Final week, the Philadelphia Flyers launched Rick Tocchet because the twenty fifth head coach in franchise historical past. His candidacy has a number of pluses and minuses, however Tocchet’s earlier position within the group is likely one of the larger issues from a few of the fan base. Earlier than his 9 seasons of head teaching expertise with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Arizona Coyotes, and Vancouver Canucks, his studio work at TNT, or his two Stanley Cup championships as an assistant coach on Mike Sullivan’s employees with the 2016 and 2017 Pittsburgh Penguins, Tocchet was an adolescent chosen 121st within the 1983 NHL Entry Draft by the Flyers.
He would change into one of many best draft steals in group historical past, recording 508 factors in 621 video games in orange and black and reaching the Stanley Cup Closing twice. His mix of physicality and ability embodies what the group seems to be like when it’s at its greatest, a degree that has been fairly distant during the last 15 years. Throughout that stretch, the Flyers had been criticized for appointing too many former gamers to teaching and administration positions, failing to determine the very best obtainable candidates who went to different groups and reached nice heights.
“I used to be a younger child, 19, after I came to visit the Walt Whitman bridge to play my first recreation on the Spectrum. Now, I’ve been gone 20-some years, discovered loads as a participant and as a coach over these years. I’ve been very fortunate to get concepts off of a few of the best minds in hockey within the final 25 years, and I hope to carry again a few of that information,” Tocchet mentioned in his introductory press convention on Could 16.
5 of the earlier 24 coaches who got here earlier than Tocchet additionally had enjoying expertise with the Flyers. Is that label as massive of a turnoff as some declare to be? Let’s study every of these people to get a better sense.
Paul Holmgren
Most Flyers followers both keep in mind Paul Holmgren for his enjoying profession as a physical-but-productive member of the post-Stanley Cup victories period or for his position as normal supervisor (GM,) which peaked with the group’s most up-to-date Closing run in 2010 however light into the beginnings of the group’s present malaise. However Holmgren additionally frolicked behind the bench with the group, changing into head coach simply 4 years after wrapping up his enjoying profession with the Minnesota North Stars. One of many gamers on his inaugural 1998-89 group? A fifth-year Tocchet, who earned his first of 4 all-star picks that season.
The Flyers continued a regarding regular-season drop-off that season, falling from 100 factors and a run to Recreation 7 of the Closing in 1986-87 to 85 factors and a first-round exit in 1987-88, all the way down to 80 factors in 1988-89, the group’s fewest in 17 years. They did atone for that with a formidable playoff run. They earned revenge towards the Washington Capitals for the earlier 12 months’s elimination, then took down the Penguins, who would purchase Tocchet just a few years later.
However a six-game Japanese Convention Closing loss to the Montréal Canadiens ended the season and that group’s aggressive period. The Flyers fell under 80 factors in 12 months two and missed the playoffs for the primary time since 1972, the primary of five-consecutive years with out playoff hockey in Philadelphia. Holmgren survived lower than half of the drought, fired after an 8-14-2 begin to the 1991-92 season. It was a dropoff that pretty intently mirrored the group’s decline after shedding the 2010 Closing with Holmgren as GM, though pulling out of the present gap is taking longer.
Terry Murray
Terry Murray wasn’t precisely absolutely entrenched within the Flyers household like Holmgren. His enjoying profession in Philadelphia lasted simply 39 video games throughout two separate stints, though he was a part of the playoff runs to the Stanley Cup Closing in 1976 and 1981. In contrast to Holmgren, he had earlier head teaching expertise; he took over the Capitals the 12 months after their collection loss to Holmgren’s Flyers. Washington made the playoffs within the first 4 of his 5 seasons, together with a year-one Japanese Convention Closing run.
Murray took over simply a few seasons after Holmgren was axed and had the thrilling alternative to educate a younger Eric Lindros, who was coming into his third season when Murray arrived. That third marketing campaign was a particular one for Lindros, though it was solely 48 video games as a result of a lockout. He recorded 70 factors in that motion, incomes the Lester B. Pearson Award (now the Ted Lindsay Award) and Hart Trophy. Much more impressively, the Flyers snapped a five-year playoff drought, with their factors proportion bettering from .476% to .625%. Identical to he did in Washington and Holmgren did six years prior, Murray’s first run with the group ended within the third spherical, when the Flyers misplaced in six to the New Jersey Devils.
