Enough is Enough: The Flyers’ GM Chuck Fletcher Has Done Everything In His Power To Help Vigneault Succeed, It’s Time To Move On

Photo Credit: ESPN.com

After the Flyers decided to move on from the failed experiment known as Dave Hakstol, Philadelphia’s then new General Manager (GM) Chuck Fletcher decided to bring in the well-known head coach Alain Vigneault (AV) to be his successor. To do this the Flyers had to pay top dollar to entice Vigneault (who holds a career .586% win percentage) to agree to come to South Broad Street. Once he agreed, Alain instantly became one of the wealthiest coaches in the NHL making five million dollars a season until the end of the 2023-2024 season. 

To further assist Vigneault in his efforts to implement his new system, Chuck also inked two very experienced coaches: Mike Yeo, who came with eight years of NHL head coaching experience (that was split between the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues), and Michel Therrien who came with twelve years of NHL head coaching experience (which he spent standing behind the Canadiens’ and the Penguins’ bench). These combined moves were an effort that made the Flyers coaching staff not only one of the most experienced in the league, but one of the most costly as well. Freshly inked, these coaches certainly had their work cut out for them. Going into the 2019-20 season the Flyers struggled to score, their defense was questionable at best, and their special team’s units were ranked among the league’s worst. That quickly changed. 

Before, the team seemed to be coddled by Hakstol. Vigneault seemed destined to come in and try to get the most out of his players by holding them accountable after making the now famous statement to “Be A Fucking Flyer” early in his first camp. Let’s not forget though, to expedite this “new” team philosophy General Manager Chuck Fletcher also went out and acquired the rights to the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent- center Kevin Hayes (who previously exceled while playing for Vigneault in New York) in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets. This was a move that is currently costing the team $50 million over the course of seven years (or if you prefer a $7.1 million cap hit for this season and still the next four after that). 

In this first season under Vigneault the Flyers had some success, winning 41 games and making it deeper into the playoffs than they had for some time. But this season did not come without some tribulations: Vigneault struggled to get some star players on the roster to adhere to his system. Where, to try and fix this problem, he even took it as far as to call out these players that showed resistance in press conferences after games. If this did not work Alain would resort to giving them less playing time or, if they still failed to conform, Vigneault would label them a healthy scratch resulting in those players taking in the game from the press box.

Last season, the team did not have the same luck with his club only managing to win 25 games over the course of the regular season. This left Vigneault to blame everything from COVID, to the team not having any practice time. At the time, these must have seemed like valid points to the Flyers’ brass because Alain was able to come back this season. But I ask you: didn’t the 16 other teams that made the playoffs last year have to overcome the same problems that the Flyers faced? Seems like nothing more than excuses to me. 

Moving forward to this past off-season: Chuck Fletcher chose to go out and invest further into Vigneault and his system when he managed to ship two young players who didn’t seem to fit into Alain’s so-called blueprint and brought back a first pairing, right-hand-shot defender they so desperately needed. Chuck was also able to trade defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to Arizona (a player that Vigneault often had sitting up in the rafters in a suit and tie when his team was playing) to free up both a roster spot and $4.5 million in cap space. Chuck also managed to swap locker room distraction Jakub Voracek for shooter Cam Atkinson in a deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Plus, Fletcher agreed to continue to build around AV’s most prized player, Kevin Hayes, by bringing in both his friend (defenseman Keith Yandle) and former teammate (forward Derick Brassard, who both played with Hayes, and for Vigneault in New York). Additionally, he laid claim to the Las Vegas Golden Knights’ waivered Patrick Brown (Hayes’ college teammate). This is not to mention the fact that Fletcher chose to bring in Vigneault’s longtime assistant Darryl Williams this season who worked under Alain in both Vancouver and New York previously to try and help to right the ship. 

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With these moves- and still more- there’s not a fan, member of the press, or television personality around that could honestly say that Chuck did not do everything in his power this off season to give Vigneault everything he needed to achieve success. Every player that was moved out was one that Alain at one point or another had in his doghouse, and most every player brought in either excelled in his system previously or had ties to Hayes. But, despite Fletcher’s amazing off season overhaul, the Flyers somehow continue to find themselves unable to score goals, with an ineffective power play unit, and a less than stellar defensive core. Yes, the team has seen more than their fair share of injuries this season but again, this seems like a copout! Injuries are a problem that every NHL team must deal with throughout a season. Last year, the Stanley Cup winning Tampa Bay Lightning were without star forward Nikita Kucherov for the entire regular season and saw their captain Steven Stamkos miss a plethora of games as well, but the team was still able to somehow find a way to hold it together long enough to secure a playoff spot without them in the lineup. This year, the Pittsburgh Penguins have been without their three time winning Stanley Cup champion Evgeni Malkin who has yet to dress for a single game this season due to a knee injury- and their captain Sidney Crosby, who missed a large part of the start of this season due to him undergoing a wrist surgery this summer. Even so, to date the Penguins have managed to remain fourth in the Metropolitan Division. 

Currently, the Flyers are in seventh place in the Metro. They have lost seven straight and only won just two of their last ten games played. In recent press conferences, Vigneault not only looks defeated but has seemed to have run out of excuses. Befuddled by his team’s inability to win games, Alain no longer seems like the confident man that first came to Broad Street. Instead, he now just sits there with no answers as to why his team can’t score goals or how his power play is once again ranks among the worst in the league. So, I ask you: with Vigneault seemingly not having a clear direction or plan in place to get this team back to their winning ways, is it now time to look elsewhere for help? And, if so, then whom should the team be calling? 

