7 NHL Coaches and GMs in Danger of Being on the Hot Seat During the 2025-26 Season

Whether it's a coach or a general manager in the NHL, they have one of the best yet most stressful jobs in the sport. Running a team and handling the entire staff and roster is the kind of work that could take years off your life. Similarly, coaching the team that the GM assembled can achieve the same results.

Not only do they need great results, but they've also got to keep everyone, from the owner to the fans, happy. It's not easy to do, and there's always an invisible clock that's ticking on their tenure. We're going to take a look around the league at the coaches and GMs whose clocks might be ticking a lot louder than others.

Now, we're not saying these executives are on the hot seat right now, but if things don't break right, the temperature is definitely going to rise and could do so at a rapid rate. NHL life can be finicky at times, but that's why we're keeping an eye on those in charge.

Last season went about as poorly as you could imagine for the Boston Bruins, going from being a playoff team to last in the Atlantic Division. The season saw them fire a coach (Jim Montgomery) and then move on from interim Joe Sacco. Despite all that, the Bruins signed GM Don Sweeney to a two-year extension, which would have you believe he's as safe as it gets in his job.

But what if last season wasn't a blip on the radar for the Bruins? There are plenty of reasons to believe it was due to injuries to key players (Hampus Lindholm, Charlie McAvoy) and Jeremy Swayman not getting a full training camp due to contract talks. The Bruins should be improved, but if they're back in the same place again this season with new coach Marco Sturm, it could leave Sweeney open to taking the fall.

Teams aren't always going to sweat out paying out coaches or GMs' extensions if they have to get them out of there, but it's definitely not a move the bookkeeper would approve. If the B's start heading for the bottom of the Atlantic again and are in position to be more of a lottery winner than a playoff winner, you have to wonder what Boston's ownership's stomach for maintaining the status quo in the GM office will be.

Every general manager has pressure, but what Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams has to deal with is the weight of the past and the present on his shoulders.

The Sabres' 14-year playoff drought must come to an end as soon as possible, and after they were unable to get back to the postseason last year, many expected Adams would pay the price. That he wasn't fired highlighted the fact that ownership didn't want to repeat mistakes they had made in the past of moving on too quickly from GMs.

That said, Adams has been the Sabres GM since 2020, and his five years on the job are the most since Darcy Regier held the position from 1997 to 2013. The pressure to get the team to the playoffs is ever-present, and it's vital to the health of the fan base, too, since many fans have taken the "call me when you figure it out" approach to the team.

Adams probably shouldn't be on this list because his job seems as safe as it gets, but the weight of public pressure is immense, and if the Sabres have yet another disappointing season, any assortment of moves (or non-moves) would be on the table.

Being the general manager for a team that's going through a rebuild and has the plans to be a playoff team puts them in a precarious position.

After all, the GM made a bet that they'd be able to tear a team down and have them back in contention in a certain amount of time. Chicago GM Kyle Davidson attempted to accelerate the Blackhawks' exit from the rebuild last season, aiming to put them in the playoff race.

That, of course, did not happen, and seeing Connor Bedard struggle a little bit in the process brought doubters out of the woodwork to ask not just if Bedard was meant to be the next big thing but also if Davidson should be the guy to run the rebuild anymore. As foolish as the first wonder is, the questions surrounding Davidson are worthy of being asked.

Chicago avoided making any big, bold moves this offseason, giving its horde of top prospects room to show they're on the right path. After counting on veterans to lead the way last year, and it failed, something different is worth trying.

But if the 'Hawks don't mature and improve and they start to careen towards another turn high in the draft lottery, the pressure to move on from Davidson will be sky-high, even more so if the cast around Bedard doesn't help him evolve.

Yes, we agree, it's somewhat unusual to list one of the best coaches in the NHL here, but this is where differing expectations come into play.

The Avalanche losing in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs to the Dallas Stars a year ago was, indeed, disappointing for them, and despite them having 102 points and the sixth most wins in the NHL, it raised the question of whether or not Jared Bednar is the guy to get it done behind the bench for them.