Nevertheless, this time, the primary season wouldn’t be the head. With the Legion of Doom absolutely established, different items like Rod Brind’Amour and Eric Desjardins in place, and Ron Hextall again between the pipes, the Flyers had been one of many higher groups in hockey the following two seasons. They gained the Atlantic Division in 1995-96, falling within the second spherical to a different trap-heavy group, the Florida Panthers. However Murray obtained the Flyers over the hump in 12 months three, main the group to its first Stanley Cup Closing in a decade.
Nevertheless, they had been swept by the burgeoning Detroit Crimson Wings dynasty, permitting Steve Yzerman and firm to solid apart their historical past of playoff failures and seize the primary of 4 Cups in 11 years. That failure, mixed with a number of inner disputes, equivalent to publicly calling the group out for “choking” throughout the collection and making a shocking goalie change from Hextall to Garth Snow (from “Flyers Hearth Murray After Finals Sweep,” New York Occasions, June 14, 1997).
Such a bizarre and ugly ending to a tenure makes it troublesome to judge how good of a coach he was, however primarily based on the numbers, Murray is likely one of the most profitable coaches in group historical past. Nevertheless, he’d by no means a lot as win one other playoff collection in seven extra seasons, three in Florida and 4 with the Los Angeles Kings.
Invoice Barber
Talking of bizarre exits, enter Invoice Barber into the image midway by means of the 2000-01 season. Barber had probably the most profitable enjoying profession of anybody on this listing, enjoying an enormous position within the Broad Avenue Bullies’ back-to-back Cup wins in 1974 and 1975. He’s honored within the Hockey Corridor of Fame, and his quantity seven hangs within the rafters of the soon-to-be-named Xfinity Cellular Heart each night time.
Barber was a first-time NHL head coach when he took over. Nevertheless, he had beforehand served as an assistant throughout the Stanley Cup Closing runs of 1985 and 1987 and led the group’s American Hockey League affiliate to the 1998 Calder Cup championship. The Flyers had been in a deadly spot coming into the season, with the notorious Scott Stevens hit ending the Lindros period with a bang and a whimper as a 3-1 lead within the 2000 Japanese Convention Closing slipped by means of the group’s grasp. It confirmed of their underwhelming begin beneath incumbent bench boss Craig Ramsay, who was dismissed after a 12-12-4 begin.
Certain sufficient, Barber turned issues round, because the Flyers went 31-13-7-3 the remainder of the way in which, the fifth-best mark within the league. A primary-round exit to the Buffalo Sabres wasn’t an effective way to finish issues, however no less than it appeared just like the Flyers had stabilized. Barber obtained recognition for his high-quality work, changing into the fourth Flyers head coach to win the Jack Adams Award. Dangerous information for the remaining coaches on this listing: he’s nonetheless the latest one to take action.
The Flyers regressed barely in Barber’s first full season as head coach however nonetheless completed with a good 97 factors. Nevertheless, they endured one of many ugliest playoff collection losses in group historical past, managing simply two objectives in a loss to the Ottawa Senators that in some way went 5 video games due to a 1-0 extra time win in Recreation 1. Barber and the employees had been wiped away after the collection ended, with GM Bobby Clarke, his former teammate, saying, “We simply felt that there was no means of having the ability to heal the injuries that had developed between the coach and the gamers,” in what must be one of the crucial damning post-firing quotes ever. It got here throughout a time of instability, as Barber was the fifth coach the group fired in 5 years.
John Stevens
Barber’s alternative, Ken Hitchcock, took the Flyers on one other deep playoff run in 2004, however his reign didn’t final considerably longer than the lot earlier than him. A 1-7-1 starting to the 2006-07 season compelled sweeping change, as Hitchcock was fired and Clarke resigned. There was no saving this wretched season for alternative coach John Stevens, because the Flyers completed the 12 months lifeless final within the league with the worst season in group historical past.
