NHL Trade Talk Recap: Leafs Goalies, Oilers Coach, and the Commissioner

“Hot seats” of all kinds took over today’s NHL news cycle, with coaches and front-office personnel at the forefront. That, along with a growing goaltending logjam in Toronto, rounds out some of the top stories from Wednesday.

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Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch finds himself on a list every NHL coach dreads: insider Frank Seravalli’s list of bench bosses on the hot seat for this season. On the other side of the spectrum, head of the NHL Department of Player Safety, George Parros, has received backing from NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, despite being placed in the hot seat by some fans. The Maple Leafs have run into a goalie problem, and not the one most teams face, not having an NHL-calibre goalie; they actually have too many of them.

Oilers Bench Boss Is On the Hot Seat

There will be a lot riding on this regular season for the Edmonton Oilers and especially for their Head Coach, Kris Knoblauch. The Oilers’ bench boss has had a lot of success with the team, making the last two Stanley Cup Finals (losing both). But the NHL is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league, and the Oilers have a 87.9% chance of making the playoffs according to MoneyPuck. But if the Oilers fail to make the postseason or drop out early, all of that good grace goes out the window.

Insider Frank Seravalli believes that any of those scenarios could have consequences for the accomplished Oilers bench boss. His three-year contract extension, signed to stay in Edmonton back in October, runs through the 2028–29 campaign. But if he were to make a deep run into the playoffs or even a Stanley Cup, the seat will cool down, at least until the next tough stretch he faces.

Kris Knoblauch Lands on Insider’s Short List of Coaches on the Hot Seat

Bettman Backs Parros, Despite Backlash

The NHL Department of Player Safety has been facing the most heat out and no one more than its head, George Parros. But there has been a bright spot amid an overall tough week for Parros, with his boss, Commissioner Gary Bettman, reportedly backing his recent player-safety rulings. It was not a surprise to insider Elliotte Friedman that Bettman would defend his guys, because that is simply the way he is.

He even doubled down on that: if players wanted to change how player safety was handled, they should have brought it up in the recent CBA negotiations. With many players like Connor McDavid publicly criticizing the entire process and calling for it to be revisited. This sentiment from the commissioner will make the next CBA meeting very interesting.

Bettman Backs Parros In Gudas Ruling— Puts Onus on McDavid and Players

Too many Leafs Goalies = Another Problem

The Maple Leafs have been very good at developing goalies for the last few years, and that has made a different type of issue, said Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. The Leafs have created a sort of logjam of NHL-calibre goalies in their system, with four netminders who could make an impact at the NHL level.

The team now has 4 goalies under contract with the signing of Artur Akhtyamov for the next two seasons. He is joined by Anthony Stolarz, Joseph Woll, and Dennis Hildeby, and there is only room for one goalie in the crease at a time. It creates a situation where someone needs to go. With a weak free-agency goalie market for this upcoming July 1st. Brad Treliving won’t have to rush and will even have a little leverage on which one of his goalies he wants to move off of.

Something Has to Give: Maple Leafs to Make Goaltending Decision

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