10 NHL Teams Enter The 2022-23 Season With New Head Coaches

There’s an old cliché that coaches are hired to be fired. That has never been more true than in today’s NHL.

When the puck drops for the 2022-23 regular season with a pair of NHL Global Series games between the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators on Oct. 7 and 8, David Quinn will make his debut behind the Sharks’ bench. Tapped for San Jose’s head coaching job by new general manager Mike Grier on July 26, he was the last of 10 head coaches who were hired for NHL positions this offseason.

Here’s a rundown of who you’ll find where this falls, and what’s expected in each case. The hirings are listed chronologically. All contract term and salary information is from CapFriendly.

Lane Lambert – New York Islanders – hired May 16

After a dismal season that saw the New York Islanders miss the playoffs following back-to-back trips to the NHL’s final four, general manager Lou Lamoriello sent shockwaves through the league when he dismissed his well-respected bench boss and two-time Jack Adams. Award winner Barry Trotz after four seasons.

But Lamoriello didn’t look too far afield for Trotz’s replacement. Lane Lambert, 57, has worked alongside Trotz ever since joining the Nashville Predators’ AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, as an assistant coach in the 2005-06 season. He spent four years as Milwaukee’s head coach before joining Trotz’s bench as an assistant in Nashville, then moved with him to the Washington Capitals in 2014 and the Islanders in 2018 — where he was promoted to associate coach.

Long regarded as a top candidate for a head-coaching position, Lambert is looking to amp up the Islanders’ offense after they finished 23rd overall with just 2.79 goals scored per game last season.

In keeping with Lamoriello’s notoriously secretive nature, terms of Lambert’s contract have not been made public.

Bruce Cassidy – Vegas Golden Knights – hired June 14

After a 107-game stint as the Capitals’ head coach in 2002 and 2003, it took Bruce Cassidy more than 13 years to get another kick at the can. On Feb. 7, 2017, first-year assistant Cassidy replaced the fired Claude Julien behind the Boston Bruins bench.

In 399 regular-season games with the Bruins, Cassidy put up a .672 points percentage. He got Boston into the playoffs in all six of his seasons and to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019, where they lost to the St. Louis Blues. And after guiding Boston to 100 points in 70 games before the 2019-20 season was paused due to the pandemic, Cassidy was named the 2020 Jack Adams Award winner as coach of the year.

Rumors of rifts between the demanding coach and his players preceded his dismissal in Boston on June 9. Then, it took less than a week before he was snapped up by the Vegas Golden Knights, who were looking for a new voice after missing the playoffs. the first time in their five-year history.

Per CapFriendly, Cassidy’s new deal in Vegas is a five-year pact worth $4.5 million per season.

John Tortorella – Philadelphia Flyers – hired June 17

Following six seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets — and one legendary first-round sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2019 — 2004 Stanley Cup winner John Tortorella spent last season working as an analyst with ESPN. This summer, he signed a four-year contract reportedly worth $4 million per season to try to turn around the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Flyers have been one of the NHL’s biggest disappointments over the last two seasons, and fans have jumped ship in droves as the club has reached franchise-record levels of futility.

Now 64, Tortorella is the 2004 Jack Adams winner, with 1,383 games of NHL coaching experience. His hard-edged coaching style has softened somewhat over the years. Now he’s better known for setting a demanding standard while also caring deeply for his players.

Tortorella may have to lean hard on youth as he tries to restore the Flyers to respectability. After veteran defenseman Ryan Ellis played just four games last season, his long-term health is now in question. Meanwhile, 2020 Selke Trophy winner Sean Couturier has been sidelined with a preseason back issue after he was limited to just 29 games last season before undergoing back surgery.

Peter DeBoer – Dallas Stars – hired June 21

Dismissed in Vegas on May 16 after the Golden Knights’ playoff miss, Peter DeBoer landed with the Dallas Stars just over a month later. His four-year deal is reportedly worth $4.25 million per season.

At 54, DeBoer is now on his fifth NHL head-coaching job. He started with the Florida Panthers, then took the New Jersey Devils and San Jose Sharks to the Stanley Cup Final in his first season with both of those teams. He was fired by the Sharks on Dec. 12, 2019, and landed in Vegas on Jan. 15, 2020.

Paul Maurice – Florida Panthers – hired June 22

Last December, Paul Maurice left his head-coaching job with the Winnipeg Jets after nearly eight years, saying that his players needed a different voice. At the time, it wasn’t clear how long he’d stay away from the game, but he couldn’t resist the opportunity to return when the NHL’s best regular-season team in the 2021-22 season came calling.

The Florida Panthers have been a team on the upswing. But after a humbling second-round playoff sweep at the hands of their archrivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida general manager Bill Zito decided his team needed a different voice than interim head coach Andrew Brunette, who had stepped into big shoes when Joel Quenneville left. the team in late October.

