Insider Trading: Is it too early to have NHL coaches on the hot seat?

Are we actually going to talk about possible coaching changes three, four, five games into the season?

Darren Dreger: Yeah, based on speculation, we are. It's always tricky this early in the year because, frankly, it's just too soon for that. Could it happen relatively soon? Could it happen in the next 20 games? Of course it could. But a lot is going to have to change for an imminent firing to become imminent. If you look at the Vancouver Canucks, there's still strong appetite in Vancouver for the coaching staff and management to continue to push the players. But what if their losing ways continue If the players don't respond? Well, then management is going to have no choice but to make perhaps a difficult coaching decision. A lot of speculation around the New Jersey Devils. The Devils feel like they should have won the games that they played to this point in the season with a timely goal or better goaltending, but something for us to watch which could escalate quickly.

It has escalated quickly in those markets. Something else that might escalate quickly is Artem Zub's salary. They love him in Ottawa, chanting his name and plays major top-pairing minutes with Thomas Chabot. Have talks started at all there?

Chris Johnston: Well, I'd say there's been some contact, but nothing we might call a negotiation when it comes to a new contract for Artem Zub. And you're right, it's not to say it's going to escalate at this point in time. There's plenty of time between now and next summer when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. But this is not going to be an easy player for the Ottawa Senators to keep. He's a right-hand shot. He plays top-pairing minutes for this team. He's become wildly popular. I would imagine if he were ever to get to the market months from now, he would be popular there too. So, you know, Ottawa has got some difficult decisions to make. They had a busy summer. They had Alex DeBrincat situation to come up with and Artem Zub is also a question mark for that franchise.

Life comes at you fast in an NHL season. We're talking about possible coaching changes and some serious injuries to serious Cup contenders and really no avenue to replace these guys.

Pierre LeBrun: I think it's important to talk about because the immediate reaction when you get the news on Aaron Ekblad in Florida and Gabriel Landeskog in Colorado is – those two teams are contenders – they've got to go out and replace them. It just doesn't work that way, especially at this time of year. The reality is Ekblad will be back this season. There's no firm timeline yet, but we're talking anywhere from four to six to seven weeks, we believe. [Ekblad] is going to be back. He's not out until the playoffs. They can't replace his money because they need room for him when he's back. Same thing with Landeskog back – in mid January. They can't go out and replace him. And both teams are operating right at the cap. So I got similar messages really from sources with each organization is that 'we just got to hang in there and play survival hockey until we get those guys back.' What it means for Florida? Twenty-two minutes for Marc Staal in the first game the other night, 26 minutes for [Gustav] Forsling, 25 minutes for [Radko] Gudas. Those are big minutes. And certainly when it comes to Colorado, they're already [in] life, without Nazem Kadri, who left via free agency. No Landeskog. No Kadri. It's a tough go for the Cup champions, but they feel they can hang in there until later in the season when they can maybe have cap room to go acquire a forward.

Johnston: Where that extra little bit of cap room might come into play for Florida though is with Eric Staal – a player that has been with their team through training camp on a tryout contract, still skating with Florida and hoping to get a deal done there. They're still working out some some cap-related decisions in terms of getting him signed to a league-minimum deal. But after not playing at all in the NHL last season, there are some positive indications that Eric Staal could join the Panthers and, of course, that would be a great story because [his brother] Marc Staal, who you mentioned, is playing so many minutes [and] is already on that roster.

[Dreger], you pondered on Tuesday how long No. 1-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky would stay with the Montreal Canadiens this season. What about the fourth-overall pick – who a lot of people had thought last year would go No. 1 overall – Shane Wright in Seattle?

Dreger: It's a story we're watching. I mean, he's been a healthy scratch with the Seattle Kraken. In the three games that he's played with the Kraken, he's averaged less than seven minutes in total ice time. So there is a debate. Where is it going to be best for him to develop? He is CHL eligible. So he cannot go obviously to the American Hockey League, which would mean if he's being sent down, he's being sent back to the [CHL]. That debate is age old between the CHL, the AHL and the NHL. It's a day-by-day, game-by-game analysis for the Seattle Kraken.