TSN Hockey Insiders Chris Johnston and Pierre LeBrun join host James Duthie to discuss the future of Hockey Canada, Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane's arbitration with the San Jose Sharks, and a potential head coaching musical chairs in the off-season.

James Duthie: It's a big year for Hockey Canada. Two World Juniors inside the country in the span of four-and-a-half months and now, a new man to lead Hockey Canada through it.

Chris Johnston: Quite shortly here Scott Smith is poised to take over the head of Hockey Canada from Tom Renney [as] Renney is retiring effective July 1. There's been a news conference called for Wednesday in Calgary where all this will be finalized and made official. The key item here is that Renney, after a long distinguished career, is calling it quits on his own terms. He spent nearly eight years at the end of his career with Hockey Canada and Scott Smith has been with the organization for over two decades with the organization. 

So as they get to that big business ahead that you mentioned, [Smith is] well poised to take the reins and make things go smoothly in terms of the transition.

Pierre LeBrun: In the meantime, James you mentioned it's a busy year for Hockey Canada, but it's also busy times planning ahead. The National Hockey League  and National Hockey League Players' Association continue to try to firm up plans for a World Cup of Hockey in February of 2024. It's not finalized yet but Hockey Canada has to plan for it. 

What I've been told is that Hockey Canada plans to name its general manager for Team Canada this September. The front-runner right now I'm told is [St. Louis Blues general manager] Doug Armstrong to return at the helm. As we know, he was in the process of putting together an Olympic roster for Beijing [in 2022] and obviously those plans went by the wayside with the NHL withdrawing. We'll see if Armstrong wants to go ahead in that role and we'll see when the NHL makes this official in terms of the tournament itself.

James Duthie: $23 million on the line in the grievance hearing between Evander Kane and the San Jose Sharks over the termination of his contract. The hearing was held today, when do you think we'll have an answer?

Chris Johnston: Well it was a long hearing on Tuesday, it went right through to the end of the day and it sounds as though there's still more to be heard. The takeaway from that is that this is not going to be settled quickly. At some point here, timing will become an important factor because that is a large amount of money that is obviously important to Kane on a personal level, but the Sharks could wind up with potentially a cap charge coming out of this and will want to have that all clarified long before they're making decisions in July about the future of their team. 

They had the hearing, the arbitrator has heard what's gone on, but it sounds like there's more work to be done and sounds like we're talking months rather than weeks in terms of when a settlement is reached.

James Duthie: We always see off-season coaching changes in the NHL, but is the carousel going to be on warp speed this summer?

Pierre LeBrun: Some guys are going to stay put but it's crazy that 10 coaches are on expiring deals, with some of them having option years, but 10 guys potentially expiring at the end of the season. Now seven of those coaches are interim coaches, they took over in season which explains some of the immediacy of their contract situation. 

Let's start with Jay Woodcroft, the interim head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, who's done an amazing job. My sense is he will get signed and become the full-time guy but I spoke with [Oilers general manager] Ken Holland and [he] said that he will address the coaching situation with the Oilers after the season. I got the same answer from [Winnipeg Jets general manager] Kevin Cheveldayoff that he will address the coaching situation with [interim head coach] Dave Lowry at the end of the season. Some people believe there could be a change there.

We've covered [Montreal Canadiens interim head coach] Martin St. Louis and [Vancouver Canucks head coach] Bruce Boudreau recently on Insider Trading, there's a good chance that both those guys are back. Rick Bowness [head coach] of the Dallas Stars has an expiring deal and a lot of people believe that he's thinking about potentially retiring, but hasn't made that final decision yet.

James Duthie: Do we have to add an off-season coaching frenzy to the TSN table of shows? No we won't.