When I first saw the post made by a Flyers beat writer I had about five to ten seconds to guess what was the headline on the back page of The Daily News. My title was my guess. I was wrong. I have enough time to throw in my few cents about the Flyers getting rid of another head coach.
It can't come to a surprise that the Flyers fired a head coach. Since 2000 the team has now had seven different head coaches. It also shouldn't be a surprise they fired a coach three games into a season. Upper management has long been very impatient when it comes to waiting for a winner. They have always had a mentality that they need to be successful and it needs to be now. But after years of continually using the same philosophy, when do we start questioning the guys sitting above the ice rather than the ones on it?
I was never a Bobby Clarke fan. Do I need to rephrase this statement? I wasn't old enough to watch him play. I do recall his lengthy stint as general manager however. Even though the longtime Flyer was a fan favorite for his ability on the ice, I generally thought less of his managerial skills. Clarke played with an edge and wasn't afraid of mixing it up in 1144 NHL games, all with the Flyers. He brought a similar toughness with him when he became the Flyers general manager, first from 1984-90 and again from 1994-2007. Clarke wasn't afraid to ruffle feathers and had a knack for big moves and getting hard-nosed players. Towards the end of his run as G.M. I personally had enough and was looking forward to a new face making player decisions for the team.
Clarke is now the Senior Vice President of the Flyers. If you look back, there have been two years since 1969 that Clarke has not been part of the organization.
In stepped Paul Holmgren to take control. Finally a fresh face with new ideas for a team without a cup since the mid 1970's. Except Holmgren only had to move one seat over. He had already been the assistant general manager to Clarke for six seasons. Suddenly the new perspective had the same vibe as the old. Not to mention Holmgren's past with the team. Of the 527 NHL games Holmgren played, 500 of them were with the Flyers. He also never had a season with the team of less than 100 penalty minutes. He had also spent seven seasons with the Flyers as assistant or head coach, and had titles of Director of Scouting and of Player Personnel. Since 1976, Holmgren was not part of the Flyers organization for a total of five seasons.
Let's go back and start in the year 2000. Clarke had long held the title of General Manager and Holmgren was into his first as assistant. Remember both have already had a storied career in the orange and black.
Hired to coach the team is Bill Barber. His name to fans should sound familiar. He played alongside Clarke during the Broad Street Bully days throughout the 70's when the Flyers won two Stanley Cups. In fact, during his NHL career of 903 games, he only ever played for Philadelphia. Prior to becoming head coach he spent four seasons as head coach for the Phantoms winning one championship. He also had prior experience as an assistant for the Flyers. Barber would take the team to the playoffs in both of his seasons, both times getting knocked out in the first round. Barber was fired after his second year when veteran players like Keith Primeau vocally disapproved of the coach. Barber never coached again and moved on to Tampa where he became the Director of Player Personnel for five seasons including the year they won the Stanley Cup.
Since 2008 Barber has been a scouting consultant with the Flyers.
In need of a coach the Flyers landed recently fired coach Ken Hitchcock. His history with the Flyers was not quite as impressive but a history nonetheless. Hitchcock never played but his first NHL job was as assistant coach for three seasons with the Flyers. He moved on to the Dallas organization and found a lot of success. In his five full seasons as head coach in Dallas the team finished first in the division all five seasons and would go on to win their only cup in franchise history. Hitchcock joined the Flyers for the 2002-03 season. In three seasons as coach the team finished with at least 40 wins and 100 points each year while also reaching the Eastern Conference Finals. Eight games into his fourth season he was fired. Hitch has since gone on to lead Columbus to their only ever playoff berth and won Coach of the Year in 2012 with a surging St. Louis team.
Becoming head coach in game 9 that year was John Stevens. It was back to the well for Philadelphia. Stevens was drafted by the Flyers spending most of his time in the AHL with seven of his seasons spent either on Hershey or the Phantoms. Five of those seasons he had at least 100 penalty minutes. He moved on to coach the Phantoms for 8 seasons including a Calder Cup championship in the lockout year for the NHL. Stevens coached two full seasons for the Flyers and parts of two others (after Hitchcock and 25 games before being fired) reaching the playoffs both seasons including an Eastern Finals loss. Stevens went on to become assistant for Los Angeles the past three seasons where the team won the Stanley Cup once.
In came Lavy. And get this. He had no prior ties to Philadelphia. He won a Calder Cup and Stanley Cup as a coach in different organizations. After taking over for Stevens he led the team to an unlikely spot in the Stanley Cup Finals eventually losing to Chicago. Things were looking very promising. The next two seasons saw two second round playoff knockouts before the team had a substandard shortened season last year. Three games and he got the axe. Deserving? If you compare it to the past it fits the bill. Now the question is where does the rest of the paragraph go for Laviolette. Probably finding success would be the answer.
These coaches were not the answer or at least not the answer at the right time for management. Next up is Craig Berube. Would there be any other candidate? Berube started his pro career in Philadelphia and eventually spent seven totals seasons with the organization. He also happens to be one of the top penalty minute receivers in NHL history. He has had a coaching role with either the Phantoms or Flyers since 2004. Educated guesses would suggest he gets two to three seasons to do something.
This is opposed to the thought of perhaps changing the formula for producing a winning hockey club. At some point it stuck in the minds of management that the Flyers were and will always be a successful, tough, physical, hard-nosed, in-your-face type of team. They were going to score, hit and fight until you had enough. And that theme has transcended time to a point where it might not be practical anymore. Even if it is, it hasn't been working in this town. Tracing the steps it doesn't take a lot of effort to see the rut. Change the players and the coaches all you want. It's the same group of guys with the same mentality making the decisions. Those decisions are based of the Flyers brand of hockey.
