FanHouse Terry Murray

The NHL season is almost upon us. That means the weather is getting colder, leaves are falling off trees and coaches are ever closer to getting the proverbial axe. Last year, it took only four games for the Chicago Blackhawks to fire Dennis Savard. The Penguins let Michel Therrien go with 25 games left in the season and it was just what the doctor ordered. The team went 18-3-4 under Dan Bylsma the rest of the season on their way to a Stanley Cup victory. Here, I'll be taking a look at the coaches most likely to end up like Savard -- coaches who are starting the season on the hot seat.

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Before the season, you probably could have turned a lot of heads by predicting that the Los Angeles Kings would make a run at a Western Conference playoff spot. They finished dead-last in the West a year ago, 20 points out of a playoff spot.

There is still a lot of hockey to go, but the Kings are on the verge of one of the league's better turnarounds this season. Heading into the start of a three-game homestand Thursday night, the Kings are just three points out of the eighth spot in the West, and they're playing the best hockey of any of the teams they're fighting with.

When you have a young and vibrant team such as the Los Angeles Kings, I would think that you'd want a young and vibrant coach that could allow the kids to develop and exude patience with the mistakes young players make.

The LA Kings, however, decided to go with an well-traveled coach in the form of Terry Murray, a dude used to success with veteran-laden squads.

Terry Murray, who guided Philadelphia to the Stanley Cup finals 11 years ago and has coached 737 regular-season NHL games, was hired late Wednesday to succeed Marc Crawford.

Murray, who turns 58 on Sunday, has been an assistant with the Flyers since 2003-04. He hadn't been a head coach in the NHL since being fired by the Florida Panthers following the 2000-01 season. He has a 360-288-89 regular-season record and a 46-43 post-season mark as a head coach with Philadelphia, Washington and Florida.

I can't dispute the fact that Murray has a good track record, and has been a steady influence for teams with stars such as Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure, and Dino Ciccarelli, but I am puzzled as to why the Kings went to the retread bin instead of hiring and up-and-coming coach. Shouldn't a team like the Kings be dipping into the skilled AHL pool of coaching prospects?

The only thing I can think of is that Terry Murray is a patient, approachable coach, and the Kings think he'll be a calming influence on the younger players. Perhaps Murray can do in LA what Claude Julien did in Boston? I just hope Murray can handle the pressures of coaching a team that will make a lot of mistakes, because, despite his experience, Murray has never really had to coach a team devoid of star power.