How time flies when you're having the fun of watching the NHL coaching carnage pile up.

Sure, it's only been seven luckless weeks since the last time we rated the performances of the "new coaches." But in the NHL, a quarter of the season can be a lifetime when you're talking about the lifespan of head coaches.

So it was for the few, the proud and the raving coaching soldiers who laid down their jobs for the greater good of general manager survival since our last quarterly review. Fine men like Dave King, who better served as Canada's national program leader than he did in his last coaching stop in Columbus.

Who could forget Colorado's Bob Hartley? Or Atlanta's Curt Fraser, or Calgary's … who was the latest guy there? … that's right, Greg Gilbert, who was fired and replaced by interim coach and longtime organizational front office character Al MacNeil, who was finally replaced by Darryl Sutter, who was replaced earlier this season as head coach of the San Jose Sharks.

And around and around and around it goes … as these guys who are mostly unknown outside of this circular league continue to be recycled by the process. No one has survived such cycles better than Pat Burns, one veteran head coach who has won everywhere he's gone and hasn't even demanded to be promoted to the sanctity and relative security of a GM's position.

Burns' latest success is as head coach of the New Jersey Devils, a team that has found the lost art of consistency this season. In one respect, that has been a godsend -- nobody defends like the Devils of old, a creaky corps still cranking it out.

Since the midpoint of last season, New Jersey general manager Lou Lamoriello has employed three different head coaches and six different assistants while rotating a large portion of his roster. Essentially, he's left it up to Burns to get the Devils back to what brought them Stanley Cup success -- an unmatched sense of stinginess.

With help from a rejuvenated Martin Brodeur, they have allowed the fewest goals in the NHL (79 through 39 games), pinning the credit on a more stable atmosphere created not only by Burns but by an overdue sense of management calm.

Call it the Lamoriello Lull.

"I think we're trying to get the consistency again," Brodeur said. "I think we're just starting to get more steady as a team. We're starting to get to know each other. It takes some time. I didn't think we were going to be able to say how good we were until Christmas.

"It takes a while to get used to different players. From the start of the year, there's (eight) new guys, plus the coaches. That's a lot of new people to bring into the family and get used to them, to know what to expect, and which buttons you can press on certain guys. You've got to know these things and time is the only thing that can give you that."

But Burns has always been a master at managing time for a team. He might press the buttons a little too forcefully, but he always knew which ones to press. And while Burn's boss in Boston, ancient NHL overlord Harry Sinden, once criticized Burns for what Sinden considered a constant five-man defensive alignment, that is exactly the approach Burns has taken to New Jersey during a first-half performance worth on the ESPN.com coaching scale.

"They're playing very responsible defensively and they've had a lot of low-scoring hockey games. And that's kind of the way he likes it," Boston defenseman Don Sweeney said before a recent reunion with former Bruins coach Burns, a party that ended in a 1-0 Devils win.

"I'm not sure coaches and players are actually close," said Sweeney. "There's more of a respect and appreciation. There's a respect factor there for Pat."

In this league, of course, respect doesn't easily translate into job security. Burns was the NHL's winningest coach over four seasons with the Canadiens, but was nonetheless fired in 1992 because of complaints that he was too much the disciplinarian. The Canadiens promptly won a Stanley Cup the next season.

Burns went on Toronto and turned that perennial losing legend of a team into an immediate winner. Three years of falling short in the playoffs finally led to his departure there, too. Then in Boston, Burns led an immediate turnaround season for the Bruins in 1997-98 and won his third Jack Adams Award as coach of the year. Two years later the Bruins missed the playoffs and Burns' exit was cast in stone -- although the plug wasn't pulled until eight games into the 2000-01 season.

All that's in the past and part of this league's wrongs of annual passage. Along with Ken Hitchcock in Philadelphia, Burns has been the most successful first-year veteran coach in the league this season, even if his Devils team (and Hitchcock's Flyers) usually don't score more than a couple of goals a game.

For them it's all about stinginess. If you're a coach in the NHL long enough, being defensive just comes naturally.

As for the first-half performances of the other first-year coaches (both new and old):

Ken Hitchcock, Philadelphia Flyers
First Union Center has sold out just twice this season for the Flyers, which the Philadelphia media can't fathom. Some of the blame has thus fallen on Hitchcock's defensive system, which not only makes Roman Cechmanek look good, but has made some talented offensive Flyers look bad.

All they're doing is adhering to the system, however, which at its best shouldn't bore the fans to death. Since many games have done just that, it shows the Flyers are still a work in progress. Yet as they approached Game 41 on Long Island Thursday, the Flyers had the second-best record in the East and had almost identically matched Burns' Devils. and rising for the job Hitchcock is doing.

