Here Are Some Nuggets From Flyers’ GM Chuck Fletcher’s Presser On The Firings Of Alain Vigneault And Michel Therrien “We Need To Establish An Identity”

Photo Credit: Zack Hill

When Chuck Fletcher took over as the General Manager of the Flyers, he envisioned a swift moving rebuild. Fletcher is committed to keeping prospects, but is in win-now mode. He originally inherited a young Flyers team, to which he has flipped them into one of the most oldest teams in a matter of one offseason.

One would think this veteran presence heavy team would be consistent, but they are anything but consistent. For that main reason yesterday Fletcher fired former Head Coach Alain Vigneault and he relieved Michel Therrien of his duties as Assistant Coach of the Power Play Unit. In Vigneault’s place, Mike Yeo will serve as the interim Head Coach temporarily. Here are some nuggets from Chuck Fletcher’s presser yesterday.

1. Fletcher says the Flyers need to “Establish an identity.”
2. Fletcher says he believes Mike has the ability to win
3. Fletcher said he had a gut feeling to fire AV
4. Fletcher will look for a new assistant, but will be patient with the coaching search. He said he has not begun the search.
5. Fletcher is in no rush to search for a head coach. Says he has a good talk with Mike.
6. Fletcher says the Flyers have good players, and “Everyone is trying.”
7. Fletcher: “We have to build an identity, and play the game the right way.”
8. “We made a lot of changes in personnel last summer. I do believe this group can be a better team. Right now, it’s everything. I just think our details are lacking right now. Obviously, our confidence is lacking. Guys are struggling. They care. They try. Right now, I just feel like Mike can help us get back to the identity we need to have to win game.” – Chuck Fletcher
9. “AV is a good coach. Mike Therrien is a good coach and a good friend. This is not what you’re looking for, but there is never good timing to do this. We’re all complicit. As I said last week, I’m the one who is ultimately responsible. At this point, we need to affect change. We need to play differently. Now is the time.” – Chuck Fletcher
10. Fletcher says, “The details in our game, whether it’s our forecheck, defensive zone coverage, transition game. I just would like to see some changes in how we play the game. Obviously, coaches were trying. Everybody’s been trying, but I just think at this point we need a new voice and a new approach.”
11. Fletcher: “It’s combination of probably everything. I can’t go back beyond a couple years. Right now, we’ve lost our way. There’s no question. It’s not just all on AV or Michel. It’s on all of us, but I needed to make changes. This is the decision I made today.”
12. Fletcher: “It’s a fair point and good question. Clearly, we are chasing a lot of games right now. Whether we’re falling behind in games or we don’t have the puck enough for sure. We’re defending too much. Last year, we’ve been through it. I’m saying this in all sincerity, last year was such a crazy year. I don’t know, just the environment around the game. We obviously didn’t handle it very well. I’ve said that repeatedly. We got knocked down by COVID pretty hard. We had some players really struggle on and off the ice. I didn’t know if that was a one off. We came into this year; we made a lot of changes. I just thought we’d be able to regroup and be quite a bit better than we were last year The first 10 games as I mentioned to you last week, to me, we didn’t have the puck as much as we’d like. We were defending too much. I saw a lot of positive signs. I thought we were doing things better, whether it was goaltending, PK, defensive zone structure.”