Next up in the state of the Flyers, is head coach John Stevens. For the most part, Stevens was a career minor leaguer, playing sparingly for the big club. After an eye injury forced him to retire, he coached the 04/05 Phantoms to the Calder Cup. Early in the 06/07 season, he was hired to replace Ken Hitchcock. I give him a complete pass on his 1st season, not even Scotty Bowman would have won with that team. In his next 2 seasons the team reached the playoffs both years, including an Eastern Conference Finals berth in 08. Believe it or not, Stevens is the 2nd longest tenured coach in the East (behind Buffalo's Lindy Ruff) All that being said, if the team dosen't look like a legitimate contender within the first month of the season, mark my words, he will be fired. You can argue that he has done a great job helping develop our young players like Richards, Carter, Coburn, & Giroux, but my (and alot of people's) complaints about coach Stevens is inconsistency. One night, they will play like there hair is on fire and make you say "wow, this team is really really good" and the next night they play incredibly lazy hockey. Alot of people say that is on the players, but I disagree, its the coach's job to get the team fired up for EVERY game, not every 2nd or 3rd game, and at times (many times) Stevens seems just too calm when things aren't going the way that they should. As I mentioned yesterday, I think Holmgren's legacy/job status is on the line based on how well this team plays this year, he has given Stevens a championship caliber roster, probably the best team they will have since 2004, Stevens better get everything out of this team, or he'll be job searching by Thanksgiving.
Next up...Goalies
No comments:
Post a Comment