Ever since the Philadelphia Flyers hired Rick Tocchet as the 25th head coach in franchise history, attention has shifted towards who will make up his staff. Who was going to be the one to help Tocchet get the Flyers back to relevance? We finally got their answer on Thursday, as the team announced Jaroslav Svejkovsky and Jay Varady would serve as assistant coaches. But who are these two, and what do they bring to the organization?
What do Jaroslav Svejkovsky and Jay Varady bring to the Flyers
Svejkovsky made his NHL debut back in 1996, when the Washington Capitals selected him 17th overall. Although he was drafted high, he struggled to adjust to the NHL game, constantly bouncing between the NHL and AHL. In 113 career games, he recorded 23 goals and 19 assists for 42 points for both the Capitals and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
After retiring in 2000, he joined the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League (WHL) as an assistant coach from 2006 to 2014, then served as the skills coach until 2018. During his tenure, the Giants appeared in the playoffs seven times, although they were unable to win a title or the Memorial Cup. In 2022, the Vancouver Canucks hired him as their skills coach. He was promoted to assistant coach for the 2024-25 season under Tocchet.
Svejkovsky is being brought in to handle the Flyers' offense and power-play. This should come as good news for Flyers fans. Last season, when he ran the Canucks' power play, they had a 22.5% success rate, which ranked 15th best in the NHL. While the Cancuks' power-play was average, considering the Flyers had a power-play percentage of 14.5%, which ranked 30th in the league, they will gladly take an average power-play unit.
Unlike Svejkovsky, Varady never appeared in an NHL game. His hockey career was cut short after he suffered a career-ending injury at Union College. Due to Varady being captain of the team when he was hurt, he became a member of the coaching staff and served that role until he graduated. Upon graduating, he bounced around different junior teams as a coach. He even coached Team USA at the 2016 World Junior A Challenge.
Because of his success at the junior level, the Arizona Coyotes hired him in 2018 as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. He spent four seasons at the helm of the Roadrunners, leading them to a 93-86-11-1 record, and was named Pacific Division champs during the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season. After his time in Tucson, he joined the Detroit Red Wings staff as an assistant in 2022.
While in Detroit, Varady was notorious for using analytics to develop a good penalty kill and defense. This had varying degrees of success. While Detroit had the worst penalty kill this past season, they had the 14th-best in 2023-24. The hope is that with better talent and guys who fit the system better, the Flyers can repeat the success the Red Wings had two seasons ago.
While more hirings are expected in the coming days and weeks, the Flyers are building a good coaching staff. One that can tap into the potential of this young team and help them get out of the basement of the Metro.