"Off with their heads"

By Eric Redner

Well the ax has befallen the head of four coaches thus far this season, and the campaign is not even half over yet.

Philadelphia, Columbus, Chicago and now St. Louis have dumped their respective coaches and don't be surprised to see a couple more go before the end of the season or shortly thereafter.

Wayne Gretzky might have been a wizard on the ice, but behind the bench he has been unable to find any magic. In one-plus seasons, the Great One has guided the Coyotes to a lackluster 49-57-6 record with the team posting an 11-18-1 record thus far, second worst in the Western Conference and third in the league. The longest winning streak the team has strung together is three games.

The club made some solid moves in the offseason, bringing in defenseman Ed Jovanovski and forwards Jeremy Roenick, Georges Laraque and Owen Nolan. Also, the team traded blueliner Paul Mara to Boston for defenseman Nick Boynton. However, Phoenix is giving up more goals and scoring less per game, on average, than last season.

In the plus column for Gretzky, he did sign a five-year contract in the offseason, so he might be given a little more time. But don't expect the team management to hope forever and unless a more visible effort is shown by
the team and some wins strung together, the Great One might be shown the door.

If things continue to go the way they are going in Florida, Jacques Martin may be looking in the help wanted pages soon. Martin took over general manager duties from Mike Keenan, who resigned in September, reportedly because he had become a nuisance in the front office, so he has the power to get the players he wants to suit his system. The flip side to that, though, he gets all the blame too.

Last season the team improved by a full ten points over the 2003-04 season, but still missed the playoffs by seven points. Currently this season, the team is second to last in the conference with a 10-17-6 record, but to be fair just seven points separates them from the eighth-seed.

The Panthers have yet to post together a three-game winning streak and had a stretch of almost four games where they didn't score a goal. Fans surely are getting frustrated at a team that has not made the playoffs since the 1999-2000 season, so if Florida falls off the map this season, Martin might be leaving Sunrise.

So, how have the teams that replaced their coaches mid-season faring?

The Flyers, who not only dumped Ken Hitchcock but also fired general manager Bob Clarke, hired John Stevens to man the helm, but the team has not gotten much better. After Hitchcock was replaced, the team has gone a measly 7-13-3 and find themselves in dead last in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia, barring a minor miracle, is out of playoff contention this year and looks to be moving toward playing its younger players so expect Stevens to be given some time to see what he can do.

The Blackhawks, who replaced Trent Yawney with Denis Savard, have gone 5-1-3 and suffered their first regulation loss on Thursday night to Detroit. With the return of Martin Havlat, the Hawks are poised to get back into the playoff hunt.

Columbus, which dumped Gerard Gallant a little over a month into the season and filled the spot with Hitchcock, have gotten a little spark after the move and have gone 6-3-1. While a playoff spot might be a bit out of reach in the tough Western Conference, the team has a solid group and if not this year another season under Hitchcock might see the team make the postseason for the first time in its history.

While it is a little unfair to put Andy Murray, who replaced Mike Kitchen in St. Louis early this week, under the scope already, the Blues have lost both their games since and look like the worst team in the league. The team made several big signings in the offseason, but this club might do worst than last season's 57-point effort. Still, Murray is a good coach and he might be able to get a fire lit under the players and get a sense of winning instilled in the team.

Stay tuned cause the season is still young and coaches are always the first to go.