Well, the team could fire Vigneault and just leave Mike Yeo (who oversees the team’s defense and penalty killing unit) or Michel Therrien (who is charge of the team’s power play) to fill in for the rest of the year, but who would want to? These three areas are where the team is faltering the worst. Just this writer’s opinion, but if you decide to give one his pink slip then you should just go ahead and fire the lot of them.

There are a ton of available coaches currently available on the open market, but panic and a sense of urgency must not block management from doing their due diligence before deciding on whom might be offered the impending job opening behind the Flyers’ bench. For instance: Patrick Roy would seem like a good choice after he won 52 games and averaged a .634 win percentage (win%) in his first season coaching the Colorado Avalanche back in the ‘13- ‘14, but he also followed that up with two seasons where he only managed to win a mere .476% of his games as well. Which thereafter, he then decided to tuck his tail and head back to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League to coach his team, the Quebec Remparts. This coming after Colorado would not let him have any say in who the team drafted. In fact, he now seems like he has settled on wanting to construct teams more than coach them now, anyway: Over the course of the last week or two he has let it be known that he would love a shot a being the next Montreal Canadians general manager. So, count him out. 

Dan Bylsma (who won a cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2009) is a name that has been thrown around a bunch lately. But, he currently finds himself coaching the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League for a reason: He got fired from an assistant coaching job with the Detroit Red Wings last season where he managed the teams’ power play unit that was scoring at a rate worse than that of Michel Therrien’s Flyers right now. 

John Tortorella is out there but would be a horrible decision since he has ruined every club he has ever been a part of since managing to win a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning back in 2004. We all know he doesn’t mince words, but at his last stop in Columbus he played a huge part in why star players Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, and Sergei Bobrovsky decided to leave in free agency. Not to mention he’s why the Blue Jackets’ top player Pierre-Luc Dubois decided to ask for a trade. Mike Babcock is another big name to be had, but this 58-year-old Stanley cup-winning coach has been forced to accept a job coaching for the University of Saskatchewan after falling victim to today’s easily-offended cancel culture after it was discovered that he informed his then-team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, what star player Mitch Marner told him about his teammates after Babcock asked him to rate his colleagues work ethic. 

So, who does that leave the Flyers to pick from? Well, former Flyer Rick Tocchet’s name has been currently circulating around town lately, and why not? He’s been no stranger to the area as of late- playing in alumni games and recently being voted into the Flyers Hall of Fame. But does that make him a viable choice for being named the next head coach of the Flyers if Vigneault is indeed fired? Tocchet is known as a being a well-liked coach who excels at training the team’s youth. He has served as the bench boss for both the Tampa Bay Lightning and most recently the Arizona Coyotes but, through 438 NHL games coached, he holds a less than desired career .475 win %. This would lead most to believe that blue collar Rick (whose hard-nosed style of play embodied what it is to be a Flyer) would at this point be better suited to be named to the role of a Flyers’ assistant coach rather than their next head coach.

One guy the Flyers have already had behind their bench before but should rethink is Kris Knoblauch. This is one name this writer has had on his radar as being named one of the NHL’s next head coaches for some time now. At just 43 years of age, Knoblauch would be one of the youngest in the league if named as Vigneault’s successor, but this doesn’t mean he lacks experience. If you remember, Kris came to the Flyers after coaching the Erie Otters to not only their fourth consecutive year of 50 wins, but to an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Championship in 2017. Before that, he was with the Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League (WHL) where he won that league championship. To say that Knoblauch has helped to develop some great players who have gone on to NHL success would be a serious understatement. With names coached in Erie like Connor McDavid (Edm.), Alex DeBrincat (Chi.), Sam Reinhart (Fl.), Dylan Strome (Chi.), Andre Burakovsky (Col.), Anthony Cirelli (TB.), Erik Cernak (TB.), and Connor Brown (Ott.) etc. all having played under his tutelage before being drafted, there’s no doubt that Knoblauch would be welcomed back if he could do the same for the Flyers’ struggling youth. But there is a problem: he is currently under contract with the New York Rangers, where he is serving as their American Hockey League’s (AHL’s) affiliate the Harford Wolf Pack’s head coach. In 18 games played this year, Kris has seen the Pack win 12 games and only lost 4. If you’re following along, this is a 0.722 win %. Not impressed? Let’s not forget last season (on March 17^th, 2021) when Knoblauch got a chance to stand in as the Rangers’ head coach in a game against the Flyers (because of COVID, his first ever in the NHL); a night in which the Rangers beat the Flyers 9-0! 

But one of the biggest names out there right now is Bruce Boudreau. This now 66-year-old, who was stunned when he was let go by the Wild back in the ‘19- ‘20 season, holds an insane career winning percentage of .635% over 984 regular-season games coached in the NHL. He is well known for running a high tempo offense that both allows for his star players like the previously coached Alex Ovechkin to run rampant on opposing teams’ defenses, but also enables mediocre players to seem elite offensively. While this veteran coach certainly knows how to win games, the only knock on this 2008 Jack Adams Award Winner (given annually to the coach viewed as having contributed the most to his team’s accomplishments) is that he does not have the same kind of success when it comes time for the post season. While his teams have famously been among the cream of the crop at the end of the regular season, for some reason they tend to get bounced out early into the post season. 

While there’s no clear answer as to what Chuck Fletcher’s next course of action might be, one thing is for certain: he has gone out of his way to move mountains this past off season to provide Vigneault with what he needed to win, and that’s clearly not enough. With the amount of youth and draft-pick compensation given up this past off season to try and make this year a success, Fletcher simply cannot stand by the wayside any longer and continue to watch this team slide. Something must be done and, sadly, the first step is to relieve Vigneault and his cronies of their duties.