Chuck Fletcher opened his end-of-year press conference on Monday by saying a head coaching search was starting that day. That came hours after the people’s choice for Flyers head coach, Joel Quenneville, had signed on with the Florida Panthers, taking the big free agent coach off the board less than 48 hours into the offseason. The Flyers are left to explore other options for their next head coach. Here are a few options that still remain for the Flyers. Scott Gordon Gordon is obviously at the top of the list because he’s already here. There’s no guarantee that he’s going to have the interim tag removed and become the full-time head coach, but Fletcher called him a strong candidate and rightfully so. A lot of things got better under Gordon’s direction. The penalty kill improved, the defensive play was somewhat better and the goaltending was certainly better. The Flyers had an 18-4-2 stretch that got them back into the playoff race and had Gordon carving out a path to keep the job. A 3-10-0 finish to the season may have done enough to sink Gordon, even with the second-half tear. The one thing Gordon has going for him is the developmental approach he takes and has used on so many players in the system already. He knows so many of these younger players from their first days as a professional. That familiarity with the youth of this team that they are going to be so dependent on may help him win the job. Dave Tippett Tippett is the outside name that seems to carry the most traction so far. Currently, he is tied to the Seattle franchise in a consultant role of sorts and the thought is that he was there to eventually move into a management position, but the rumor is he may have the bug to get back behind the bench. Tippett comes with a solid resume. For six seasons from 2002 to 2009, he coached the Dallas Stars, reaching the playoffs in each of the first five seasons, winning 50 games twice and winning the Pacific Division twice, and reaching the Western Conference Final in 2008. Following his firing in Dallas, he became the head coach for the Coyotes, spending eight seasons with the franchise. Again, Tippett led the Coyotes to the playoffs in each of his first three seasons, including a Pacific Division title and Western Conference Final appearance in 2011-12. In the five seasons that followed, the Coyotes were bottom-feeders of the league, failing to reach the playoffs in each season and finishing no better than fourth in the division. Tippett’s teams have typically adapted well to the roster makeup, showing offensive skill at times, but being a team that primarily takes pride in the defensive play first. Todd Nelson Nelson is very much in a similar situation to Gordon. For now, Gordon remains the head coach in the interim. Nelson was named the interim head coach of the Oilers for the same amount of time in the 2014-15 season, taking over for Dallas Eakins on Dec. 15 and serving out the season as the interim before the team hired Todd McLellan. Nelson has also been a head coach at the AHL level, with the Grand Rapids Griffins from 2015 to 2018, before joining the Dallas Stars as an assistant coach last season. While the Oilers failed to make the playoffs out of his 51 games with a 17-25-9 record, he did lead the Griffins to three playoff appearances and a Calder Cup title in 2016-17. Sheldon Keefe Another AHL riser is Sheldon Keefe, the head coach of the defending Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies. Keefe has been a success story, rising through the ranks from Canadian Juniors to the AHL. The big question with Keefe, especially after the fallout with Dave Hakstol, is if the Flyers want to bring in a coach with no NHL experience. Gordon and Nelson aren’t veterans behind an NHL bench by any means, but they have at least held the role before. Keefe may be a leap of faith, but someone’s going to take it eventually. He’s highly respected, and though he is supposedly working on a contract extension with Toronto, he’ll get his day in the NHL soon enough. Alain Vigneault Vigneault is among the most veteran options available with his head coaching career going back to 1997-98. Vigneault spent five seasons as the head coach of the New York Rangers from 2013-14 to 2017-18. In his first two seasons with the Rangers, Vigneault led the team to the Eastern Conference Final, including reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2014. The Rangers missed the playoffs for the first time under Vigneault in 2017-18, his final season with the Rangers. Prior to getting the Rangers job, Vigneault spent seven seasons as the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2011 and making the playoffs in six of his seven seasons there. He will coach Team Canada at World Championships this year after taking the 2018-19 season off from coaching in the NHL. Guy Boucher Boucher comes with less of an NHL career than others, but has experienced extreme highs and lows in his coaching career. With the Tampa Bay Lightning for three seasons from 2010 to 2013, Boucher led the team to the Eastern Conference Final in his first season, then missed the playoffs in the second year and was fired 32 games into the lockout-shortened 48-game season in 2013. Boucher was with the Ottawa Senators from 2016 to 2019 for three seasons. Similar to his time in Tampa, the Senators reached the Eastern Conference Final in 2017, taking the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins to double overtime in Game 7. The following season, Ottawa finished with 28 wins. Boucher was fired after 62 games during the 2018-19 season. Dan Bylsma Bylsma started his tenure with the Pittsburgh Penguins midway through the 2008-09 season. In 25 games, the Penguins won 18 and finished second in the Atlantic Division, going on to win the Stanley Cup that season.