Morning Skate: Vacancy

Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like this has been an unusually chaotic NHL offseason (or postseason, if your team’s still in it).

The on-ice action has been competitive, with the exception of the Avalanche-Predators series, which makes for great viewing.

Off the ice, it seems like there’s been a new headline every day: Carolina’s embarrassing out-of-area ticket policy. Mitch Marner getting carjacked. The ongoing Coyotes saga.

It’s already been tough sledding for NHL coaches this offseason too, with Jeff Blashill, Barry Trotz, Mike Yeo, and Peter DeBoer out of work.

Blashill and Yeo were pretty obvious, as they hadn’t exactly worked wonders in Detroit or Philadelphia, but the other two were relatively surprising.

Trotz was just a year removed from taking the Islanders to the Eastern Conference Final, and DeBoer had done decently with Vegas.

With Vegas missing the playoffs, someone had to take the fall, so...yeah. Sorry, Pete.

While they’re held up as a model expansion franchise, it’s interesting to note that Vegas will now be using its third head coach in its six-year existence.

What happens in Vegas...doesn’t happen for that long.

Today’s discussion topic

Unrelated to the topic above, but something I was thinking about today — who’s the guy who you were convinced was going to be a home run for the Bruins, but never really panned out?

I thought for sure the Bruins were going to be the team that finally turned Benoit Pouliot into a 25-goal scorer.