If You Were an NHL GM, You'd Fire the Coach Too

The Chicago Blackhawks have axed their coach. Trent Yawney has been replaced by his former assistant, Denis Savard. As expected, the hockey media is less than impressed.

The coach is almost always the first casualty when a team disappoints. But as columnists invariably point out, the condemned man is usually a victim of unrealistic expectations, or dumb trades and poor drafting by his superiors, or (in Trent Yawney's case) a string of injuries to key players.

So why does the injustice continue? As I wrote last season, when the LA Kings made a similar desperation move, firing the coach is about the only significant, instant, risk-free move available to a hockey team under siege:

• A coach does not have to be traded, put on waivers or sent to the minors. Just tell him to clear out his office. You have to keep paying him, but it doesn't count against your salary cap.
• Replacing a key player is tricky. But there are loads of good coaches. The field is so crowded that Dave King, one of the most respected minds in the game, spent the last couple of years working in Siberia (until he got fired, of course).
• Maybe the players won't respond to the new man. But so what? The team already stinks, so things can't get much worse. The potential for backlash is minimal.

Fire the coach? A man would be a fool not to.