One of the more popular assumptions during the past two months has been that teams are firing coaches because the NHL's financial landscape makes it difficult to make a trades to improve or change the dynamics to a team. It sounds reasonable, until you consider that coaches in the NHL never have owned much job security -- and that was established well before the team's payroll was so bloated.

If payroll was the primary driving force, how do you explain that the two teams that filed for bankruptcy protection -- Ottawa and Buffalo -- have coaches who are relative fossils in the NHL? Given the Sabres rocky road, Lindy Ruff would certainly be ancient history if it was just a matter of firing the coach.

This season, San Jose, Colorado, Columbus, Atlanta, Montreal and Calgary have already dumped their coaches. Seems like a lot, but go back over two decades to the 1981-82 season, when nine teams changed coaches during the season -- Washington, Vancouver, St. Louis, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago and Buffalo. During the 1980-81 season, six coaching changes were made in an NHL that featured only 21 teams.

Still, the tenure of an NHL coach is the most tenuous in all of professional sports. You have to wonder if in the future, good coaches start demanding some of the duties and pay checks of a general manager. It might be the only way to keep a job.

Just think, it wasn't too long ago -- during last season's Stanley Cup finals between long-term coaches Scotty Bowman and Paul Maurice, in fact -- that we thought patience and perseverance with coaches was the wave of the future.

Zebras in the crosshairs
The NHL officials are again getting blasted. After games on back-to-back nights, Blues winger Keith Tkachuk ranted about the officiating after being called for four minors and a gross misconduct and Bruins captain Joe Thornton griped about being tossed out of a game in Atlanta.

"It was a terrible call," said Thornton after he was nabbed for a third-man-in penalty. "When the refs take control of games like that, it's a problem. It's unfortunate that refs can get away with these bad calls and are still in this league."

It should be noted that in the very same game the Bruins were called for three penalties for having too many men on the ice. When that happens, no player should be crying about a bad call by a referee.

And three too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties in one game (plus another two games later) might put Robbie Ftorek on thin ice.

'Canes in crisis?
The Carolina Hurricanes suffered one of their biggest losses earlier this week when Rod Brind'Amour went down with a serious wrist injury. The Detroit Red Wings have the star power to make up for the prolonged absence of Steve Yzerman in the regular season, and the Blues have managed without Chris Pronger -- but the Canes are another story.

Already struggling mightily to reach the levels of last season, the 'Canes do not have the star depth of other top-level NHL clubs to absorb this type of loss. Carolina prospered on the power of the pack of their team, and without Brind'Amour's leadership they are in grave danger of falling out of the playoff race.

Although general manager Jim Rutherford is trying to quell talk of a trade, if he really thinks his team can turn it around he will have to find a replacement for Brind'Amour, who was leading NHL forwards in ice time and is a top-flight faceoff man. Rutherford is saying all the right things about a solid nucleus, but that solid nucleus won't look so good sitting a dozen points behind Washington heading for the stretch run for the playoffs. The net result will likely be some quick maneuvers by Rutherford, who could try to use Arturs Irbe to get some help in Carolina.

As for Brind'Amour, his big heart and willingness to play hurt might have to be tempered for the long-term health of his career. He is too willing to play hurt. He played on a broken foot with Philadelphia, just before he was traded to Carolina four years ago. Monday night against St. Louis, he tore a tendon in his hand during the first period and still played 23:34, second most on team only to defenseman Sean Hill.

Time for Flyers to take off?
With Flyers winger Justin Williams on the shelf for the remainder of the season because of major knee surgery, could the Flyers be entering trade mode? The club is doing better than many expected under coach Ken Hitchcock, and with a wide-open battle for the East title, the Flyers could pave a path to the Stanley Cup finals with a player such as Pittsburgh's Alexei Kovalev or Buffalo's Miroslav Satan. According to several general managers, the asking price for Kovalev is a combination of two young, ready-to-play players, and about $5 million in cash.

Avalanche aren't out of the woods
The Colorado Avalanche are now faced with the reality of a late-season, mad dash for the playoffs. That dash won't be set up any easier now that captain Joe Sakic is out for a couple of weeks because of a foot injury. General manager Pierre Lacroix, knowing that he had a team going sideways at best, attempted a jump start when he replaced Stanley Cup-winning coach Bob Hartley with Tony Granato. He got the short-term boost from the coaching change, especially from forward Alex Tanguay. However, after scoring three goals in the first six games after the coaching change, Tanguay has gone cold again. The only thing that will warm up is his name in trade rumors.

Al Morganti covers the NHL for ESPN.