As abjectly wacky as that seems, this is what happens in a brutally competitive situation like the Central Division and the higher end of the Western Conference. In the three seasons since Colorado won the Stanley Cup, they've lost in the first round twice and the second round once. The past two years, they've lost to Dallas, and three years ago, it was the Seattle Kraken.

Bumping off coaches who've had a lot of success isn't an unusual occurrence. The Stars fired Peter DeBoer after three straight Western Conference Final losses, after all, and many strong teams in the past have received boosts by changing leaders while they were seemingly at their peak.

However, the Avalanche have a Cup-contending team that has lost too early in the playoffs for multiple years in a row. With a lineup featuring Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar at the top, it would be a dream job for any number of high-prestige coaches available.

A slow start in Colorado could mean falling behind any/all of Winnipeg, Dallas, St. Louis, Minnesota, and Utah, which would only intensify the pressure to make a move.

As stressful as life might be for the Buffalo Sabres and their 14-year playoff drought, the weight on Red Wings GM Steven Yzerman's shoulders to help end their nine-year drought is right there with them, just with the additional pressure of having won Stanley Cups as a player in Detroit.

There's no doubt the so-called "Yzerplan" has run into its fair share of issues since he took over as the Wings GM in 2019, and despite the number of near misses with the playoffs Detroit has had the past few years, being close enough isn't cutting it. The fans in Hockeytown are ready for a return and if it means having to move on from a franchise legend to help make that happen, the pain from that would be hard to stomach.

What hurts more is that many of the roster issues fans point towards have been inflicted by Yzerman in his attempt to build a winning roster. That said, Detroit's roster with Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane, and Dylan Larkin is a lot of fun. With the addition of John Gibson in goal, the team hopes they've finally pulled the right switches to get over the hump and into the postseason.

After watching the Panthers lose Aleksander Barkov for the season and Matthew Tkachuk for a few months following surgery, along with Mitch Marner leaving Toronto, the Atlantic Division may finally be open enough for Detroit to get back to the playoffs. If not, Detroit ownership may be forced to take a long look in the mirror and consider letting a team legend go.

When the New York Islanders parted ways with former GM Lou Lamoriello and hired Mathieu Darche to replace him, the first question everyone wondered was whether or not coach Patrick Roy would be back. Darche answered that quickly, saying Roy would stay on the job while he attempts to turn the roster around on Long Island.

Whenever there's a new GM, you have to wonder if the incumbent is the guy they want to keep or if they have someone else in mind. It's this line of thought that has us keeping an eye on how things go with the Islanders this season, because it would make sense if a change were to occur.

The Islanders have the kind of roster that could compete for the playoffs in the Metropolitan Division, and if Darche's offseason moves help steer them in that direction with Roy at the helm, there won't be much reason to change. However, if the hot and cold play returns and Roy's intensity behind the bench isn't the kind of thing the new regime is looking for moving forward, it creates the right climate for a change.

We're big fans of Roy behind the bench because it's rare to have a coach with an aura and a presence like his, but it also provides a lightning rod for any kind of attention, good or bad, and with a GM in his first NHL job like Darche, that might be a lot to wrangle.

Two years ago, when Andrew Brunette was in his first year coaching the Nashville Predators, he surprised many people by leading them to the playoffs. Last season, however, was an even bigger surprise when they had one of the worst records in the NHL, despite the anticipation that they'd improve upon their previous season.

The Predators still boast having Juuse Saros, Roman Josi, Steven Stamkos, and Jonathan Marchessault. Unfortunately, they're still lacking depth and haven't re-signed RFA forward Luke Evangelista yet. Normally, this would all point towards the GM being in possible trouble, but Barry Trotz isn't about to get let go any time soon, which puts the pressure on Brunette to help make this work.

Many things can turn out to help them out. Saros can regain his Vezina-like form in goal, and the Preds can't possibly have the worst shooting luck in the league again, right? A slow Predators start could mean bad news for Brunette in what should be a more difficult Central Division this season. It may not be entirely fair to him, mind you, but NHL life isn't always about being fair.