UPDATE -11:00 A.M.: The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that head coach Peter Laviolette has been relieved of his duties. He will be replaced by assistant coach Craig Berube. No discussion has been made whether this is an interim label or if he will be the head coach for the remainder of the season.
The Philadelphia Flyers had not even played one preseason game in September before the mainstream Philadelphia media felt it was necessary to ask owner Ed Snider if general manager Paul Holmgren and head coach Peter Laviolette were on the “hot seat.”
Never mind that the timing of the question was idiotic. It was a foregone conclusion following the disappointing conclusion of the 2013 NHL season that Laviolette would not be given much room for error if the team were to get off to a bad start in the 2013-14 NHL season.
Well, here we are.
It’s only been three games, but the team has failed to earn a single point yet and has shown little improvement from game to game. If anything, the team’s play in the home opener last Wednesday looked much sharper than this weekend’s outings.
On Wednesday, the offense could be given some benefit of the doubt that Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier had stood on his head and stole an early win in spite of facing 32 shots.
Facing off against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, the offense failed to sustain any worthwhile pressure at any point throughout the game. Eighteen shots went on net in total, and even that seems like a generous number. Anton Khudobin, the Hurricanes’ back-up goaltender with all of 21 NHL games under his belt before Sunday, did not have to do much to look like Bernier.
The lone goal for the Flyers on Sunday was their first at even strength and came from defenseman Luke Schenn. Schenn, who has been a solid contributor on the blue line since his acquisition in the summer of 2012, looked more like former Flyers defenseman Matt Carle when he tried to make a lazy, dangerous pass from behind the net that deflected to the Hurricanes and gave them back the lead.
Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Jake Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Matt Read and Sean Couturier have a combined goal tally of zero.
The players have all shown support and respect for Peter Laviolette when pressed into questions about the coach. It’s unlikely whenever Laviolette leaves the team (whether on his own or through a firing) that negative reports will surface from the locker room similar to how those that have come from players under coaches like John Tortorella or Randy Carlyle.
If this winless streak continues for even three more games, though, then one of two conclusions has to be made. Either the system that Laviolette is employing doesn’t work, or that the players aren’t matched to the system or understand it well enough to properly implement it.
There is simply too much talent on this roster to not expect the players to be able to win hockey games.
If there is to be a change at the general manager position down the road, it isn’t because Holmgren is “bad” at his job. If you weigh every player signing, trade, and drafting from his tenure, you’d likely find that there have been many more “positive” individual moves than negative ones (Ilya Bryzgalov’s contract notwithstanding).
The issue is that the teams he has assembled have rarely found that right balance between the roster and the coach. The Flyers are always great “on paper” but have found varying degrees of success when it comes to actual on-ice performance.
If this winless streak continues, the first step is to try and find a coach that is better suited for the roster as it is assembled to try and right the ship.
If the team misses the playoffs for a second straight season (and this is a bit melodramatic to even be talking about three games into the regular season with 78 remaining), then it might be worthwhile to reevaluate how the organization has approached roster building.
The Flyers return home this week for two games at the Wells Fargo Center before hitting Detroit on Saturday. The Florida Panthers, their opponents on Tuesday, lost in an even more dramatic fashion than the Flyers in their last game, falling 7-0 to the St. Louis Blues.
In other words, it’s a game they should win. Another loss and Laviolette may not last through the weekend.
This is as weak of a Roster from Top to Bottom
That I can recall over the last few Seasons
I predicted a 32-41-9 Won/Loss Record and they
May not even teach this with the way they are Playing.. Where is the Passion for Playing, the mental toughness to rally around each other and pick each other up.. I just don’t sense much heart on this Team the first week of the Season.. Wait until injuries begin to occur as they always do in the physical Sport of Hockey.. Who are the Leaders??
Giroux, Hartnell & Talbot?? Where is the Scoring going to come from ?
2013-2014 is not looking good for the Orange & Black..
LA Kings willingness to trade D Jack Johnson and G Jonathan Bernier post Mike Richards deal while Holmgren wound up with muckers B. Schenn and Wayne Simmonds should have be his down fall. Although Vincent Lecavalier and Mark Streit both look great so far this year.
Giroux doesn’t look good at all on the power play and as a result Hartnell only has 3 total game shots on goal in 3 games. Either Giroux, Hartnell, or Vorecek must yield to Lecavalier on the first power play unit. I still don’t understand how Lecavalier is not on the first power play unit from the get go or Mark Streit for that matter.
JJ why was Lecavalier booed mercilessly in Montreal?
Because those French Canadian turds get mad, & expect every FA French Canadian to sign with them, because they feel entitled! They did the same thing to Briere for years, when he signed here.
What DCar said.
They have old, overpaid, under-performing sloths on DF, 4 liners playing on the bottom 2 lines, & not enough offense on the 1st 2 lines. They re-signed Couturier, who was overrated from the start. That was a mistake. Fartsmell should have been traded 3 years ago. He’s had 2 good years, out of 7, since being here. Giroux should have never been given the “C”, at his age. The “C”, should be given to the veteran, with the most experience & leadership. This F^#@ing orgin”I”zation, didn’t learn from giving it to Richards the last time! Holmgren & Laviolette need to go! This team is entirely too slow, has no talent on the back-end, can’t/ won’t fore-check, & do not have enough scoring depth, nor talent! When is the last time, we had a good 2 way defense-men? Who out of this defensive corps, would any of you keep & are worth keeping for the long run? Schenn? Gustaffson? Timonen is done! Slowburn is a complete stiff! Grossman is a pylon! Meszaros is a walking paper mache figure! Streit is 1 dimensional, should have never been given the contract he received! Another Philly loser team! Yeah!!! Love being a Philly fan!
