Well, we saw this coming: Ken Hitchcock has been fired as coach of the Philadelphia Flyers.Bobby Clarke, who seemed ensconsced as GM-for-life, resigned his position, which is kind of surprising. Who would have thought that Bobby Clarke would ever do something so honourable?
Short bio on interim head coach John Stevens, who grew up in the Simcoe, Ont., area: He's a career coach, and a career Flyer, who's won four Calder Cups (one as coach of the Philadelphia Phantoms in' 04-05, three in his playing career) and was originally drafted by Philly back in 1984 — Clarke's first year of his first go-round as Philly GM.
He never stayed up in the NHL long, playing 53 career NHL games, 44 of which were with the old Hartford Whalers, and like a lot of guys who play for years in the minors, he picked up enough know-houw to go straight from playing to coaching, which he did as a Phantoms assistant in '98-99.
Stevens, 40, comes across as a pretty modern, no-nonsense coach, kind of a Paul Maurice type. He coached Philly's young stars, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, with the AHL Phantoms during the '05 Calder Cup run, so it's obvious Philly is thinking about their development.
It might be time for a major rebuilding effort in Philly, and this could be just the beginning. The Flyers have been patching up their lineup with free agents and veterans since the lockout ended, and now that they're dead last in the entire league with a 1-6-1-0 record, it's dawning on them that maybe it might be time to blow up and start over, just like Boston did last season with the Joe Thornton trade.
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While with the Flyers Stevens won the award for best in shape at training camp several years in a row as a result of owning a gym THE FITNESS FACTORY with his brother in Simcoe
That's not all that surprising... John always strikes one as a guy who works very hard and is always prepared. That's probably going to be very good if Philly does go with a youth movement.
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