A lot of times people can become infatuated with a coach because they have coached great players. They think that that means that all players they touch become gold. In some case, it can be true. Phil Jackson worked with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant and helped to turn them into legends. But sometimes it doesn’t work that way. You can have a loaded roster and still not win. This may be the case with Dave Tippett.
Tippett had a solid, but not stellar career in the NHL as a winger. He played for 11 years, seven of which came in Hartford. His final year, he suited up for the Flyers. Overall, he scored 93 goals and had 252 points.
He got his first head coaching stint in 2002 with the Dallas Stars after spending several years as an assistant coach with the Houston Aeros AHL team and the Los Angeles Kings. He spent six years coaching the Stars. In his first five seasons, the team made the playoffs with two division titles and a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2008. He would be let go the following season as the Stars barely missed the playoffs.
Tippett would then helm the Coyotes, a team that does not always have the best support from upper management and has made several attempts to flee the desert to relocate to Canadian cities. In his first three seasons, the Coyotes made the playoffs. However, as the team began to falter due to faulty management, so did Tippett’s record. The team would stick with him through the troubling times for the next five seasons before he was promoted to team VP. He would keep this position for one season.
In 2019, Tippett became the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, a once dominant team that has been trying to find to their way back. Led by stars Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, expectations were very high for this team. And as Flyers fans can sadly relate, the Oilers were stunned in the playoffs by a team they should’ve trounced. As a result, Tippett found himself unemployed again as midway into the 2021-22 season, the Oilers were sputtering into third place.
Why He Should Be The Flyers Next Coach
He obviously has the respect of team management. After all, he spent years in Arizona on a team that was clearly not committed to winning. He has a pedigree that shows he can create contending teams. He is a candidate that appears to have it all going for him. And yet…..
Why He Shouldn’t Be The Flyers Next Coach
The Oilers were a super loaded team that many felt would take the West easily. In back to back seasons, they were humiliated, not just beaten, in the playoffs. He had a great stable of players in Dallas as well and could never seem to make it happen.
Final Verdict
There are many reasons why he should be the next coach. However, it must be said if you can’t even escape the first round with one of the best lines in the game and with two players that are in the top 5 in the NHL, something is wrong.
Maybe the Oilers are too top heavy and their bottom two lines are weak. It’s hard to say. But something always happens to Tippett’s teams in the playoffs that become a downright disaster. This is a candidate the Flyers should walk away from, despite his track record.