Midseason replacements: do they work?

Today, Terry Murray became the fifth NHL coach to be fired this season. How has it worked out for the other four? Well, mixed bag.

— St. Louis was 6-7-0 when it fired Davis Payne. Ken Hitchcock is 11-2-3.

— Carolina was 8-13-4 when it fired Paul Maurice. Kirk Muller is 1-5-0.

— Washington was 12-9-0 when it fired Bruce Boudreau. Dale Hunter is 3-3-0.

— Anaheim was 7-13-4 when it fired Randy Carlyle. Boudreau is 1-3-1.

So, among the four, only St. Louis has improved thus far, although that has been a dramatic improvement. We’ll see where the Kings end up. Also, for an interesting conversation between two great hockey pundits about today’s news, check out this story from ESPN.com’s Scott Burnside and Pierre LeBrun.

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