The Flyers are still searching for their next head coach, and yeah, Mike Sullivan just joined that list. Wouldn’t that be something? Sullivan leaving Pittsburgh for its rival out in Southeastern Pennsylvania to build up a young hockey team? Hey, it’s got good vibes, but to be frank, I don’t like the idea. Good story, but a bad idea.
Sullivan is a veteran coach, which might check a box for some fans. But he’s also spent how many years coaching an older hockey team? Yeah, there’s no way I’d bring in Sullivan. Not when he’d be in for a culture shock, given the Flyers overall youth. No. It would be a terrible idea and an experiment that would end in about two seasons.
Instead, the Flyers need a coach who has a solid track record working with and developing young players. So, if I’m general manager Daniel Briere and I got my shortlist of coaching candidates, there’s one name that’s recently coached in the NHL and spent the last season as a radio analyst.
Flyers need a coach who can actually develop players
If you’re still stumped on who I’m talking about, I’ll give you a hint: he at least made the Buffalo Sabres look halfway decent two years ago. Yep, I’m talking about Don Granato, someone who’d been doing a fine job with the Blue and Gold before they cut ties with him following a lackluster 2023-24 season.
Still, you can blame general manager Kevyn Adams for failing to bring in quality talent from the outside that would’ve taken the Sabres further that season. Instead, Adams rolled with virtually the same team, likely sealing Granato’s fate before that pivotal 2023-24 season that ended up with the coach receiving his walking papers.
But you can’t take away from Granato’s impact on players like Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson. Dahlin looked like he’d be just another player in the NHL, despite the Sabres snagging him at No. 1 overall back in 2018 until he wasn’t.
Tage was an absolute bust (was traded to the Sabres from the team that drafted him, the St. Louis Blues). Then in 2021-22, something clicked, and he’s been a great player since.
You can put a few other names here, too, who struggled before Granato stepped in, like Dylan Cozens (now with the Ottawa Senators). Also, wingers like JJ Peterka had Granato during his first two NHL seasons, and he all but broke out in Year 3.
Don Granato could do something special with the Flyers
If there’s skepticism here, I get it. Granato never made the playoffs with the Sabres, and his team regressed in 2023-24. But the Flyers need a coach who can develop players and at least get them to a spot to where they’re playing playoff-caliber hockey. And in Buffalo, Granato at least led the Sabres to that.
Maybe he’s not the kind of coach built to lead a team to the playoffs. But after the way the Flyers looked this year, the postseason is likely out of the question until at least 2027-28, with two years of building in the short term. That means two years of player development. So, get a coach who knows a thing or two about it, and in the worst possible circumstances.