The Flyers have fired head coach Craig Berube. And now we’re on to the next question: who replaces him?
It will probably be a bit before we know. After all, we’re just a game into the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and we don’t know who else is going to lose their job. Ron Hextall doesn’t know what the coaching market will look like this summer.
Of course, Mike Babcock of the Detroit Red Wings is the big fish. He has yet to sign a new contract with the Wings and the speculation is that he’s looking to become the highest-paid coach in NHL history. Coaches don’t count against the salary cap, and Ed Snider has all the money in the world to spend on a coach … so this is definitely a realistic possibility.
We won’t go into detail on any of these other coaches just yet — we’ll save it for the next few days as this search drags on — but here’s a (probably incomplete) list of potential options. Some still have jobs but could lose them before long.
- current Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock
- current Arizona Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett
- former Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma
- current Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien
- former Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Guy Boucher
- current San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan
- former Vancouver Canucks / New York Rangers / Tampa Bay Lightning head coach John Tortorella
- current QMJHL and 2015 Canada WJC head coach Benoit Groulx
- former Toronto Maple Leafs / Anaheim Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle (NO NO NO NO)
- mike keenan (you know, for shits and giggles)
- former Edmonton Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins
- current Lehigh Valley Phantoms head coach / former Flyers head coach Terry Murray
- mike mlibury (ok this isn’t funny anymore)
- former New Jersey Devils head coach Peter DeBoer
- former Florida Panthers head coach & current Chicago Blackhawks asst. coach Kevin Dineen/
Make your case in the comments for the coach you’d like to see.
