Tocchet Needs to Be 1st in Series of Right Decisions for Flyers Front Office

Out with the old, in with the new…sort of.

The Flyers “New Era of Orange” may have featured new people at the helm of the most important positions, but it certainly felt a lot like the old era. Two ex-Flyers were leading the charge in the front office. The head coach was known for building teams that were hard to play against, traditional Flyers hockey. 

Two years after having that introductory press conference, three of the five who were on the dais that day remain: Dan Hilferty, the ownership representation of the Flyers and Comcast Spectacor, along with Keith Jones and Danny Briere in their roles as President of Hockey Operations and general manager respectively.

For the latter two, Jones and Briere, a critical offseason is ahead. They hold seven picks in the first two rounds of the NHL Draft. They have decisions to make on how the roster is constructed, to continue to supply the talent that will help exit a rebuild and move into the next phase of being a contender. And they needed a new head coach.

The new head coach of the Flyers is also a familiar face. Rick Tocchet had two separate stints with the Flyers, starting and ending his 18-year playing career in Orange and Black. 

These next few offseasons are really pressure-packed for the Flyers new brass, now entering their third offseason. They have the sixth overall pick in this year’s draft along with six more in the first two rounds. They are starting to see cap space free up and the opportunity to spend more via free agency open up. Every decision they make is important.

This one, hiring Tocchet as coach, is just the first to take place, the first in what needs to be a series where Briere and Jones make all the right moves.

On the surface, it feels like the Tocchet hiring is a crutch. He’s a Flyer, inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2021. He knows the city. He knows the fan base. He knows the history. Tocchet joins a long list of former Flyers that have gone from wearing the uniform to a position behind the bench or in the front office – names like Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber, Paul Holmgren, Ron Hextall, Craig Berube…you know the drill.

For a franchise that takes pride in its history, that leans into it as they cross over the 50th anniversary of its last Stanley Cup, it’s easy to see how this feels like the typical choice.

Tocchet deserves the chance to change that narrative. He deserves an opportunity to show that his track record as a coach is not what defines his abilities. But for now, it’s all he has.

Tocchet has been described as a player’s coach, one who can be loyal and dedicated to the craft. But the results of his coaching stops – two seasons in Tampa Bay, five seasons in Arizona, and parts of three seasons in Vancouver – have produced underwhelming results. Just two playoff berths. One playoff series win. Sounds a lot like the last decade for the Flyers.

The first day for anybody new is always hopeful. New GM? There’s hope it’s the right person to build a contender. New coach? There’s hope it’s the right person to lead the constructed team. New players? There’s hope they can deliver the product that results in the ultimate successes.

And as time goes on, the shine wears off until you reach that mountaintop. The hope fades. Until there’s nothing left in the current leadership. It happened with Hextall. It happened with Chuck Fletcher. It happened with John Tortorella and Alain Vigneault and Dave Hakstol and Berube and Peter Laviolette and…you get the picture.

Any coach hired has a small window to work with. But the decision to hire Tocchet is more than a coaching decision. It’s about the long-term vision that Jones and Briere share that Tocchet now becomes ingrained within. 

Jones and Briere have both expressed a desire to return the Flyers to the glory days of the organization, the way it felt when they first joined the Flyers family and never looked back. Tocchet, who played with the Flyers from 1984 to 1992 and again from 2000 to 2002, knows the feeling too. 

When you’re in a rebuild, the only way out is through good decisions. It’s making the right decisions during the construction of a roster. It’s also the decisions that come before the roster is even shaped and molded, placing the builders into their roles. 

That started with Jones and Briere. It continues with Tocchet. And Jones and Briere need that decision to be the first of many they get right in the process.