Which coach or general manager will be the first to get fired this season? Which players are going into 2024-25 with even higher expectations than usual? On Tuesday, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff released an article about ten hockey individuals on the hot seat.
Thankfully, no Edmonton Oiler player or front office personnel rank on the list, but Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake does. For the past three postseasons, the Kings have fallen to the Oilers in the first round, losing in seven games in 2022, six in 2023, and five in 2023.
Fellow general manager Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings also ranks on this list. Taking the reins of the rebuilding team in 2019, the team has yet to make the rebuild and hasn’t made the postseason in eight seasons, losing out on a Wild Card spot due to regulation wins. Similarly, Seravalli ranked Buffalo Sabres general manager on the list, as the team hasn’t been to the postseason in 13 seasons.
There are several players on Daily Faceoff’s list, too. Mitch Marner is in the final season of his contract and wasn’t moved by the Leafs this past off-season. It’ll be interesting to monitor what happens in the future. A couple of defencemen also rank on this list, Erik Karlsson and Jacob Trouba.
The latter is the captain for the New York Rangers and was in trade rumours in the off-season. Some key players need new contracts soon, and Trouba’s cap hit of $8 million for the next two seasons may need to be moved. As for Karlsson, he hasn’t played in preseason and suffered a setback. After winning the Norris Trophy in 2022-23, he only scored 11 goals and 56 points in 82 games with the Penguins.
Boston Bruins president Cam Neely is among two team presidents that rank on this list, the other being Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan. Neely made some interesting comments on Monday regarding Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman. Let’s look at what’s going on in Beantown.

Boston Bruins Jeremy Swayman
Apr 24, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) talks to NHL referee Francis Charron (6) during a break in the action against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the third period of game three of the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena.

The Bruins offered Swayman an eight-year deal worth $62.4 million

According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the Boston Bruins offered Jeremy Swayman an eight-year deal worth $62.4 million, or $7.8 million a season.
Here’s Seravalli’s full quote from Tuesday’s Morning Cuppa Hockey:
Frank Seravalli: [Swayman and Gross] are very disappointed in what Neely said. I think if you look at it from both sides’ perspectives…this really seemed like a tactical error by the Bruins. This felt like a team that was cracking under the weight of probably not having their future No. 1 in net to start the season…My understanding is that the Bruins have offered eight years x $7.8 million, which is $62.4 [million]. So, maybe Cam Neely had a bit of fun with numbers…$1.6 million is where they were off.
I think the Swayman camp has been asking for eight [years] x $8.5 million, which is $68 million, and the Bruins were somewhere close to $6.5 [million]. So, the Bruins have gone from $6.5 [million] to $7.8 [million], they feel like they’ve moved a lot…They probably think, “Hey, we’ve moved a ton, now it’s your turn,” and the fact that hasn’t happened apparently has them frustrated.
In a press conference on Monday, Bruins’ president Cam Neely said: “I have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now” regarding Swayman.
Later that day, it prompted a response from Swayman’s agent, Lewis Gross, stating that the two parties never reached $64 million in negotiations and that he and Swayman would take a few days to consider their next steps.
What happens next is a mystery, but publicly coming out and upsetting your star goalie is certainly a choice, especially considering the Bruins traded away the 2022-23 Vezina Trophy-winning Linus Ullmark earlier this off-season.

Latest on David Reinbacher and Patrik Laine

During Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montréal Canadiens’ prospect David Reinbacher left the game due to a knee injury, receiving surgery on it on Tuesday morning, announced the team. He’ll be out 5-6 months.
This is a big blow for the fifth-overall pick in the 2023 draft, as he was set to play his first full-season in North America. Last season with EHC Kloten of the National League in Switzerland, the right-shot defenceman scored a goal and 11 points in 35 games. However, he joined the American Hockey League’s Laval Rocket and scored two goals and five points in 11 games.
In the same game, newly acquired Canadien forward Patrik Laine also suffered an injury after a knee-on-knee with Maple Leafs forward Cédric Paré. The Canadiens’ Twitter account announced on Tuesday that Laine has a knee sprain and will avoid surgery. The forward will rehab it for the next two to three months.
The Canadiens traded defenceman Jordan Harris to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Laine in the summer. Laine was selected second-overall pick in the 2016 draft and scored a career-high 44 goals and 70 points with the Winnipeg Jets in 2017-18 before they eventually traded him to the Blue Jackets early in the 2020-21 season.
You have to imagine that there will be fireworks between the two teams when the puck drops in the season opener on Oct. 9

Blue Jackets won’t need to be cap-compliant to start the season

On Aug. 29, Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau tragically passed away due to a road incident involving a drunk driver. Over a month later, it still doesn’t feel real. The National Hockey League made the right call on Tuesday, as the Columbus Blue Jackets won’t need to be cap-compliant by the start of the season, reported The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline.
The Blue Jackets are less than $1 million under the cap floor and are looking to add a veteran forward before the start of the season. Regardless, it was the right decision by the NHL to create an exception in this unique and tragic situation.