Thrashers general manager Don Waddell said Monday he will begin interviewing three or four head coach candidates later this week and could have a hire by next week.

Here's a look at the men who could command the Thrashers next season:

Getty Images (ENLARGE)

Red Wings assistant Todd McClellan will be among the Thrashers' candidates.

Pouya Dianat/Staff Photographer (ENLARGE)

Brad McCrimmon played 18 NHL seasons as a defenseman. As an associated coach, he discussed the head coaching job with the Thrashers during the season.

Chris O'Meara/STF (ENLARGE)

John Tortorella was dismissed by the Tampa Bay Lightning last week and has lead a team to the Stanley Cup.

RELATED STORIES Thrashers add more depth  Thrashers prospect Morin earns high praise  Thrashers prospect eager to prove self in NHL         More Thrashers coverage

KNOWN CANDIDATES

• John Anderson — Anderson, 51, knows the Thrashers and knows player development as the hugely successful coach of the Wolves, the Thrashers' American Hockey League affiliate. He led Chicago to league championships in 1998, 2000 and 2002, and the Wolves lead this year's Calder Cup series against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 3-2 entering tonight's game. He played 12 NHL seasons and has been a minor league head coach for 13 seasons. His résumé resembles that of his best friend, Bruce Boudreau, before the Washington Capitals made Boudreau their coach 21 games into the 2007-08 season; Boudreau took the Capitals from last place in the Eastern Conference to a playoff berth.

• Brad McCrimmon — McCrimmon, 49, discussed the head coaching job with the Thrashers during the season and remains a candidate. Promoting him would give the team continuity. He has been with the team for four seasons, and he became far more involved than the typical assistant last season after Hartley's firing, when Waddell had to handle the dual responsibilities of general manager and interim coach. He wasn't the head coach in games, but he did get a chance to run practices. McCrimmon played 18 NHL seasons as a defenseman, was an assistant for the Calgary Flames and New York Islanders, and was a head coach for Saskatoon in the Western Hockey League.

OTHER TOP POSSIBILITIES

• Paul Maurice — Maurice, 41, coached the Maple Leafs the past two seasons and didn't make the playoffs. He spent more than seven seasons as coach of the Hartford Whalers-Carolina Hurricanes.

• John Paddock — Paddock, 54, began the 2007-08 season as coach of the Ottawa Senators, who started 15-2. He lost his job in February, with the team 36-22-6. He coached the Winnipeg Jets for four seasons in the early 1990s.

• Joel Quenneville — Quenneville, 49, spent the past three seasons as coach of the Colorado Avalanche and coached the St. Louis Blues for eight seasons. His teams almost always get to the playoffs — all of his Blues teams did — but rarely get far in the postseason — only one Quenneville-coached team got past the second round.

• John Tortorella — Fired as Tampa Bay's coach last week four years after leading the Lightning to the Stanley Cup, Tortorella, 49, has proven he can turn around a team at or near the bottom of the standings. He's a lot like Hartley, a winner known for being demanding and outspoken. But after that Cup victory, Tampa Bay hasn't made it past the first round of the playoffs.