Now 55, Maurice got his start as an NHL head coach with the Hartford Whalers back in 1995, at just 28 years old. In addition to 920 total games over two stints with the Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes franchise and his 601 games in Winnipeg, he also spent two seasons behind the bench of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

His new deal in Florida is reportedly for three years, at $3.9 million per season.

Luke Richardson – Chicago Blackhawks – hired June 27

During the Montreal Canadiens’ run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, assistant coach Luke Richardson stepped into the spotlight during his team’s third-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights after head coach Dominique Ducharme was forced into isolation due to a positive test for COVID- 19.

The Canadiens won three of six games while he was at the helm, and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since their win in 1993 — amplifying the chatter that the well-liked former blueliner Richardson was ready for his first full-time. NHL head-coaching position.

This summer, the 53-year-old got his chance from the Chicago Blackhawks, who had replaced Jeremy Colliton with interim head coach Derek King in early November. Richardson is reportedly on a four-year deal that pays $1.5 million per season. But he has a tough task in front of him — trying to get the most out of a Blackhawks team that had abruptly steered into a rebuild and may be more interested in a high draft-lottery position than in trying to get back to the playoffs.

Jim Montgomery – Boston Bruins – hired June 30

At 53, Jim Montgomery gets his second chance to run an NHL bench in Boston. In December of 2019, he was abruptly fired in his second season with the Dallas Stars for “unprofessional conduct,” — an incident that led to him getting treatment for alcoholism.

Montgomery returned to the NHL at the beginning of the 2020-21 season as an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues. After getting good grades for his work over the last two years, the Bruins tapped him to succeed Bruce Cassidy.

After six-straight years of playoff appearances and a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019, the Bruins are starting the season at a bit of a crossroads, with Father Time catching up to some of their top stars and key players like Charlie McAvoy and Brad Marchand began the year on the injured list. Montgomery will need to tap into the talent of some of the club’s younger players if he hopes to extend that postseason streak.

His contract in Boston is reportedly for three seasons, at $2 million a year.

Derek Lalonde – Detroit Red Wings – hired June 30

Out of the playoffs for the last six years, the Detroit Red Wings have been stockpiling young talent thanks to mittfuls of high draft picks.

This season, general manager Steve Yzerman signaled that he’s ready to see his group take the next step by hiring Derek Lalonde as the Wings’ new head coach.

Now 50, Lalonde was hired as an assistant to Jon Cooper with the Tampa Bay Lightning in July of 2018, two months before Yzerman resigned his position as that team’s general manager and nine months before he resurfaced in Detroit. In the meantime, Lalonde won two Stanley Cups and burnished his coaching reputation while working as Cooper’s key deputy.

Yzerman operates under a cone of silence that’s nearly as airtight as Lamoriello. Terns of Lalonde’s contract in Detroit have not been made public.

Rick Bowness – Winnipeg Jets – hired July 3

When interim replacement Dave Lowry failed to get the Winnipeg Jets to the playoffs after Paul Maurice stepped down last season, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff aggressively courted Barry Trotz for Winnipeg’s head-coaching position after he was let go by the Islanders.

Born and raised in Manitoba, Trotz would have been a natural fit on his hometown team. But despite Winnipeg’s best efforts, the 60-year-old elected not to immediately sign up for another head-coaching position.

Trotz didn’t announce his decision until June 24, leaving the Jets playing catch-up while considering alternative options. Eventually, they settled on Rick Bowness, the 67-year-old who had been part of the original Jets’ coaching staff back in the 1980s and who took the Dallas Stars on a surprise run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020.

With his history, Bowness understands the unique character of the Winnipeg market. And having taken the job in Winnipeg after having pondered retirement, he has wasted no time putting his stamp on the franchise — most notably, stripping longtime captain Blake Wheeler of his title and electing to go with a group of assistants instead.

Bowness’s new contract in Winnipeg is reportedly for three years and a total of $8 million, with payments of $2.5 million in each of the first two seasons and $3 million in the third.

David Quinn – San Jose Sharks – hired July 26

After a long search process, the San Jose Sharks hired Mike Grier as the permanent replacement for longtime general manager Doug Wilson on July 5. Four days earlier, the organization cleaned house on the coaching side, parting ways with Bob Boughner and his assistants and leaving room for Grier to make his own hire.

A veteran of 1,060 NHL games as a player, Grier played his college hockey at Boston University in the 1990s, so longtime BU bench boss David Quinn was immediately linked to the open position.

Quinn had just spent three years as head coach of the New York Rangers before taking the reins for Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the 2022 World Championship in Finland.

With barely a moment to settle into his new position, Grier navigated the Sharks through the 2022 NHL Draft on July 7-8 and the opening of free agency on July 13. Before the end of his first month, he had also installed Quinn as San Jose’s new head coach.