<doc-sep>In today’s NHL rumor rundown there are updates on the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings and their respective coaching searches, a few New York Islanders are showing their stuff, namely, Jordan Eberle and the Arizona Coyotes need to find a way to boost their offense while not spending money. Flyers Talking With Alain Vigneault? He’s not often at the top of the available coaches list but one name the Flyers might be talking to is former New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks coach Alain Vigneault. The Flyers have asked for (and been granted) permission from the Rangers to speak to Vigneault, reports Sportsnet’s, Elliotte Friedman. Alain Vigneault (Photo: Jim Cerny/The Hockey Writers) Vigneault has one year left on his existing deal with the Rangers and is due to see a pay increase while sitting at home. If the Flyers want him, they’ll probably have to offer more than $4.25 million and assume some of his salary for the coming 2019-20 season. Vigneault is next scheduled to lead Team Canada at the upcoming World Championships. Any deal could be announced before he starts that job. Sam Carchidi reports that the Flyers said that there is no timetable to name a new head coach, but it would be “well before” the draft in June. Related: NHL Rumors: Krueger, Kings, Golden Knights, More McLellan Out in Buffalo, Headed to LA Bob McKenzie tweeted that Todd McLellan isn’t a candidate for the Buffalo Sabres head coaching position anymore. Instead, McLellan is expected to be named the next coach of the Los Angeles Kings which has long been rumored as his preferred destination and the Kings were actively pursuing him. (Rich Kane/Icon SMI) Dennis Bernstein reports the deal is expected to be for five years and should be announced as late as Monday, if not sooner. Related: NHL Rumors: Oilers, Kings, Sabres, More Islanders Could Be Facing Tough Decisions Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post writes that the New York Islanders are going to find it more challenging to keep pending unrestricted free agents like Anders Lee, Robin Lehner, Jordan Eberle, and Brock Nelson if they continue to stay hot during the playoffs. (Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports) GM Lou Lamoriello admitted: “As far as evaluation, I know everyone is talking about our free agents. We want to keep them and we’ll try. But they’re focused — and we’re focused — on the task at hand right now, and that’s Game 2.” While focusing on the task at hand, he understands too, the better they play the more other teams will come calling this summer and the more expensive it will get to keep their core. In particular, Cyrgalis suggests Eberle could be playing his way to a bigger offer in free agency. He finished the regular season strong and has a goal and an assist in each of the first two games of the postseason, Eberle is erasing questions of his productivity during playoff time. Should he keep it up, Cyrgalis believes suitors will be lining up for his services. Related: NHL Rumors: Canadiens, Canucks, Kings, More Coyotes Will Focus on Improving Offense Greg Wyshynski and Chris Peters of ESPN.com are reporting the Arizona Coyotes will focus on boosting their scoring this offseason. The limited market via free agency and the team’s unwillingness to spend big money on available players could hamper that agenda. As a result, Arizona may search the trade market. Danny Shapiro of Arizona Sports added GM John Chayka said, “We didn’t score enough goals, so we have to go through and figure out how to get more out of our own group and how to add to the group and that’s the summer plan.” Outside of hoping injured players rebound, that could mean trying to offload players who didn’t produce while adding players who did… basically, the same dilemma facing every team in the NHL.<doc-sep>The Philadelphia Flyers may not retain Scott Gordon for their Head Coaching vacancy, so who are some names to look out for? With the 2018-19 season now a thing of the past, the Philadelphia Flyers definitely have work to do to improve their team. Finishing the year on a five game losing streak isn’t exactly good, which leads me to believe the Flyers will move on from Scott Gordon. Gordon did a fine job in his relief of Dave Hakstol (ew) and clearly built a solid relationship with the players in the locker room. Still, the results simply weren’t there. General Manager Chuck Fletcher did say during his press conference on Monday that Gordon is still a strong candidate for the job, but he’s probably more of a fall back option at this point. . That leaves the question as to who will fill the vacancy for the 2019-2020 campaign and beyond. The most popular name was former Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, who was linked to the Flyers back in December. Sadly, the Florida Panthers announced Monday morning that they inked the three time Stanley Cup Champion to a five year deal. It’s disappointing that Philadelphia couldn’t reel a guy of his pedigree in, but Florida’s General Manager Dale Tallon hired Coach Q back in Chicago and the Flyers just couldn’t beat a great working relationship between the two. So, what now? There are plenty of names out on the market that may peak the Flyers interest. They may not come with the success that Quenneville could have brought, but that doesn’t make them bad options by any means. Two of the coaches I’m about to name have NHL experience while one on this list has experience in the AHL and junior leagues. I also want to clarify that these are potential candidates that I personally would want to bring in, not ones who have the most likelihood of landing in the City of Brotherly Love. Without further ado, here are three options the Flyers could choose to fill their Head Coaching position.