As the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs roll on, the business of hockey continues with the teams that finished out of the money. Some of them have found new head coaches. Some of them are still looking. One needs a general manager. Two just kicked their GMs upstairs to add to (or maintain) their brain trust.
Here's a look the vacancies and the recently filled jobs in the NHL, and what we're hearing about them.
Filled coaching jobs
Florida Panthers
Former coach: Bob Boughner
New coach: Joel Quenneville
Analysis: What a coup for the Cats. The second-winningest coach in NHL history behind Scotty Bowman, and the winner of three Stanley Cups, Quenneville was captivated by living in South Florida -- golf, horse racing and Dale Tallon, the guy who hired him in Chicago and is the current Panthers GM. The multiyear deal pays him around $6 million annually, and it's hard not to think it's a solid investment: Quenneville has missed the playoffs only three times in coaching 1,636 career games.
His presence makes the Panthers a potential player destination (hello, Artemi Panarin) and gives the franchise a legitimacy it has lacked for decades. Greg Cote of the Miami Herald called him "the most accomplished man and proven winner in his profession to join a local team since the Heat got Pat Riley in 1995."
News story: Panthers move fast, hire Quenneville as coach
Los Angeles Kings
Former coach: Willie Desjardins
New coach: Todd McLellan
Analysis: GM Rob Blake convinced his former coach in San Jose to take over the Kings with an "extensive" plan to get back on a path to success ... which will probably have more to do with Blake flipping the aged roster into something younger than it does McLellan's coaching, but we digress. The interesting phrase that McLellan used in his introductory news conference was owing the fans "entertainment value," which one assumes means the Kings might get a more offensive style for the first time in nearly a decade.
News story: McLellan agrees to multiyear deal to coach Kings
Philadelphia Flyers
Former coach: Scott Gordon
New coach: Alain Vigneault
Analysis: A "win now" move for both the franchise and the former New York Rangers coach, who signed on because he thinks the Flyers are close. "On my bucket list, I need one more thing: I need to win a Stanley Cup. I've come close twice," Vigneault said when he was hired. "When I look at and analyze the parts we have here in Philly, when I look at and analyze the options that we have in improving this team, it gets a check mark from me."
If nothing else, Vigneault takes over a team with a star in his prime (Claude Giroux), several good young players (including goalie Carter Hart), around $30 million in cap space next summer and, of course, Gritty.
News story: Flyers announce Vigneault as team's new coach
Open coaching jobs
Anaheim Ducks
Former coach: Bob Murray
Rumor 'n' innuendo: True to form, Murray is playing it close to the vest for his next head coach. (Please recall Murray took over behind the Ducks' bench after firing Randy Carlyle this season but has no interest in returning as head coach.) We know he's looking for a coach who can connect with younger players. Dallas Eakins has been impressive as head coach of the San Diego Gulls in the AHL, as they advanced to the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs. There are a lot of dots that connect with Eakins, but we've been told he's not a slam dunk.
One wonders if AHL coaches Pascal Vincent (Manitoba) or Mike Vellucci (Charlotte) could get a look. The wild card: Rikard Gronborg, the Swedish national team coach. He has coached Hampus Lindholm, Jakob Silfverberg and Rickard Rakell before, and he's itching to come to the NHL.
Buffalo Sabres
Former coach: Phil Housley
Rumor 'n' innuendo: It's no secret GM Jason Botterill is seeking a bench boss with head NHL coaching experience after previously hiring a former assistant in Housley. Alas, some of the bigger names already hopped off the coaching carousel, but two familiar names have interviewed with the Sabres: Dave Tippett, the former Arizona Coyotes coach who apparently still has the itch (or was informed what his role, or lack thereof, in Seattle was to be), and Jacques Martin, the former Senators and Panthers head coach whom Botterill has a connection with through their days together in Pittsburgh.
Lightning assistant Todd Richards, another Pittsburgh connection, was the former head coach of the Wild and Blue Jackets. Chris Taylor, head coach at AHL Rochester, could be in the mix. Gronborg and Botterill are expected to connect during the upcoming IIHF world championship.
