John Tortorella is no longer the favorite to become the NHL’s first coaching casualty of the season. Torts has been replaced by Vancouver’s Willie Desjardins, who’s now getting 2/1 odds from online bookmaker Bovada.
The Canucks have lost nine games in a row, and have just one regulation victory in their first 13. So it’s no surprise that Desjardins is on the hot seat, even if Vancouver’s management and ownership may deserve the lion’s share of the blame for the team’s direction.
Desjardins was hired by the Canucks in 2014, after Tortorella was fired. Vancouver made the playoffs in Desjardins’ first season, but lost to Calgary in the first round -- a series in which Desjardins’ tactics and deployment were heavily criticized.
The honeymoon over, the Canucks proceeded to have a nightmarish 2015-16 season. However, injuries were blamed for the team’s 28th-place finish and Desjardins was not fired.
Instead, Desjardins was asked by management to play with better defensive structure. Though things looked promising for the first four games of the current season, all Vancouver wins, that optimism was extremely short-lived.
As for Tortorella, his prospects have improved since the Blue Jackets lost their first two games. Columbus is now 5-3-2, with a 10-0 destruction of Montreal among its victories.
The full list of odds: