The Coaching Carousel, Brought to You By Teams that Fire Their Head Coach With Eighteen Games Left

But, really, Brian Burke?  I could give two pucks less if you have one Canadian on your team or three hundred, but damn, by this point in the season you might just want to ride the pony/coach that got you there and hope for the best.  Regardless, it's time once again for everyone's favorite fired/rehired coaches segment, the Coaching Carousel!

Oh, and it's in the air people, the smell of playoff hockey.  Can you smell it?  Don't take one big whiff, you may become lightheaded.  It permeates everything around you.  It's already upon you, there is no sense in hyperventilating yourself into unconsciousness trying to smell it.

But, maybe you can't smell it, or don't want to smell it.  Well, I know one thing that smells.  Some of the teams who have fired coaches this season.  As of now, EIGHT!!! coaches have been fired through three-quarters of the 2011-12 NHL regular season.  Compare that to two through this point last season.  Yep, two.  That is quite a few less than eight if you take time to really think about it.

Again, what follows is superficial data from each team who has fired old coaches and hired new coaches, comparing and contrasting a few stat categories of the teams playing under each coach.  It won't solve anything or help you in the dating world, but it may make you sound smart to people who don't follow hockey.  And really, isn't that all that matters?

The Coaching Carousel Stops at the Break

I'm sure this gag has never been done before...

Ah, the NHL All-Star game.  Is there anything more exciting?

Don't you remember last year when those guys scored and everyone was really excited.  I sure do.  Or how about two years ago, when we were blessed with the Olympics and the NHL took a month hiatus.  That was weird, but damn it was fun and much better than the All-Star game.

Look, the All-Star game is great, really.  Heck, it's the lead in for the Pro Bowl.  That's saying something. But, I'm sure you didn't come here to debate the validity of the ASG.  You came for the hardcore spreadsheet action!

At the break, with approximately thirty games remaining for all teams, seven, count 'em SEVEN, NHL coaches have been fired.  The most recent being the Blue Jackets now former bench boss Scott Arniel.  What follows are the superficial stats of each team, comparisons and contrasts of the hired and fired coaches, and pointless observations that will not help you to understand why sports happen the way that they do. 

What does this have to do with Kansas City hockey?  Nothing.  Continue after the jump.

Introducing the Coaching Carousel

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

The NHL Coaching Carousel, a new feature at Lost City of Bettman where we will take a look at the coaches fired so far this season and how the team's have done with their new coach(es).  Basically, it's a fun chart for you to look at.  Look at the colors.  Who doesn't like charts?!?!

So, on this eve of the Winter Classic, here are the five teams with new coaches and how they have fared since ridding themselves of the stank of an old head coach.

It has to be small to fit, so click to embiggen

Stats are as of 1/1/12 at 10:00pm CDT


The current coach is on the bottom, while the fired coach (or interim coach) is on top.  The Blues and Kings appear to be in the best shape as of now.


Best Available Coaches:
Terry Murray
Randy Carlyle
Jacques Martin
Davis Payne
Paul Maurice
Craig MacTavish (NSFW language in link)
Bob Hartley
Andy Murray (a fave of the blog)
Pierre Maguire
Scott Gordon
Tony Granato

Coaches on the Chopping Block:
Scott Arniel - CBJ
Jack Capuano - NYI (maybe)


References:
Game by game stats
STL * WAS * CAR * ANA * LAK * MTL
NHL Standings
NHL PP Stats
NHL PK Stats
Hockey-Reference
My own math (erg...nerds, feel free to check my work and let me know what I screwed up)

An oversized bear.  It's funny.  It's funny because it's ah, bigger than, ah, you know, a normal bear.