Edmonton Oilers
Former coach: Ken Hitchcock
Rumor 'n' innuendo: During the news conference introducing Ken Holland as the Oilers' new GM, it was divulged that Hitchcock would not be back as head coach. So, it'll be a new face, and potentially one with some history with the new GM. This will be the eighth coach in 11 years for the Oilers, which we guess is consistency, in a weird way. Dave Tippett is believed to be a front-runner for the gig, but don't sleep on Todd Nelson, a current assistant coach with the Dallas Stars who was an AHL coach for Edmonton and for Holland with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Ottawa Senators
Former/current coach: Marc Crawford
Rumor 'n' innuendo: Crawford went 7-10-1 as interim head coach for Ottawa, which was good enough to put in consideration for the gig. Jacques Martin, who coached there for nine seasons, is in the mix, as is Belleville Senators coach Troy Mann (although speculation is he could be elevated as an assistant coach). According to Sportsnet, Ottawa has asked Toronto for permission to speak to assistant coach D.J. Smith. From the college hockey ranks, Providence coach Nate Leaman is under consideration.
But the rising star might be Brad Shaw, an assistant coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He has a great reputation as coach of defensemen and instructed the Jackets' league-best penalty kill. He was also interviewed by Sens GM Pierre Dorion in 2016 before they hired Guy Boucher. Oh, and he was the alternate captain of the 1992 expansion Senators, too.
Filled GM jobs
Detroit Red Wings
Former GM: Ken Holland
New GM: Steve Yzerman
Analysis: From the moment Yzerman stepped away from the Tampa Bay Lightning, the speculation was that he would ride in and replace Holland, so this was no surprise. Holland remained the senior vice president of hockey operations for a short time, but moved on to become the new GM of the Oilers. To no one's surprise, Yzerman preached patience as the Red Wings go young and build through the draft. To the surprise of many, he not only said he'd honor coach Jeff Blashill's two-year contract extension but offered vocal support for the coach.
News story: Stevie GM: Wings tab Yzerman to replace Holland
Vegas Golden Knights
Former GM: George McPhee
New GM: Kelly McCrimmon
Analysis: What, you didn't realize the Golden Knights needed a new general manager? McPhee did, apparently. He started formulating a plan to "keep the band together" in Vegas, fully knowing that opportunities would present themselves to highly regarded assistant general manager Kelly McCrimmon this offseason. His solution? To remain atop the Golden Knights' player personnel chain of command as president of hockey operations, with McCrimmon moving up to general manager.
The two will continue their "co-managing" setup that has been in place since McCrimmon was hired. Most important, it keeps an instantly successful brain trust together for a franchise that's just a piece or two away from another trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
"I don't know if I would have done this for anyone else. But it's easy to do when it's the right thing. This was the right thing for the Golden Knights. I'm proud to do this. Kelly's going to be terrific at it. And we just keep rolling along here," McPhee said.
News story: Golden Knights elevate McCrimmon to GM role
Edmonton Oilers
Former GM: Keith Gretzky
New GM: Ken Holland
Analysis: There are two tiers of grading this move. The first is whether Holland, who was the general manager of the Red Wings from 1997 through Steve Yzerman's decision to come back to Detroit, is the right executive for this job. He's also one of the few executives in the NHL that could take this job by demanding the autonomy necessary to clear out the Edmonton cronies that have helped steer this franchise into the rocks. If not for the championship teams he built in Detroit, then for the 25 million reasons team CEO Bob Nicholson just gave him to run pilot the boat as he sees fit.
He's also gotten a bad rap through the years for a few of the Red Wings' more disastrous moves in the sunset of their time as a contender. Sometimes it would be a player his high-profile coach wanted, like Stephen Weiss. Sometimes it was an owner, in the last years of his life, wanting to remain on a playoff streak rather than taking the necessary step back to reload the roster in the post-Nicklas Lidstrom years. This isn't to excuse the decisions Holland made in appeasing those desires -- the man gave no-trade clauses to Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader, for goodness sake -- but to acknowledge where they came from.
The other tier on grading this move is whether Holland is the right executive for the task at hand, which is to turn Edmonton into a contender before things get uncomfortable with Connor McDavid, which is to say in the next two seasons. He has the respect and connections necessary to do some of the incredibly heavy lifting to reshape this roster, but this is going to be like trying to bench press a tractor trailer. The Oilers have several problematic contracts, from Milan Lucic's buyout-proof one to a few on the blue line. Peter Chiarelli left them with few assets through which the Oilers can aggressively upgrade their roster. As it stands, they have 15 players under contract next season, and $8.463 million in cap space. Oh, and a goalie in Mikko Koskinen that Chiarelli signed to three-year extension with a modified no-trade clause right before he was canned.
Again, this is a short-term play. The Oilers can't do the slow build over Holland's five years. It's a challenge few general managers would want. It's a challenge that took five million dollars annually, resetting the GM market, to lure Holland. But the bottom line is that it's a challenge.
News story: Oilers make Holland GM; Hitchcock out as coach