Kings, Predators, Change Of Scenery Candidates, Blues, Hall Of Fame, Avalanche,

Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include the early-season struggles for multiple Western Conference teams, possible trade candidates, the Hockey Hall of Fame, and more.  If your question doesn’t appear here, watch for it in next weekend’s mailbag column.

J.H.: Could you see the Kings making a change from McLellan if their defensive, structural issues lead to a prolonged slump? The added offense is nice, but the breakdowns, turnovers, and various other miscues have cost them several games. System issues like that probably shouldn’t be happening now in year four, especially since there are actual expectations for this team after last year’s playoff appearance. Are there any other potential coaching changes you could foresee that would be surprising yet plausible like that?

bigalval: Kings have given up the most goals of any team what is wrong with them?

Let’s put the Los Angeles questions together.  First, it’s worth noting that they’ve won three straight since the first one was posted which might change things up a bit.  I don’t think McLellan’s future is overly secure as yes, there are some structural issues and if you look at his last job with Edmonton, this was around the time when they made a change.  But thanks to that three-game win streak, they’re in the top three in the Western Conference so they’re likely not leaning towards making a move.

If I was going to speculate about a coaching change, this feels like a good landing spot for Barry Trotz if he was willing to return.  He would fix up some of the defensive breakdowns with his systems although it would likely come at the expense of some scoring, an area where things have been going quite well in the early going.  That would also help solve some of the goaltending woes.

One of the concerns I had about the Kings going into this season was between the pipes.  Yes, Jonathan Quick had a bounce-back year last season but his last three years were below league average.  Accordingly, it was unrealistic to expect that his 2021-22 performance would carry over.  It hasn’t.  Calvin Petersen had a tough showing last year which was cause for concern this season and his numbers early on are worse than last season.  Going into this season with that duo and no demonstrable improvement on the back end (beyond a return to health for Drew Doughty) was risky.  Right now, it’s holding them back.

Gbear: The Preds have for the most part looked like a well below-average hockey team so far this season, how long of a rope do you think John Hynes has if this type of play continues?

I think he still has a lot of rope left.  GM David Poile is known for being patient and has made a grand total of one in-season coaching change in franchise history, one that dates back to 1998.  A slow start alone probably isn’t going to be enough of an indictment to pull the trigger quickly.

How much of their early-season struggles are based on coaching and how much of…