<doc-sep>Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images The Florida Panthers did not have to wait long to find their new head coach. General manager Dale Tallon announced Joel Quenneville will take over on the bench Monday, a day after the team fired Bob Boughner. Tallon said: "Joel is a three-time Stanley Cup champion head coach who will be a transformative leader for the Florida Panthers franchise. We've seized the opportunity to add one of the most successful head coaches in hockey history, and we're thrilled that Joel has agreed to take on the challenge of leading our promising young team. "I've worked with Joel previously and have seen firsthand how his passion for the game, head coaching experience and leadership can impact an organization. Joel will accelerate our growth into a club that qualifies for the playoffs consistently and competes every year toward our goal of winning the Stanley Cup." The Panthers likely sought to act fast because the Philadelphia Flyers were pushing to hire Quenneville, per Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post. Quenneville, 60, is the second-winningest NHL coach in history with 890 wins. He's coming off more than a decade on the Chicago Blackhawks bench, where he won three Stanley Cups and made the postseason nine times. The Blackhawks fired Quenneville 15 games into the 2018-19 season. Quenneville also previously coached the St. Louis Blues from 1996 to 2004 and the Colorado Avalanche from 2005 to 2008. His teams have made the playoffs 18 times in 22 seasons. Video Play Button Videos you might like The Panthers, meanwhile, have made the postseason five times in their entire existence. The franchise has missed the playoffs each of the last three seasons and has not advanced past the first round since 1996—when the Panthers made a surprise run to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Avalanche.<doc-sep>
The fact Joel Quenneville won’t be the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers next season sucks. It really does. As the author of this poll back in November, I’m not going to sit here and say ‘wow this is great and cool, why is everyone freaking out?’ It’s a very, very crucial offseason in Flyers’ history and not hitting the home run many of us had hoped for as the next head coach does sting quite a bit. However, it doesn’t mean the Orange and Black have already struck out this summer. There were rumors back in December that Quenneville was going to come to the Flyers as former head coach Dave Hakstol’s replacement. It seemed pretty likely the former Chicago Blackhawks’ head coach was destined to lead this team next, but obviously something happened between then and now. It could be as simple as Quenneville wanted to take a large amount of money to work again with Dale Tallon and go to one of the few destinations one of his former dynamic offensive forwards is expected to go. There are some actual reasons why Quenneville went to Florida. No matter what happened and how it went down, there are two facts we all need to acknowledge: Quenneville won’t be the next head coach, and the Flyers’ offseason — as of today, the Monday before the 2019 postseason starts — is not yet a complete and utter failure. The other options for next head coach aren’t nearly as exciting or flashy as Quenneville, but they would still be huge for Philly. There have already been a few rumors about former Dallas Stars and Phoenix/Arizona head coach Dave Tippett possibly returning to one of the four NHL teams he played for over his 11-year NHL career. The first thing that’ll jump out to most people when they hear Tippett is that he plays a boring, defense-first system or that the Coyotes sucked for the last five years he was there. In response to that, it’s fair to point out that he still managed to produced a 50-win season (something the Flyers haven’t seen since 1985-86) in 2009-10 and also reached the 2012 Western Conference Final with the Coyotes. When he was given more talent in Dallas, Tippett produced a pair of 50-win seasons with those two seasons being part of three seasons where he helped the Stars produce 107 points or more (something the Flyers haven’t done since 2002-03). As for the possible ‘his system is boring’ arguments, perhaps somebody who can provide structure for a team that allowed the third-most goals against despite Carter Hart playing in 31 games isn’t the worst thing. Also, if the Flyers are going to post a 50-win season, nobody will care about the style of play. Outside of Tippett, Flyers’ fans should be happy if the franchise lands Sheldon Keefe, who had success in the CHL and is now killing it as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ AHL team the Toronto Marlies. He’s a progressive coach that has had wild success working with younger players, traits that are an ideal fit for the current roster and a mindset that can help the Flyers remain competitive for years. Both Bruce Boudreau and Peter Laviolette are still employed by NHL teams, but that may not be true in the near future. Both are good head coaches even if one is pretty unlucky in Game Sevens and one inadvertently kind of started this whole mess. Aside from these names there are other options (Alain Vigneault, Dallas Eakins, Todd McLellan to name a few) that may elicit complaining from the fan base immediately, but could end up being fine hires given a change of scenery and different roster builds. Not landing Quenneville does remove a lot of excitement about the Flyers’ upcoming head coach search. Quenneville coming to Philly would have been the Flyers’ version of landing Bryce Harper. The fact it didn’t happen does suck, but there is still plenty of time and options for the Flyers to find a good head coach. Could the Orange and Black find a way to mess this up and hire, say, Randy Carlyle? Sure, but nothing has happened yet. Let’s see where this goes.