FanHouse BobHartley

As I was watching the Caps and the Predators in Washington last night, I couldn't help but keep an eye on the Flyers and Thrashers as they played in Atlanta. Of all the teams in the NHL, it seems as if the Thrashers have had nothing but hard luck in recent memory. It's hard to believe it's only been about 18 months since they qualified for their first playoff appearance -- one that ended in a four-game sweep to the New York Rangers.

The parade kept going downhill last season as the team dropped six straight out of the gate and head coach Bob Hartley was shown the door. GM Don Waddell stepped behind the bench, but he couldn't stop the bleeding as the misery culminated in the trade of Marian Hossa to the Penguins and the Thrashers limped to the finish.

Following up the franchise's first ever playoff appearance with such a disastrous performance couldn't help but have an impact at the box office, but even I was shocked when I started to see how much bleeding there was in Atlanta. Like a lot of other folks, I first noticed something was amiss when the Devils came to visit on October 16 (pictured above).

With the KHL season only five games old, it looks like Jaromir Jagr is making his presence with Avangard Omsk quickly felt. An early season dispute between him and coach Sergei Gersonsky looks like it may lead to the Gersonsky's ouster in favor of former NHL coach Bob Hartley, who's going to Omsk within the next week to meet with the team's GM. FanHouse heard this rumor a bit earlier and we've got something solid to report, as Beyond the Blueshirts has spotted it on two different Russian sports sites. They summarized the situation thusly:

Leonid Mikhailov of Championat.ru suggests that a dispute between former Ranger Jaromir Jagr and Gersonsky earlier this week hasn't helped the coach's already-tenuous position. According to the Mikhailov, the disagreement centered around Gersonsky's refusal to allow the team to return home to their wives, girlfriends and families after their week-long season-opening road trip. In Russia, it's not unusual for teams to mandate that players stay overnight at what's called the "baza", a sort of hotel/dormitory complex, on nights prior to games. It seems Gersonsky opted to require his team to report to the baza upon their return from Togliatti earlier this week, rather than allowing them to go home after a week away.

Maybe Jagr's to blame for this and maybe he's not (other players are upset but the team is indicating a slow start as the official reason for the firing), but maybe the most interesting aspect is that the KHL is not only looking to poach players from North America, but they're gunning for coaches as well. The KHL/NHL rivalry is far from over. As for Jagr, well, if Omsk didn't know an mysterious, often malconented superstar when they signed him, they probaby have a much better idea of it now.

The New York Islanders have quietly and methodically going about their business of choosing a coaching replacement for Ted Nolan. Given how Puppet GM Garth Snow and Charles Wang Dang Doodle have managed the team in the past, I'm rather surprised that the Isles have been so patient in their process.

According to Greg Logan of Newsday, the Isles are down to three candidates, and should make their decision some time in the next week. Given the nature of the Isles organizational woes, I'm rather surprised that coaches would be so eager to go to a team that could kill their career.

After a painstaking interview process in which he spoke with eight known candidates and contacted a few others, an NHL source indicated Snow has narrowed his list to three finalists. Former Atlanta coach Bob Hartley (pictured), former Toronto coach Paul Maurice and current AHL Providence coach Scott Gordon still are in the running, and Snow is expected to name one as the Isles' next coach early this week.

So, we have two retreads and an unknown (to most of us) coaching prospect. How do the candidates stack up?

I covered the Bob Hartley/Don Waddell Death Watch in this morning's edition of The Ice Sheet. The score as of around noon EST: Hartley = "dead," Waddell = "new interim head coach." Ben Wright over on the Blueland Blog has some details and immediate fan reaction from the Thrashers faithful, who have seen what was a playoff team last season go oh-for-six with zero points this season. TSN's Bob McKenzie helps fill in the blanks on Hartley's dismissal. Reaction from Thrashers fans on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports site is pouring in.

Waddell, the Thrashers' executive vice president and general manager, coached nine games for the Thrashers (3-5-1) in the 2002-03 season after he fired Curt Fraser 33 games into the season and before he hired Hartley as his replacement. Previously, he coached from 1987-92 in the IHL, making the playoffs three times.

Waddell is scheduled to meet the media this afternoon, so I hope one of the Atlanta hockey writers asks him the obvious question: If the Thrashers turn this thing around while he's behind the bench, is Waddell prepared to pull a Lou Lamoriello and remain head coach/general manager/ruler of all he surveys for the rest of the campaign? It's not like the Thrashers don't have talent on this roster; it's just that Hartley couldn't figure out how to get an Atlanta team that's all offensive flourish to play Tkachuk hockey.

Previously on FanHouse:
NHL Coach's Hot Seat
Thrashers: Waddell and Hartley Won't be Fired

With the young season well underway, some trends are starting to develop. And while no one's hitting the panic button quite yet, it's never too early to speculate as to a man's job security, is it?

With that in mind, I thought we'd take our first look at the bench bosses who might be starting to feel the heat as the temperatures outside start to drop.

1. Bob Hartley, Atlanta. When I previewed the Thrashers back in late August, I mentioned Hartley as the man "on the hook" in Blueland, noting that "should Atlanta get off to a slow start, don't be surprised if someone else is behind the bench come Christmas." And while it's still very early and the Thrash are struggling through perhaps the most difficult month on their schedule (and without their best player, to boot), the Thrashers haven't even really been all that competitive in any of their four games yet.

Consider that the Thrashers are now 0-4-0 and have scored just four goals (and only one in the third period) while surrendering 17. They're the only team without a point in the standings, have scored the fewest goals per game in the League (thanks to a 1-for-19 start on the power play) and have the second-worst team GAA.