4 Names to Replace Alain Vigneault for the Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers have fired head coach Alain Vigneault and assistant coach Michel Therrien on Monday.
The 60-year-old was in his third season in Philadelphia, after getting a 5-year deal in 2019 and was fired with an 8-10-4 record this season.
Mike Yeo will be the interim coach for the time being, but the search is on for a replacement.
So who are some of the options to replace Vigneault? Seems like a list of the usual suspects when it comes to the NHL.
Rick Tocchet
The former Flyer, Tocchet was recently put into the Flyers Hall of Fame in November. but his coaching record is less than stellar, 178-200-60 in six years with one playoff appearance with Tampa Bay and Arizona.
John Tortorella
A Stanley Cup in Tampa, two-time NHL Coach of the Year, and the winningest American-born coach in NHL history with 673 wins, 12 playoff appearances, and one Stanley Cup.
Mike Babcock
The veteran coach has exactly 700 wins, but is currently leading the University of Saskatchewan men's ice hockey program. Would he be willing to make a return to the NHL after he was fired in Toronto amidst allegations of a toxic work environment.
Claude Julien
With 667 wins, Julien is on the sidelines after being fired by Montreal last season. He led the Boston Bruins to a Stanley Cup championship back in 2011.
What the Flyers should do
Above are four names that many people will bring up, but what the Flyers need to do is find a new young voice and start to dismantle this core group of players. Doing that in hockey is tough to do, hiring from the college ranks is rare, and dipping into the minor league level typically doesn't happen either.
Many teams go with an assistant, a former player or a long time veteran, like the names mentioned above.
The team has gone through Dave Hakstol, Craig Berube, Peter Laviolette, John Stevens, with many of the same core group of players led by captain Claude Giroux.
This team's failure isn't on the coach, it's been on the players and no GM has come in here to fix that.
Giroux has a no-trade clause in his contract, which makes things difficult, but it's past the time for him to consider waiving that, so Chuck Fletcher needs to find a willing partner.
Easier said than done.