Twenty One
It’s been an exciting week for The Flyers front office with the hiring of newly appointed head coach Alain Vigneault, the twenty first head coach in Philadelphia Flyers history. His previous tenure with The Montreal Canadians, Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers proved to be fairly successful runs for the previous two clubs making runs to the Stanley Cup Finals. One in 2011 with The Vancouver Canucks just falling short to The Bruins in a historic game 7 loss, and most recently in 2014 falling to The Los Angeles Kings.
If you find yourself scratching your head at current GM Chuck Fletcher’s decision to bring in Vigneault despite his absence in the league this season after being fired by The New York Rangers in April of 2018, there are quite a few positives to not only take away from this hiring, but to rev you (and more importantly, the players) up for the upcoming 2018-2019 season.
Special Teams– It’s to be expected that Vigneault will bring in his own coaching staff which will include a new (yet to be named) power play and penalty kill coach. Despite the amazing relationships Ian Laperrière has had with the current roster of young talent and seasoned veterans over the years it is obvious that the power play units have struggled to score, let alone even gain offensive zone entry and hold puck possession. Vigneault is known to be very offensively minded, and will no doubt push not only the five on five to push a better system, but with new coaching staff at his side to help reign in a more cohesive and hungry power play unit, as well as the penalty kill.
Past, Present and Future– As mentioned earlier, Vigneault has visited the Stanley Cup Finals twice with two teams. Even though a visit to the biggest stage in hockey can’t exactly be considered “The Promised Land” without hoisting Lord Stanley’s cup, it certainly cements his knowledge and leadership to help lead The Flyers back to the finals someday with what has been considered one of the most talented core group of players in the league with the NHL’s most promising prospect pool to evaluate in September at training camp.
In Vigneault’s press conference this week with GM Chuck Fletcher by his side, a bucket list statement was made very clear. Winning a Stanley Cup. This was repeated a few times within a thirty minute press conference welcoming Vigneault to the organization. Vigneault was confident, yet casual and gleaming with excitement. He also expressed an overwhelming amount of pride to come into this role with this group of players confident he can implement new systems that will cater to this roster’s talent level. Maybe even win a round or two in the post season.
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Categorized:Flyers