remains nearly a point-per-game player who skates alongside Sidney Crosby at even strength. It's easy to envision a breakout, given the aforementioned Lundqvist's shaky form.

Top Fades

• LW Tanner Pearson (54K), Kings (at Canucks): Pearson has the second-most goals (23) and the third-most points (42) on the Kings, but he's in a run of bad shooting luck, having found the net twice on 38 shots in March. Considering how often Los Angeles struggles to score, it's hard to reconcile Pearson's price tag.

• RW Patrick Kane (85K), Blackhawks (vs. Blue Jackets): Only a multi-point effort will justify Kane's salary, something that doesn't seem likely given Bobrovsky's recent play. Columbus isn't airtight defensively; the team allows the fifth-most scoring chances and the sixth-most expected goals per 60 minutes, but it's hard to imagine Chicago running wild.

• D Oliver Ekman-Larsson (45K), Coyotes (vs. Capitals): Arizona has played a whopping 15 games in March, with Ekman-Larsson getting on the score sheet in just three of them. He's still a threat on the power play, but considering the Coyotes have scored exactly one goal in each of their last four games and will face the league's stingiest defensive team, Ekman-Larsson is best avoided.

Contrarian Options

• RW Sven Andrighetto (25K), Avalanche (vs. Blues): Not much has gone right for the Avalanche this season, but a bright spot has been trade deadline acquisition Andrighetto. The former Canadien has recorded a point in nine of 13 games with his new club, and enters Friday on a two game multi-point streak. Colorado may not score more than a goal or two, but Andrighetto should find a way to get involved.

• C Mika Zibanejad (54K), Rangers (vs. Penguins): Center is a position that never lacks marquee names, so someone like Zibanejad may fly under the radar. The former Senator has tallied nine points in March and is currently enjoying top power play unit duties on top of his second line role. Pittsburgh allows the fourth-most expected goals per 60 minutes, and has coughed up 15 regulation goals in their four-game losing streak.

• LW Brandon Saad (50K), Blue Jackets (at Blackhawks): Saad fired seven shots on goal but failed to score in his only other meeting with Chicago this season. Though his shots are down this season, his assists are up, and he ranks as Columbus' third-best forward in terms of Corsi For percentage. The revenge game narrative is in play as Saad faces his former club.

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One of the top U.S. college free agents is headed to the City of Brotherly Love.

Mike Vecchione signed an entry-level contract with the Philadelphia Flyers, the club announced Friday.

The one-year deal is for the current season, after which Vecchione will be a restricted free agent and the Flyers will retain his rights, according to Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post.

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall expects Vecchione to play in the NHL before the end of the regular season, but likely not Saturday against the New Jersey Devils, according to Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The 24-year-old forward ranked second in the nation with 29 goals and tied for first with 63 points in his senior season at Union College.

He is one of three remaining finalists for the Hobey Baker Award - given annually to the top Division I men's hockey player - along with Northeastern's Zach Aston-Reese and Denver's Will Butcher.

He'll reunite with former Union defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, with whom he played in 2013-14.

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Safe to say Shawn Thornton isn't fond of Alexei Emelin.

The Florida Panthers enforcer lashed out at the Montreal Canadiens defenseman in a postgame tirade to Marc Antoine Godin of La Presse after the Panthers' 6-2 loss on Thursday night.

"I think he's what's wrong with the league these days," the veteran said. "I think there's no accountability anymore. You can run around and take headshots at our captain and just turtle and the refs save your life. I'm getting out at the right time because I liked the game when you had to be a man and look at yourself in the mirror. So that's my honest opinion of that guy. I don't have any respect for him. I think he's a pretty good defenseman but I don't like the way he plays."

Emelin delivered a high hit on Panthers captain Derek MacKenzie midway through the second period. Thornton immediately went after the Canadiens blue-liner, who fell to the ice before a full-out melee ensued.

Emelin was given a minor penalty for elbowing, and Thornton received an offsetting call for roughing.

Thornton, 39, said his beef with Emelin goes back a decade.

"I don't mind people playing hard, but I've seen him with a lot of cheap shit in the last 10 years," he told Godin.

"I don't mind battling, but I've seen him headhunt a lot of guys and never ever answer for it. Say what you will about me, (but) I've always taken my beating like a man when I had to. I didn't back down from John Scott when they signed him in Buffalo and I didn't back down from (Georges) Laraque (when) they signed him (in Montreal). I can look at myself in the mirror. I'm not sure that idiot can."

The Canadiens and Panthers will renew hostilities April 3 in Sunrise.

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