Sometimes, NHL figures on the hot seat deserve a bit of credit.
Even if a team sits near the bottom of the standings, if it can string together some wins, it's showing some glimpse of hope that it can turn things around and climb back into the playoff race.
On this week's edition of the NHL's Hot Seat Radar, the Buffalo Sabres' coach did earn that credit despite his team still being 4-6-0 in its last 10 games.
But a Calgary Flames executive did not get his flowers for his team winning three straight in the past week. In fact, he's featured on the Hot Seat Radar for the first time despite GM Craig Conroy and coach Ryan Huska being mentioned previously as having a lot of pressure to steer the team in the right direction.
As a reminder, being on TheHockeyNews.com's Hot Seat Radar doesn't automatically mean the person is about to get sent away from the team. But in every case, it means there's a lot of pressure to improve. And if you're looking for Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube, read last week's edition for more on him. Onward, ho:
Cooling Down: Lindy Ruff, Coach, Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres were on death’s door early in the season, as they sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.
But you have to give credit to Ruff's Sabres, which won four of their past six games – including wins over the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers and Detroit Red Wings.
Wednesday's loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins means they're back in last place in the Eastern Conference, so it's baby steps for sure in Buffalo.
Ruff probably doesn’t have to worry about being replaced in the next few weeks at least, but he’s still under tremendous pressure to continue producing wins.
There are no more moral victories in Sabres Land. If Ruff strings together a few losses instead of wins, he'll be back to having a red-hot seat on our radar.
Warming Up: Don Maloney, President Of Hockey Operations, Calgary Flames
The president of hockey operations of the team that's second-last in the NHL said "no one has an appetite to just burn it to the studs, take it all down," amid a three-year playoff drought.
That's what Don Maloney told Sportsnet's Eric Francis in a lengthy Q&A published last Friday.
He said there's examples of teams taking potentially decades to rebuild (hello, Buffalo), and the draft is an inexact thing where there's no guarantee they can get a superstar or franchise-level player.
"We prefer a Dallas model, where they got Miro Heiskanen at three, but also got good players in the 20s, in the 30s," Maloney told Francis. "We’ve got to be better in our drafting and developing, versus saying, 'let's just lose easy for everybody.' We don't want that culture as part of this organization."
When asked whether it's enticing to simply lean into this rough start when there's a top-heavy draft including Gavin McKenna, Maloney said this isn't fantasy hockey, and the Flames hope to get a top-level player no matter where they draft.
The Flames have made the playoffs five times in 16 seasons. Their top scorer is 35-year-old Nazem Kadri, with 18 points.
They have promising youngsters Dustin Wolf, Matt Coronato and Zayne Parekh as potential future leaders of the core, with Cullen Potter, Cole Reschny and Hunter Brzustewicz as blue-chip prospects. But they need a lot more than them to have an elite team in the long term.
So it's no surprise #FireDonMaloney was spammed on the Flames' Instagram page. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman even described the comments as pouring gasoline on the fire in the Canadian market. And it's no surprise Maloney lands in this week's Hot Seat Radar. - Jonathan Tovell
The Nashville Predators' Future Depends On Their Response To A Nearly Lost SeasonThe Nashville Predators' season-long slump is signalling an impending roster shakeup. Should they trade Steven Stamkos, Ryan O'Reilly and Jonathan Marchessault?Warming Up: Andrew Brunette, Coach, Nashville Predators
It’s getting bowling-shoe ugly in Nashville, as the Predators lost eight of their last 10 games and have the fewest points in the NHL.
Preds GM Barry Trotz gave Brunette a vote of confidence in an interview with The Tennessean. Let's just say it's not a good situation if a GM has to give a coach a vote of confidence. Leafs fans will remember Brian Burke continuously defending coach Ron Wilson before it couldn't go on any longer.
“When (St. Louis Blues GM) Doug Armstrong hired (Jim) Montgomery, he said, ‘This is my coach for a while,” Trotz said. “When I hired (Brunette), I said, ‘This is my coach for the next while.’ ”
Trotz also questioned whether it's the right thing to get rid of a young coach for what he suggested is a sugar high of a coaching bump.
We’ll see how Trotz reacts when Nashville’s playoff hopes are a smoking pile of ash.
Brunette wouldn’t be the first coach to pay the price for prolonged stretches of terrible hockey, and he wouldn’t be the last. And while Trotz has to be held to account for giving Brunette this group of players, Trotz is going nowhere. Brunette, on the other hand, is another story entirely.
Edmonton Oilers' Inability To Sustain Momentum Is A Major ProblemThe Oilers have to correct what is holding them back from putting together more than two good games in a row as they continue to falter against the best of the NHL's Western Conference. Warming Up: Kris Knoblauch, Coach, Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers got crushed Tuesday when the Dallas Stars showed them what a real Cup front-runner looks like, beating Edmonton 8-3. The loss dropped the Oilers’ record to 10-10-5. They currently sit 11th in the Western Conference and sixth in the Pacific Division.
If you told people over the summer that the San Jose Sharks would be ahead of Edmonton in the Pacific standings by American Thanksgiving, you didn't deserve to be laughed out of the room.
Nobody’s laughing in Oilers World right now – least of all, Knoblauch, who can’t coax a solid defensive game out of his team. And once again, goaltending is proving to be an issue in Edmonton. The Oilers look lost on ‘D’, and they currently can’t protect Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard.
It’s all adding up to Knoblauch feeling tighter around the collar than he was prior to Game No. 1 this season. That first game came against the Calgary Flames, and the Oilers blew a 3-0 lead to lose 4-3 in a shootout. That has set the tone for a thoroughly disappointing year for this team.
Knoblauch is now tasked with righting Edmonton’s ship, but sooner than later, there could be dire straits ahead for the Oilers. He’s not going to be fired imminently, but he will feel more heat if he can’t end the misery around his team.
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