This is exactly the heart of the argument.
As I've stated I think Knoblauch is a very good coach and for many the argument ends right there and then, they think in binary terms good coach= keep, bad coach= fire.
My argument isn't worried about next season and wanting to retain a good coach, it's looking at the team we have and the limitations we have a.k.a. bad goaltending + undersized offensive wingers and wanting to extract more value and put forth a gameplan that plays around our weaknesses and strengths and is more likely to win us a Stanley Cup this season. We can't fix goaltending right now, but we can try and gameplan to make that weakness less prominent (rather than play into the weakness) and for me that is getting our offense going so we can outscore a terrible goal, in prior seasons we had that swagger where if we really needed a goal and we were all pushing particularly on the PP we could almost get that goal on command and this season we've lost that ability pretty much entirely.
If Drai and Nurse are canaries, why not McDavid, RNH, Arvidsson, or Henrique this is by far the worst McDavid has ever played and on par with the worst seasons of the other 3.
For many they are looking at this season as a probable early playoff exit, and are ready to accept their lumps. With the plan being fix it in the offseason, cause there are too many issues for a coach to cover it up. For me I see enough right with this team particularly on the back end and our ability to transition the puck, that I do think we can win a Cup this season, but to do that we need to open it up a touch and get more offense from our bottom 6 (the guys on IR should help) + tidy up our special teams.