With 2016 ending in a few days, we figured it was a good time to check out the hot seat status for a few coaches around the NHL whose teams have not fared well this season.

Or last season. Or several seasons in a few cases.

Which NHL coaches should be seeking an ice bath for their smoldering rumps entering 2017? Glad you asked …

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Dan Bylsma, Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres aren’t getting results. It’s as simple as that. They’re in the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings at 12-13-8 in 33 games. Their goal differential is minus-20, second-worst in the conference (inexplicably better than that of the New Jersey Devils … more on that in a bit).

The heat is coming down on Bylsma and GM Tim Murray, although admittedly it’s a bit warmer for the former than the latter. (Such are coach/GM thermodynamics in the NHL.)

Mike Harrington eviscerated Bylsma in a column this week in the Buffalo News, listing his various lineup sins (including some discipline for Jack Eichel) and his overall game-plan:

Bylsma’s plodding system is flat-out unwatchable at times. Players’ instincts are stunted in place of where-should-I-be second thoughts. Zemgus Girgensons clearly can’t make heads or tails out of it. Tyler Ennis, when he was healthy, had the same problem. Many others seem baffled.

The Sabres need to skate and not think so much on the ice but their coach has to allow them to play that way. You wonder if that’s possible.

Lately, it seems as if Bylsma has lost his mind. It’s to the point where it’s now an open discussion among Sabres fans if Bylsma, in just the second year of a five-year contract, should be heading down Ryan Road to the unemployment line too if his team continues to implode:

“Ryan Road” as in Rex Ryan, that other high-profile, heavily hyped coach Terry Pegula hired that hasn’t gotten results.

HOT SEAT STATUS: Like bleachers at a Little League baseball game in the middle of an August afternoon.

Jack Capuano, New York Islanders

You’d figure the Islanders would have already turfed Capuano given their 13-14-6 record in 33 games and pathetic underlying numbers (45.93 Corsi at even strength).

But he’s Garth Snow’s guy, and he’s been Garth Snow’s guy since he was hired as the full-time head coach on April 12, 2011. It appears they’re a package deal, which means the likelihood they’re both tossed into the bay when the Islanders hire a new team president soon is increasingly higher.

Say what you will about Capuano’s failings as a coach – there’s no question that Snow hasn’t given him the soldiers this season, especially after losing Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen to free agency.

HOT SEAT STATUS: Like scalding hot coffee that you drink anyway because there are no other options.

John Hynes, New Jersey Devils

It’s not just that the Devils are losing – 13-14-7 in 34 games – but it’s how they’re losing.

Going 4-12-5 on the road is inexcusable. A minus-22 goal differential is inexcusable. Having Cory Schneider second in the NHL in the number of mid-danger shot attempts he’s faced (242, second only to Cam Talbot of the porous Oilers) is inexcusable.

Hynes has coached the Devils for two seasons. In both, the team is well below respectable in puck possession (46.17 last season at 5-on-5 Corsi; 47.38 this season), leading one to wonder if a team allegedly committed to analytics is even looking at the data.

HOT SEAT STATUS: Like watching last night’s mac-and-cheese bubble and boil in the microwave. You know it’s hot, but it’s only going to get hotter.

John Tortorella, Columbus Blue Jackets

Sorry, force of habit.

HOT SEAT STATUS: Seriously, who among us thought that Torts’ seat would be slightly colder than the surface temperature of Neptune? (The planet. Not, like, New Jersey.)

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WESTERN CONFERENCE

Jared Bednar, Colorado Avalanche

Story continues