Odds on the Next NHL Coach Fired

The NHL coaching carousel is spinning round and round. Will hometown boy Mike Sullivan come home to the Bruins, bolt to the Rangers, or will he surprise everyone with an unexpected choice?

Rick Tocchet also left the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday creating the eighth coaching vacancy, but none have yet been filled, including the Boston Bruins’ job. Tocchet doesn’t figure to connect to the Bruins job because rumors have tied him to Philadelphia’s opening and perhaps is an outside candidate for the Penguins’ gig.

The oddsmakers are lining up the next coaches fired. NHL odds have a couple of easy targets but also some long shots who are probably safe. One would think former Bruins bench boss Bruce Cassidy, who led the Vegas Golden Knights to the 2023 Stanley Cup and a solid performance this season, is somewhat immune to the hot seat for a while longer.

In fact, bettors can get some of the best bets on the Golden Knights’ series against the Minnesota Wild. The Golden Knights and Minnesota Wild series is tied 2-2 before the late game on Tuesday.

Somewhat surprisingly, Pete DeBoer is also on the list. The Dallas Stars were one of the strongest teams throughout the regular season and stormed to an early series lead against Stanley Cup favorite, the Colorado Avalanche.

Andre Tourigny led the somewhat beleaguered and disappointing Utah Hockey Club’s first season. Utah faded away from playoff contention later in the season. After four seasons with the Arizona Coyotes/Utah, the club has not finished better than sixth in the Pacific Division. At +3200, he would seem to be a good paying bet.

The New York Islanders are undergoing significant changes, too. Iron-fisted general Lou Lamoriello is out in New York. Lamoriello chased Roy for the job, but a new GM may very well want his/her hand-selected coach.

In the meantime, the Bruins’ coaching search continues, and they are believed to have contacted Sullivan. On Tuesday, TSN reporter Pierre LeBrun reported that five of the six possible teams had called Sullivan or expressed interest (Obviously, the Pittsburgh Penguins did not). Sullivan won back-to-back Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh in his first two seasons with the team, in 2016 and 2017. However, Sullivan has not won a playoff series with the team since 2018.

The Boston-native Sullivan did coach the Bruins in 2003-04 and 2005-06, with the lost lockout season in between. When the Bruins missed the playoffs in ’06, that was it for Sullivan, and he spent most of the next decade as an assistant coach to John Tortorella at his various stops. Sullivan will also coach the 2026 Team USA Men’s Hockey Olympic Team.