Dave Tippett, Dallas Stars
What's the easiest way to endear yourself as a new head coach? Refuse to lose. So almost every time Dave Tippett stood behind the Stars' bench at home in the first half of the season, they won. Dallas has one home loss through its first 18 home games, a remarkable feat that has pushed the Stars comfortably in front in the Pacific Division. What's Tippett's reaction to this? Wondering why his team is barely above .500 on the road. The bet here is he finds an answer before the playoffs.

Dave Lewis, Detroit Red Wings
As an assistant (or associate) coach for years under Scotty Bowman, you'd think Dave Lewis would learn the art of acting the part of chameleon coach. Instead, Lewis' first year as a head coach flying solo has been a model of consistency. Nothing spectacular, his talented team of champion Red Wings continue to do everything well enough to win. They'll be battling Dallas for President's Trophy honors down the stretch, especially when Steve Yzerman comes back from his long injury absence.

Mike Keenan, Florida Panthers
Don't look now, but those anonymous Panthers still haven't traded for a big-name player, but are still riding the crest of a .500 season. Keenan has done this season what he's done well his whole career - cajole, cut up and cultivate young players. Three worthy for the supreme effort of having his undermanned team in the thick of the playoff race in an improved Southeast Division.

Bruce Cassidy, Washington Capitals
is a two-puck improvement for a youthful coach whose soft-peddled techniques are starting to move the talented Capitals to play like a team. Washington has roared back to the top in the Southeast and look ready to trade places with Tampa Bay and Carolina in a toss-up second-half run. And get this -- Jaromir Jagr (18 goals, 36 points) not only isn't among the scoring leaders, he isn't even the leading scorer on his team.

That honor belongs to 30-year-old Michael Nylander, who has developed under Cassidy into a bonafide force at center in his fifth NHL stop. As for Jagr, he's starting to re-develop a sense of hunger to win that's long been missing.

Mike Babcock, Anaheim Mighty Ducks
It's becoming obvious that this young coach has a way with dealing with players who aren't that much younger (except for Adam Oates) than him. The Ducks are still a .500 team that probably won't make the playoffs. But Babcock also has improved the balance on his club, forming three and four-line rotations that just keep coming. Ultimately, though, it's worth .

Doug MacLean, Columbus Blue Jackets
He's coached one game for the Blue Jackets, but already has earned for the memories… Florida, Spring 1996: Who could have predicted this MacLean-coached team would go to the Stanley Cup finals? Florida, Fall 1997: Who could forget MacLean hopping over the boards and dashing onto the ice looking for a fight? As a GM, MacLean learned long ago about the short fuses and shorter lifelines of a hockey coach.

Tony Granato, Colorado Avalanche
Lots of talk in Denver in recent weeks about a turnaround for the hockey club. But why? The Avs ended their first half at 16-11-9, good for only fourth in the Northwest and eighth in the Western Conference. Granato earns at least for righting a bailing ship while Joe Sakic was missing eight games with a sprained ankle. The players apparently love him, but that is hardly an indicator of future success. What Granato's rating suffers from is the unspoken knowledge that Bob Hartley should never have been fired in the first place.

Darryl Sutter, Calgary Flames
His work in San Jose showed what a capable hockey coach this Sutter Brother is. Then Dean Lombardi stunned the league by firing him. But everything turned out for the best, since the Sharks are no better without Sutter and the Flames are much better with him. For as long as Alberta has a NHL team -- the fiscal countdown on both the Oilers and Flames began long ago -- there should be a Sutter at the helm. Calgary has done its part, as first Brian and now Darryl have had this , two-bit job.

Don Waddell, Atlanta Thrashers
The GM with the constant one-liners felt the need to levy a serious punchline to Fraser. And no wonder. Waddell's youthful Thrashers are a disciplinary mess. Players constantly extending shifts, ignoring defensive assignments, criticizing teammates ... in other words, they're acting like inhabitants of a losing locker room. Experienced disciplinarian Terry Murray seemed first in line to be Waddell's next hire, though Waddell seems bent on trying to woo Larry Robinson instead. Either way, it's a good idea for Waddell to stop the one-liners for a while and try to see for himself how his team can be improved.

Bryan Trottier, New York Rangers
This old hockey star has dropped to a rookie head coach, hurt by the dropping of Mike Richter from the NHL landscape and the fall of Eric Lindros' interest. Trottier is not a popular coach in New York, but he's an oddity because he shouldn't be going anywhere. Not unless Glen Sather decides to join the latest fraternity -- GMs who are better head coaches than they are executives, swallowing the bitter pill of coaching the team they wrought.

Ron Wilson, San Jose Sharks
He's hardly a last-place or a coach. But since the Sharks were still in last place in the Pacific Division and hadn't even cracked the .500 mark, what else could be said for Wilson except that you suspect he'll eventually get this underachieving act together.

Rob Parent of the Delaware County (Pa.) Times is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.