With Brad Shaw taking the helm of the Flyers, the Flyers are on their 24th coach. In 52 years, they have had 24 coaches. On average, that is just about one every other year. When you break it down, that's a lot of coaches for such a historic team. A team that has made the playoffs 39 times (of course that becomes more respectable when it was 39 times in 47 seasons....just saying).
Six of these coaches lasted just one season, with three labeled with the "interim" tag, just like Shaw. Five coaches are in the hockey hall of fame: Keith Allen, Fred Shero, Pat Quinn, Roger Nielson, and Ken Hitchcock. Most likely John Tortorella and Peter Laviolette will make it in as well. You could probably make a strong case for Mike Keenan as well.
Half of these coaching hires have been since 2000. Six of the coaches came during the tenure of Bobby Clarke as general manager, but five of those were in a five year stretch before he hired Hitchcock. Either he got upset with whoever was coach or there was "alleged tension" between the coach and Eric Lindros. Six others came soon after the change in management when a new GM was brought in and wanted to put his own stamp on the franchise.
Still, 24 coaches. That's a lot of instability for such a historic team. Shero holds the franchise record with 554 games coached, 308 wins, and seven years behind the bench. In fact, Shero is the only coach who's completed five or more seasons in team history. Eight others have coached all or parts of four seasons with Keenan leading the way with 190 wins.
It's surprising that, even loaded with some of the most talented coaches in the history of the NHL, the Flyers haven't won a Stanley Cup since Shero. They haven't been to a Cup Final since Laviolette did it in 2010. If you don't count the bubble playoffs, they haven't even advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2011.
Sometimes, the coaches weren't given a whole lot to deal with. Tortorella didn't have a lot to work with, so the results he got shouldn't be too surprising. This is common. Some of the coaches we've had either were dealing with a lot of constantly injured players, players who were too old and didn't have what it takes anymore, or players who were still young and learning how to play at the NHL level. Some of the coaches were accused of being too "tough" or "system oriented (Lavy, Torts, Alain Vigneault). Others were criticized for being too much of a "players coach" (Craig Berube). Can't win either way.
Still, I'd would like some stability. I'd love to have a Scotty Bowman who spent nine years in Detroit, a Glen Sather who spent nine years in Edmonton, an Al Arbor who spent 20 years on Long Island, or a John Cooper who's spent 12 years in Tampa.
Whomever is chosen to lead the team, we all wish them the best. Hopefully they can turn this club around. It'd be nice to see the carousel stop.