Changes on the Flyers’ bench: Stevens out, Laviolette in
December 4th, 2009 by Eric Schwartz
The Flyers have a winner on the bench.
Just hours after announcing the firing of head coach John Stevens, the Flyers held a press conference to announce the hiring of Peter Laviolette.
As soon as the report came out about Stevens’ firing, rumors swirled that Laviolette would be the man to replace him.
Being a hockey coach is a brutal job as change happens more frequently than any of the other three major sports. The Flyers hit a cold patch and Stevens was thrown on the grenade.
Below is Laviolette’s resume:
From 1998-2000 he coached the AHL’s Providence Bruins, leading them to a Calder Cup in 1999.
He coached the Islanders from 2001-2003, finishing with a record of 77-62-19-6.
Most recently he coached the Hurricanes from 2003-2009, leading them to a Stanley Cup in 2006.
The fact that Laviolette was at the press conference signals that this move has been in the works for at least a few days, and back-to-back shutouts only made the timing right for the move.
Reports are that Stevens had a closed door meeting after Thursday night’s defeat, likely to tell his team that he would no longer be their general.
The early response to General Manager Pal Homgren’s decision has been positive but true results will come on the ice.
So how do you like the move?
Posted in Flyers | 4 Comments »
December 4th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
It was the obvious move and the team should be better for it
December 4th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
After the Flyers got shutout last night a gorup of us knew Steves was done. Not surprisingly, he was.
December 5th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Good luck, Laviolette. We are rooting for you.
December 7th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
They need to do something. This is another underacheiving Flyers team. That needs a coach that is going to kick some butt. Oh I forgot that was Ken Hitchcock.