NHL Hot Seat: NHL Coaches on the Hot Seat in 2024-25

We have thankfully survived the first month of 2025, and so too has every active NHL coach.

The NHL calendar may be turning toward the Four Nations Face-Off, and GMs may have their eyes set on the trade deadline, but there could still be a stray coach firing as organizations look to build into the future.

There have already been four coaches fired this season, with the latest being the Detroit Red Wings’ axing of Derek Lalonde on Dec. 27. Here are a handful of coaches that could be let go before the season ends or shortly after the final game on April 17.

Rick Tocchet – Canucks 

The high-profile feud between forwards J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson has threatened to sink Vancouver’s lofty expectations for 2024-25, and Tocchet has done little to quell the noise. 

Even though the Canucks have won three straight, they still are squarely on the playoff bubble, which was not supposed to be the case in this all-important season. Miller is almost certain to be traded, but so too is sniper Brock Boeser, who is in the final year of his contract, even if Vancouver still decides to take a run at the Western Conference playoffs.

This is Tocchet’s second full season in Vancouver, and after the Canucks surprisingly won the Pacific Division a season ago, they were supposed to take the next step this year. Instead, they have regressed, and Tocchet may have lost his room.

Potential Replacement: Jim Rutherford and GM Patrik Allvin are widely respected, since the former is a multi-time Stanley Cup champion and Allvin just signed a contract extension last January. Working for them, and in a gorgeous city like Vancouver, could make the Canucks an attractive job.

That could make Kirk Muller an intriguing candidate for the job. He has worked for Rutherford before, when Rutherford hired him as the coach of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2011, and Muller has clearly come a long way from that failed stint that lasted almost three seasons.

Muller has both played and coached in Canada before and is likely due a second chance – one he will not be getting any time soon with his current club, since the Washington Capitals are thriving under Spencer Carbery. 

If not Muller then Alex Burrows, the longtime Canucks pest and current Canadiens assistant coach, would also make a fascinating candidate.

Andre Tourigny – Utah Hockey Club

Tourigny is the holdover from the team’s move from Arizona, and he has gotten a lot out of the team’s substandard lineup over the past two seasons while also keep stability during the club’s quickly developed relocation.

But Ryan Smith owns the team now, and you can bet that he will want his own people in place after this season. Utah Hockey Club is unlikely to be the team’s brand in 2025-26, and that leaves Tourigny squarely in the crosshairs, since the club is decisively outside the playoffs and sitting at NHL .500 with about 35 games left.

Tourigny’s work has been admirable, but he has been in place for four seasons. We aren’t saying he’ll be fired soon, but his days are certainly numbered. 

Potential Replacement: The Utah job seems like a plum one, since the club now has stable ownership, a new building supposedly on the way and deep-pocketed owner who also seems patient – at least based on the way the Utah Jazz’s rebuild is currently going.

So maybe it would be Dave Tippett’s opportunity to get back into coaching. He was the longtime coach of the Coyotes, including during their best season ever, 2011-12, and has stayed around the game in Seattle’s front office after he was let go by the Edmonton Oilers in 2022.

Tippett can coach young players, and Utah had the NHL’s fourth-youngest roster entering this season. It would be intriguing to see him go home again, albeit in Utah not Arizona.

John Tortorella – Flyers

The Flyers are continuing to muddle in no-man’s land, caught between a rebuild and chasing the playoffs. Tortorella continues to soldier on, largely unchecked, despite his proclivity for stirring the pot – he has benched rookie sensation Matvei Michkov and famously healthy-scratched captain Sean Couturier last season.

He is one of the highest-paid coaches in the sport – he makes more than Paul Maurice of the Panthers, Toronto’s Craig Berube and Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour – even though he and the Flyers are on pace for just 82 points.

Potential Replacement: There was talk of the 66-year-old moving up into a management role after last season to pave the way for Brad Shaw to take the reins as Flyers head coach. 

Shaw seems like the next man up for Philadelphia, since the 60-year-old former NHL defenseman is an associate head coach, not an assistant, and did coach a 40-game stint for the New York Islanders in 2005-06.  

Mike Sullivan – Penguins 

Even the best of the best have a shelf life, and Sullivan can hardly be blamed for the work of his boss, Kyle Dubas. Still, Sullivan’s magic has appeared to run out, since the Penguins are going to miss the playoffs for the third straight season and could finish in last place for the first time since Sidney Crosby’s rookie year, 2005-06. 

Sullivan is in the first year of a three-year contract extension that runs through 2027, though he signed the deal under previous boss Ron Hextall. The almost-57-year-old is one of the winningest coaches in Penguins history, with a pair of Stanley Cup titles to his name, but he has coached Pittsburgh since December 2016, which makes him the NHL’s second-longest tenured coach.

If Sullivan were axed, he would not be unemployed for long – the Rangers have long-coveted him for their coaching role, or he could potentially replace Tortorella or even work with the Flyers coach. Dubas could deem Sullivan a potential scapegoat as he looks to reload the organization.

Potential Replacement: Dubas may part ways with Sullivan, but he may not have to look long or hard for his replacement, since Mike Vellucci is widely considered one of the top first-time coaching candidates in the NHL. 

Vellucci could be considered a candidate if Vancouver’s role opens too, since he cut his teeth working for Rutherford in Carolina. But if he is given the opportunity to coach in the NHL, with stars like Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson and Evgeni Malkin, AND not have to move his stuff, it seems like Pittsburgh is where Vellucci will end up.