“Batman” is widely known to be a protector of Gotham City. Well, on April 15, 2019, Alain Vigneault became the “Batman” of the Flyers (Although, it wasn’t known till now). The franchise turned to an experienced mind to right the ship that was starting to sail after Dave Hakstol struggled to navigate the stormy seas.
But ever since his signing, there has been a big myth surrounding Vigneault “He leans towards veterans over youth.” Throughout the course of the season this was FALSE. False, False, yea False again. Jakub Voracek played in just 14:30 (TOI), against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday October 12, 2019. This was his lowest ice total in a game, since the 2015-16 season. Voracek was not playing well, so his ice time went to the youth, such as, Oskar Lindblom (Aged 23- 17:11 TOI), Scott Laughton (Aged 25- 16:19 TOI), and Sean Couturier (Aged 26- 18:37 TOI). Some will say Couturier would have gathered the ice time anyways, while that may be true, Vigneault has stated time and time again, “Talent has no age.” Well, Voracek found that out first hand that night.
Some people say Vigneault would block the youth from playing. As a matter of fact, he inherited two young teams in the Vancouver Canucks and the New York Rangers. Vigneault inherited the young Kevin Bieska (25), Alexander Edler (20), Roberto Luongo (27), Ryan Kesler (22), and the Sedin Twins (25), when he was hired by the Vancouver Canucks in 2006-07.
Moreover, the youth led the New York Rangers team in 2013, when Vigneault took over at the helm, with the likes of Jesper Fast (22), Ryan McDonagh (24), Chris Kreider (22), Derek Stepan (23), Carl Hagelin (25), Michael Del Zotto (23), Marc Staal (27), Anton Stralman (27), and Mats Zuccarello (26). I mean Rick Nash was only 29-years-old, as well.
Both teams were very young (Against what some believe), much like the 2019-20 Flyers team that Vigneault has inherited. If Vigneault did not believe in the youth infusion that surrounds this young Flyers team, then he wouldn’t have been hired as the 21st Head Coach in Flyers history. Moreover, Vigneault also played young prospects Carsen Twarynski (Aged 21- 11:57 TOI), and Connor Bunnaman (Aged 21- 11:06 TOI), more than vets in Michael Raffl (10:11 TOI) and Tyler Pitlick (9:56) on opening night. So much for not playing the youth!!!
Today is a great day for Vigneault and the proud Flyers fans. Vigneault is indeed a finalist for the Jack Adams Award (Coach of the Year), and this is his fifth nomination for this award. He won this award once with the Vancouver Canucks back in 2006-07.
Vigneault took over a bottom feeder team in the Flyers, and turned them into a Stanley Cup contender in just one season. The Flyers finished with a 41-21-7 record (89 points), which was good enough for second place in the Metropolitan Division. Unbelievable right!!! For his efforts, this nomination is the right one for Vigneault, “Right now our focus with our whole group, not just with Carter but our whole group, is this phase in Philly where we’re trying to get our team as far as conditioning and execution and timing, to the level or close to the level that we were before we left,” Vigneault said, “We’re going to keep that part not just with Carter, but we’ve got a lot of players who it’s going to be their first kick at the can here as far as playoff hockey. We’re going to discuss that once we get into the bubble in Toronto. We’re going to have discussions about enjoying this great opportunity. You don’t get this chance every year, a chance to play for the Cup. You want your players to have fun while they’re doing it, and that’s definitely going to be part of the Toronto phase.” He is always thinking ahead, congratulations Coach.
