No team burns through coaches quite like the Philadelphia Flyers.
Rick Tocchet’s hiring marks the organization’s 25th head coaching change in 58 years. That is a new coach every 2.23 years. It is a miracle the team has ever been able to develop any talent or momentum with so many resets.
The Flyers’ organization is known for its loyalty to alumni, but those numbers may tell a different story – depending on whether the team hands out head coaching titles to them.
So, do they? It helps to see the data visualized.
Affiliated | Count | Who |
|---|---|---|
NHL or AHL player | 6 | Paul Holmgren, Terry Murray, Bill Barber, John Stevens, Craig Berube, Rick Tocchet |
AHL or NHL coach | 4 | Bob McCammon, Pat Quinn, Ken Hitchcock, Scott Gordon |
Assistant to Interim | 3 | Craig Ramsay, Mike Yeo, Brad Shaw |
None | 9 | Mike Keenan, BIll Dineen, Terry Simpson, Wayne Cashman, Roger Neilson, Peter Laviolette, Dave Hakstol, Alain Vigneault, John Tortorella |
Not Applicable | 3 | Keith Allen, Vic Stasiuk, Fred Shero |
Six of the Flyers’ head coaches have played for the team or one of their AHL affiliates. Counting Bob McCammon once, despite his two non-consecutive terms, seven have been in some coaching role within the organization. Three barely made it past the interim tag, if at all. Nine did not have an association with the team. Three are not applicable as the team did not exist before them.
Players
Paul Holmgren played nine seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers between 1975 and 1984. He retired from the NHL and took a front office role with the team, later being named head coach in 1988. He was the first former Flyer to be given the title.
Next up was Terry Murray. He played parts of four seasons with the Flyers and spent time with the Philadelphia Firebirds and Maine Mariners, the club’s AHL affiliates. He went on to hold various coaching roles spanning 34 years. He was the head coach of the Flyers between 1994-97.
Bill Barber, a Hall of Fame player and member of the infamous LCB line (Leach, Clarke, Barber), was the third to get a shot, between 2000-02.
John Stevens held down the fort between 2006-10, after spending the previous six seasons with the Philadelphia Phantoms. He had a cup of coffee with the Flyers but was integral to the Phantoms' two Calder Cup victories. The first as a player, and the next as a coach.
Craig Berube stepped behind the bench in 2014, where he spent two seasons. Before that, he played parts of seven different seasons with the Flyers, spending time on their AHL affiliates, the Hershey Bears and Philadelphia Phantoms. His final season was as a player-assistant coach for the Phantoms. His next head coaching position was with the St. Louis Blues, where he won a Stanley Cup in his first season.
Rick Tocchet, welcome to the club. The Rocket played parts of 11 seasons in Philly and was a postgame analyst for CSN. He split his time as a head coach between Tampa Bay, Arizona, and Vancouver, with his record steadily improving with each team. Although his teams have only made the playoffs twice, he won the Jack Adams Award for best coach after the 2023-24 season.
AHL or NHL Coach
Bob McCammon has the distinct honor of being the Flyers’ Grover Cleveland, having served two non-consecutive terms. He spent two seasons with the organization’s AHL team, the Maine Mariners, before joining the Flyers. After leaving the Flyers, he spent two more seasons with the Mariners before rejoining the big club. The Mariners won two Calder Cups under his rule.
Pat Quinn joined the Flyers as an assistant coach for the 1977-78 season. He started the following season as the bench boss for the Mariners and returned to take Philly’s head coach position halfway through the 1978-79 season.
Ken Hitchcock joined the Flyers in 1990 as an assistant coach before leaving for the Dallas Stars organization, where he won a Cup with the Stars in 1998-99. He rejoined the orange and black for the 2002-03 season as the head coach.
Scott Gordon took over as the interim head coach when Dave Hakstol was let go in 2018. He made it through 51 games, but had a longer tenure in Lehigh Valley before his stint in Philly. He coached the Phantoms from 2015-18 with two playoff appearances. He returned to Lehigh Valley after Philly, but the pandemic got in the way. The 2019-20 season was eventually canceled, and the Calder Cup was not awarded the following season.
Assistant-to-Interim and Not Applicable
Craig Ramsay, Mike Yeo, and Brad Shaw coached a combined 97 games after they replaced their bosses as the new head coaches. Womp Womp.
Keith Allen, Vic Stasiuk, and Fred Shero were the first three coaches of the Philadelphia Flyers. The organization had no history before. So, they are not applicable.
By the time Shero took over for the 1971-72 season, only five Flyers had retired (Forbes Kennedy, Larry Zeidel, Allan Stanley, Myron Stankiewicz, Pat Hannigan).
So, do they love former Flyers?
Yes and no. Of the 25 different coaches, 13 had an affiliation with the team, but only six hit the ice as Flyers. That’s roughly between a quarter and a half of the list. The coaches with zero affiliation to the team sit right in the middle. Either way, they sure do show them the door quickly.