Didn’t see a thread for the latest NHL season (did I miss it) so…
The season is young, but it didn’t take long for the first firing of a head coach.
Philadelphia Flyers fire head coach Peter Laviolette
So why now? Why not at the end of last season?
Twenty-four days after Philadelphia Flyers owner Ed Snider said head coach Peter Laviolette was not on the hot seat, and three games into the NHL’s regular season, he was fired.
Why now? The Flyers’ 0-3 start, probably, although why the owner would deny that his job is in jeopardy last month I dunno. It appears to me that someone in the front office has decided that the players need a kick in the pants so they’ll play better. If you don’t want to actually shake up the roster, firing the coach is a good way to do that.
The Flyers had an awful preseason as well. The 0-3 start combined with how bad they looked even before the season started is probably what did it. Laviolette is a good coach and I expect he’ll find another job well before the season is finished. I think Paul Holmgren deserves as much of the blame as anyone about the current state of the Flyers, as the team has been on a serious downward spiral ever since he traded away Mike Richards and Jeff Carter to overpay for a mentally flimsy goalie. But still, they have much more talent than their play this season indicates and maybe a coach shakeup was a good first step. I expect the team will play harder for Berube.