Did Peter Laviolette go out and sign Ilya Bryzgalov to a 51 million dollar contract so he could play a whole two seasons? Did the players insist they move the young Bobrovsky who after not being drafted won 28 games in the NHL as a rookie? One season away from Philadelphia and he wins the Vezina. There was your goalie of the future. Now neither are here.
What about Justin Williams? Now he has two Stanley Cups. Remember Patrick Sharp? That's another two cups. Dare I say Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. Makes me wonder what will happen with James van Riemsdyk. I'm guessing a future 25 goal average scorer and a ring or two. All young players that the Flyers didn't care to either wait around for or simply didn't fit in with the way management saw the team.
I can't sit here and say that every move the Flyers have made over the past 12 years have been bad. Some were very good or well worth the risk. Hockey is all about making moves and creating that perfect team. I just wonder what we are trying to create because as far as I can tell it is the same thing year after year. That is directly associated with the moves from the top. The mindset never changes. The ideas are never new. The faces all the same. It's Flyers hockey like it is still 1975.
I can go on.
CHAIRMAN- Ed Snider: Face of the Flyers. Owner since the 1st puck drop.
GENERAL MANAGER: Paul Holmgren: See up top.
SENIOR V.P.: Bobby Clarke: See up top.
EXECUTIVE V.P.: Keith Allen: 1st Head Coach and 1st General Manager of the Flyers in team history. Stayed on as G.M. until 1983. The man is 90.
ASSISTANT COACH: Ian Laperriere: One full season as a Flyer appearing in every game. Hard-nosed, aggressive and willing to sacrifice to win. 13 of 15 NHL seasons over 100 PIM. Became Flyers Director of Player Development before coach.
ASSISTANT COACH: John Paddock: 42 of 87 NHL games with Flyers. Prior background as head coach in Hershey and with the Phantoms. Assistant G.M. with Phantoms and Flyers. 10 total seasons.
ASSISTANT G.M./DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS: Ron Hextall: Do we even need to go into his past career with the Flyers and his playing style. Became a scout and Director of Personnel after retirement for six season with the Flyers. Moved on to Los Angeles as Assistant GM and helped bring them a championship. Now back with Philadelphia this year. By the way, you would think this is the guy to start getting things done.
PLAYER DEVELOPMENT: Derian Hatcher: Spent last three NHL seasons with Flyers. Big, mean and nasty defenseman. Over 1500 career NHL PIM. Stood 6'5 230lbs. Been with team in development since 2009.
PLAYER DEVELOPMENT: Kjell Samuelsson: Nine seasons with the Flyers. Big and nasty defenseman. 1200 PIM. Stood 6'7 230lbs. Been a coach in minors with organization every season since 1999 before joining this group.
HEAD OF SCOUTING: Dave Brown: Parts of 10 seasons with the Flyers. Almost 1800 PIM. Two years as assistant coach for Flyers and seven more seasons as Director of Player Personnel.
I tried staying with the core of the group. Lot of solid individuals with tons of experience. Generally all of them well versed in what it is like to be a Philadelphia Flyer. Yes, that does tend to mean a lot of toughness which isn't a bad quality. These guys really do resemble Flyer hockey. But the style they resemble fits better into an era that no longer exists. You don't need to knock people around to win. Detroit is a perfect example. It's about creating a solid overall team with players of all different types of skill. We probably could have had that here at some point over the last twenty years. For whatever the reason the pieces didn't quite fall into place. Some of that is on the players and some falls on the coach, but as we continue down this road at some point you have to seriously question the ideas of the men at the top. Lavy fell because he didn't agree with the direction they wanted to go. Others have fallen too. But as coaches and players move on from the Flyers only to find success and championships with other teams, you start to wonder what is going on behind the closed doors. Are we going to get to the point that players don't want to come here simply because of the treatment that players or coaches have received like Lindros, Richards, Carter, Hitchcock, Bryzgalov and others who probably don't have the nicest things to say about the town. Again a reflection of management and a sign that things may need to change.
For my final reflection I take you back to the summer. The draft to be precise. The Flyers haven't had a lot of high picks in the past. With the 11th overall pick there was a bit of hope that the team could get a future player to help the team take shape.
I present the video below.
Bob McKenzie is probably one of the first members of the hockey media I followed in most part because he was accurate and intelligent. McKenzie early on makes the following comment.
"They're going to draft a Flyer here I believe because Samuel Morin is a 6'6 defensemen who likes to hit and fight."
Not long ago I would have taken some pride in having that type of stigma attached to the Flyers. After all, it is true and most everybody knows it. Now it only brings up questions. Sorry to get all techie here but Bob McKenzie has over 600,000 twitter followers. The Flyers don't even have half that amount. With his knowledge and understanding of hockey he takes a simple stab. It really was less than simple. A big guy who hits and fights, Philadelphia is jumping on that chance.
It's the same thing every time. The Broad Street Bullies name has turned into something that feels as though it must be achieved. After all, many of those guys who coached or played on those teams are still running things. Many others moving into management or coaching now played on the Flyers in the decade that followed where the idea still applied.
That brand of hockey is one I enjoy. Mix it with a skillful team and who knows what could happen. I think that is what they have been trying to do. It hasn't worked. Seeing a Stanley Cup parade in this city would be more exciting than seeing a game full of hits and fights. So maybe when the Flyers pick again next time at number 11 or 10 or 9, the first two characteristics of the player mentioned are skilled and hard working.
