What Difference a Real Head Coach Has Made for the Flyers
If you’re an NHL fan, you can’t help but be excited about what the Philadelphia Flyers are doing this season.
In recent weeks alone, they’ve swept a home and home series versus the Columbus Blue Jackets and also won back to back games versus the Joel Quenneville lead Florida Panthers. Both are teams the Flyers are battling with for a playoff spot. Unlike years past, the Flyers were ready for those games.
It got me thinking: Why were they so well prepared? For the answer, look no further than head coach Alain Vigneault. Vigneault has his team rolling like a well-oiled machine.
Make no mistake Vigneault has been a difference-maker for this team.
When the Flyers fired head coach Dave Hakstol and didn’t bring back interim head coach Scott Gordon, Flyers fans were salivating at the thought of Joel Quenneville coming to Philly as their new bench boss.
But, when GM Chuck Fletcher introduced Alain Vigneault on April 15th, 2019 as the new Flyers head coach, most fans were disappointed. They weren’t disappointed so much in the hiring of Vigneault but more so that it wasn’t Quenneville that was brought in.
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Vigneault, however, is proving that HE IS the best possible head coach for this Flyers team.
Vigneault has his teams ready to play full 60-minute games. Other than a few hiccups (which will happen to every team during an 82-game season) the Flyers are playing full speed ahead in every game. For 60 minutes a game, they are leaving it all on the ice. That is purely preparation & motivation, something that is not always easy when dealing with such a young team.
Youngsters like Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov are having career years, while others like Travis Sanheim, Phil Myers and Joel Farabee are playing big minutes in important situations and they are thriving. Don’t believe coaching has anything to do with that? Think again.
At one point, when 19-year-old Farabee was struggling, Vigneault sat him in the press box for a game. That lit a fire under Farabee, and he has been lights out good since then.
He’s also worked wonders with the veterans. Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun have been rejuvenated under Vigneault. Vigneault pairing Niskanen with Provorov has been an absolute genius, and both are having incredibly productive seasons.
Although the offensive points aren’t necessarily there, Vigneault has both JVR and Jacob Voracek playing inspired hockey, better and more complete games than they ever have. Vigneault has both Couturier and Hayes sharing duties on the penalty kill, eating up defensive zone minutes, and has them in spots where they can transition and jump into the offensive side quickly. As a result, Hayes is now on pace to break his career-high in goals (25) and Couturier is on pace for his third consecutive 70-point season and has been named the NHL’s mid-season winner of the Selke trophy.
After the terrible news concerning Oskar Lindblom was announced, Vigneault helped calm the locker room and instead of the players being down, he managed to get them to rally around the situation and “Do it for Oskar”. #OskarStrong
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Since January 8th, Alain Vigneault’s Flyers leads the NHL with 68 goals for and has accumulated 27 points in the standings with only the Lightning (31) and Bruins (29) having accumulated more during that span. They’ve also passed 12 teams in the standings during that time and not only do they seem to be done with a wildcard spot, but they are in the conversation to win the MASSIVELY competitive Metropolitan Division. After Saturday’s win vs the Winnipeg Jets, the Flyers were only 3 points behind both the Penguins and Capitals.
Vigneault’s history of success with his new teams, especially during his first couple of seasons with a team, include a Stanley Cup appearance with the Rangers in his first year there, and he leads the Vancouver Canucks to 6 first-place finishes in 7 years, and also took them to a cup final. Vigneault has had success in all his landing spots, and he WILL be the head coach to take the Flyers over the hump.
With the way Vigneault has his Flyers playing and surging at the best possible time, it has many Flyers fans thinking that what happened in St. Louis last season is a real possibility this season, for the city of brother love.
Featured Image: Perform Media Channels Limited
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Categorized:Flyers