The NHL Coaching Carousel: Who's out, and who's next?

In the hours before the playoffs began, two more teams added themselves to the list of clubs looking for a new head coach.

Neither decision — the Anaheim Ducks parting ways with Greg Cronin and the New York Rangers moving on from Peter Laviolette — was especially surprising.

Nor were the third and fourth such decisions: On Monday afternoon, the Vancouver Canucks announced that they would not be picking up Rick Tocchet's team option for next season, let alone extending him beyond that, which was somewhat expected. A few hours later, the Seattle announced they had dismissed Dan Bylsma after just one season, as well as solid speculation about kicking GM Ron Francis upstairs in favor of Jason Botterill. Busy times.

We'll get into the "why" of all four changes in a minute. But that brings the tota