You could be stunned that Stevens’ head-coaching tenure within the Metropolis of Brotherly Love didn’t finish then and there. Mockingly, Stevens took over 9 video games into 2006-07, the identical variety of video games he performed for the group from 1986-88. His enjoying profession lasted simply 53 video games, two shy of the overall video games the Flyers gained in his second season. An aggressive offseason that included including Daniel Brière and Scott Hartnell led the Flyers to a 42-win, 95-point common season, plus collection wins over the Capitals and Canadiens.
Nevertheless, Stevens found how lethal younger superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin had been, because the Flyers misplaced consecutive collection to the Penguins within the third spherical in 2008 and 2009. Regardless of including a Corridor of Famer in Chris Pronger following the second loss, the Flyers had been mediocre within the first half of the 2009-10 season, resulting in Stevens’ dismissal for Peter Laviolette. Stevens deserves credit score for serving to younger forwards like Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Claude Giroux with their improvement, to not point out integrating so many new faces seamlessly in 2007-08.
Talking of Carter and Richards, Stevens gained the Cup alongside each as an assistant coach with the Kings in 2012 and 2014. He added one other ring nearly a decade later as an assistant for the 2023 Vegas Golden Knights.
Craig Berube
In the end, the Flyers employed a Stanley Cup-winning head coach, one thing not one of the earlier 4 figures completed. Sadly, Craig Berube‘s championship didn’t come for the group he performed the second-most video games in his 17-year profession. Berube racked up 3,104 penalty minutes in 1,054 video games, placing him seventh on the all-time leaderboard. He took over in almost the identical scenario as Stevens, with Philadelphia fumbling out of the gate in 2013-14 after a stable playoff streak was snapped the earlier 12 months.
In contrast to Stevens, Berube was in a position to proper the ship in 12 months one. It helped that Giroux pulled out of a chilly begin, utilizing an Olympics snub as gasoline for a dominant second half that earned him Hart Trophy consideration. The Flyers recovered to make the playoffs however misplaced to the New York Rangers within the first spherical. Nevertheless, 12 months two didn’t go as nice. A part of that was a flawed roster, however Berube didn’t at all times assist issues (Chris VandeVelde on the primary line, anybody?) along with his choices. Regardless of the uncommon dominant goaltending effort from Steve Mason (.927 save proportion), the Flyers wound up promoting on the deadline and missed the playoffs by a wholesome margin.
That was Berube’s solely full season as head coach in Philadelphia, which labored out for him. He went to the St. Louis Blues as an assistant and as soon as once more led a group to the playoffs after taking up in an interim position following a brutal begin. This time, the playoff journey lasted longer and improved, because the Blues gained the franchise’s first Cup to finish an exciting underdog story. He took the Blues to the playoffs the following three seasons, however gained only one extra collection earlier than being axed throughout the 2023-24 season. He’s hoping to finish an excellent longer Cup drought in Toronto, along with his first 12 months operating the Maple Leafs ending in a second-round nightmare Recreation 7 blowout.
How Does Tocchet Examine?
NHL head teaching expertise is Tocchet’s greatest differentiator from his friends above. Solely Murray had earlier head teaching expertise, and Tocchet’s 638 video games almost double his 325. He’ll additionally begin with a clear slate in September, which is way completely different than making an attempt to drag out of an early gap like Barber, Stevens, and Berube did, with Barber and Berube doing so efficiently in 12 months one.
Surprisingly, communication has been a difficulty at occasions with these former Flyers, who you’d suppose would have the ability to relate to gamers the simplest. That was a significant downfall for Murray and Barber, in addition to making correct tactical changes. Tocchet has professionals and cons in each components of his resume. Brière particularly talked about his communication expertise as a significant purpose for hiring him, though he couldn’t heal the rift between J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson. He was an assistant coach for Workforce USA on the 4 Nations Face-Off, a job you don’t get with out tactical acumen. Nevertheless, he’s solely been to the playoffs in two of his 9 seasons, one in all which resulted in an unpleasant collection loss to the Colorado Avalanche within the bubble.
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Of these 5 Flyers gamers turned coaches, solely Barber failed to educate in a convention remaining. As of now, Tocchet has but to take action. What higher place for him to alter that?
“I might go on for hours, however I’m so excited to be on this space, and I’m so appreciative of the possession, the administration, Dan, and Jonesy for giving me this chance and trusting me with this group, so saying that, I’m glad to be again,” Tocchet mentioned.
