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HODGEMAIL: 'WHO SHOULD BE THE NEXT NHL COACH FIRED?'

TSN.ca Staff, Nov 30, 2011

TSN's Dave Hodge sounds off on all the hockey issues of the day in a new segment this season called Hodgemail. Write in to answer Dave's weekly question and watch the NHL on TSN tonight to see if he reads your response.

Three are down…and how many more to go?

We're just over the quarter mark of the NHL season and three head coaches have already been axed.

In St. Louis, the Blues' sluggish 6-7 start was enough to ship Davis Payne out to bring in Ken Hitchcock. The 40-year-old Payne was the second-youngest coach in the NHL but got only one full season with St. Louis after being hired in January 2010.

Then that number tripled on Monday.

First came news that the Capitals had cut ties with Bruce Boudreau, who just became the fastest head coach to reach 200 wins in modern NHL history. A blazing 7-0 start to the year faded into a struggle and the team had lost six of their last eight games. The Capitals are now a point back of the last playoff spot in the East and Dale Hunter will try to turn the fortunes around in Washington.

As that news was being digested, the Hurricanes then announced that Paul Maurice had been relieved of his head coaching duties in Carolina for the second time in his career.
The Hurricanes – who had just eight wins in 25 games to start their campaign and are 14th in the Eastern Conference – hope that Kirk Muller can right the ship in his first chance behind the bench in the NHL.

With so much time left in the regular season, it could just be a matter of time before another team decides they need to shake things up.

So here's Dave's question to you: "Who should be the next NHL coach fired?"