The Philadelphia Flyers head coaching search has begun. There's a few things that we already know about it.
The Flyers are willing to take the interim tag off Brad Shaw and make him the new head coach. They have interviewed Western Michigan head coach Pat Ferschweiler. Rick Tocchet may be at the top of their list after he declined the Canucks offer. And a new dark-horse candidate has emerged.
"I think another coach who could be on Philly’s radar, somebody mentioned him to me the other day,” Elliotte Friedman said on a recent 32 Thoughts. “He’s got a history with Daniel Brière. They were teammates in the NHL. And that is Jay McKee, the former Buffalo Sabre, who has spent the last seven years coaching in the Ontario Hockey League.”
McKee is an interesting name to throw out. Friedman isn't going to bring him up for the sake of bringing him up. It means that the Flyers may have some actual interest in McKee's services. Without diving too much into his coaching resume, he would certainly be an unexpected result. But that may not be a bad thing.
Sure, Tocchet would be the flashy name. But what has he done recently that would lead Briere to believe he could take the Flyers in the right direction? The 2023-24 season appears to be an anomaly. He made the playoffs once with the Canucks and they lost in the second round. He has only made the playoffs twice in his nine-year coaching career. The first came during the COVID-shortened season, when his Coyotes were fifth in the division.
Otherwise, his teams have finished no higher than fifth in the majority of his other seasons. While that would still be a step up from where the Flyers have finished, it doesn't feel like Tocchet would be a major upgrade.
Flyers should not hesitate to look at coaches outside of the NHL
That brings us back to someone like McKee, or even Ferschweiler. The Flyers tried to go outside of the NHL once before with Dave Hakstol. It didn't work out for them. While he wasn't the worst coach, it was clear he had plenty to learn, and he did that once he eventually became the coach of the Seattle Kraken. Having never coached in the NHL before, Hakstol relied on veterans more than he did youth.
And it's not as if his teams were stacked with talent, either. He also made the playoffs twice in his three seasons as head coach. It didn't work out the way Philadelphia hoped, but that shouldn't scare them away from hiring a coach who isn't in the NHL. Ferschweiler, while he has been an assistant in the NHL, has never been the head coach. His Broncos have made the playoffs in all four seasons of his tenure.
They capped it off with the first NCAA Championship in program history this year. He has a staggering record of 104-50-26. He's not coaching NHL players, but he is helping mold college athletes to prepare them for the professional level. The regular season and postseason success speak for themselves.
Most impressive is the turnaround the Bulldogs made after finishing sixth in the NCHC in 2023-24. While they had 21 wins during the season, it was their under .500 conference record that pushed them down the standings. To turn that around in one season and finish atop the group is worth looking at.
McKee is doing similar things with the Brantford Bulldogs. In his first season, when the team was in Hamilton, he helped them to an OHL championship. After the team moved to Brantford, it took them a few years to become a contending team again. They have slowly climbed up the standings each year, culminating with a first place finish in the Eastern Conference this year.
They made a 20+ point jump in the last three seasons. The Bulldogs had two players finish with over 100 points, the first time since the 2021-22 season. While they haven't seen the true playoff success since then, the improvement is undeniable. McKee has shown a moderate amount of success and an ability to help younger players grow.
Sounds exactly what Danny Briere wants with where the Flyers are at.