The last few seasons have really shown how great a player Chris Pronger was. This team has been mediocre to bad from the moment he got hurt.
I’m guessing we’ll have a new coach in the next few weeks, but it won’t matter.
So much for a few weeks…
Damn, that didn’t take long! Homer’s covering his @$$, cause he knows the axe is falling on him soon! What a wasted off-season! This has been a horrific 3-4 years, for all of our clubs. It’s nauseating!
Snyder was itching to fire him. They should have done it at the end of last season. Hopefully he will see that Homer needs to go too.
glad they canned lavy, should have been done half way last year to give beruabe a chance then to see if he was worthy of the position. if he isn’t ready this team will tank terribly. if he is a good coach this team will be a play-off team. i suspect the team will rebound as they had tuned lavy out last year. season starts today. how about them first place eagles
I’ve said a long time ago that Lavy’s system is no good. It works when he gets to a very new team and the league coaches don’t have enough time to figure out how to defend against the new players ultimately run it. He ran the system early last year when there was almost no roster turnover and it was horrible. Once half the blue line was injured, he had to stop running it – and the team turned around to make a run for the playoffs.
So now we again have almost no turnover and the scheme is back working its magic – generating no goals for the Flyers and huge 3rd period tallies (rarely uses the 4th line, so everyone’s burned out – or the other team makes some tweaks) for their opponents. This has become every bit as bad as the Andy Reid broken record and needed to end.
Even with this change, after looking at the Phantoms and Flyers rosters, I’d definitely put down some cash to watch a Phantoms game over the Flyers. It’s nice that Gervais is not on the NHL squad anymore, but there is pretty much no reason to watch the Flyers. And that’s as much the fault of Holmgren and Snyder as it is anyone else’s. This team is ready for the 1980 season… not 2014… Snyder has to go away.
Lavy had to go, his mojo wore out a while ago. He should have been let go at the end of last season, but the Flyers felt obliged to give him another (quick) look due to the shortened season last year.
I loved the question the reporter asked about possibly hiring an outside guy to change the culture. Old-man Snider got defensive and agitated and proceeded to talk about how great they’ve been for the last 40 years…
…and that’s their problem in a nutshell, they have an owner that prides himself on being a tough-guy, therefore they emphasize a tough-guy culture and hire only muscle-heads and muckers and grinders. This mentality worked once-upon-a-time, but now that there’s a salary cap, the Flyers will struggle until they can change their paradigm.
This Flyer Franchise has become such a “Joke and Laughing Stock” of the NHL just like Al Davis had become to the NFL.. Owner Ed Snyder has been in full Panic Mode for about 3 Years now and has been all over the board with the Teams irrational Signings,Player Moves & Salary Cap Management
Another important thing to think about that many have overlooked,
The Flyers were always one of the Top Franchises that Players wanted to play for with great facilities, great and loyal fans and even loyal Management and good Pay for good Production, but look at the last few Years ..
Coaches coming and going, big Free-Agent Signings who the Team discarded quickly, signing Veterans for below market, then only to get rid of agfter one Season.. Having young up and comer players who the Franchsed touted as the Future (Richards/Carter) only to pull the plug and then disparaged their Character while doings.. just like the Oakland Raiders could not atttact good Players and Coaches during Al Davis’s final years as dimentia kicked in, the same is happening right now to the Flyers.. The only only Coaches/Players they will attract are former Players or Guys on their way out whose best days are behind them….
This firing after 3 Days just proves the ineptness and lack of big overall Plan by Snyder & Holmgrem.. If they felt that Laviolette was not the man to Coach this Team, then should have made a move after last off-Season, doing so after 1 Week into the Season is a sign of Panic, Dysfunction and complete Chaos… and you know what, I do not feel sorry for the Flyers one bit..
Agreed. Snider should have stepped aside years ago when Pat Croce asked to run both teams. Instead, Pat Croce got shot-down, leaves the Sixers, and BOTH teams have slipped into non-relevance. It’s embarrassing to fire your head coach 3 games into the season (the Flyers now hold the record for quickest coach termination). What is Ed’s fascination with former players that couldn’t control their temper (Berube, Hextall, Holmgren, Dave Brown)? What other teams take their fringe goon players and make them executives?
I’m guessing Ed got bullied as a kid.
As far as I know, there was a coach fired in 1969 after 2 games. The Chicago Blackhawks also fired their head coach in 2008 after four games. It is certainly lonely company though…
Ed Snyder is,as I have stated, a “Mafia-Wanne-Be” and surrounds himself and runs his inner Office like he’s on the Set of Soprano’s.. The man literally makes me sick…
Can’t disagree.
we don’t need a fresh perspective
Flyers were beat up by the pugilistic maple leafs
and run off the ice by the speed of Carolina and Montreal.
Can they repair a weak slow team with a coaching change?
Flyers cannot play a whole 60 minute game.
They have no plan or team personality that I can see.