Alain Vigneault, who was hired to start the 2019-20 season, learned this morning that he was being removed as head coach. One of his assistant's, Michel Therrien, was removed as well, while another assistant, Mike Yeo, was promoted to Interim Head Coach.
The following quotes were provided from the Noon presser by the Philadelphia Flyers media department, with media questions noted:
PhiladelphiaFlyers President of Hockey Ops & General Manager Chuck Fletcher and Interim Head Coach Mike Yeo
Chuck, what is different this time then the last coach of the Flyers, from the other coaches that have been fired in recent years?
CF: First before I answer that, I just want to thank Alain and Michel for their hard work. They worked hard at this and put a lot of time in. They’re good people. They’re good coaches. I’ve certainly been doing this a long time and these days are not fun.
In terms of your question, right now, the whole goal through this was I was hoping we could get some people back and get our group together and find out what we have. But we just keep digging a bigger hole right now. As a group, we have to find an identity. To me, our process has been off all year. I’ve asked Mike to come in. He’s a detail guy. He’s had some success in this league.
I just felt watching our team last night that we needed to make a change. We need to find a way to spark change with our group and in an ideal world we could have bought more time and waited, but I just felt like we couldn’t wait anymore.
You talked about finding an identity. Do you think you can find one with this group? Or do you think you will have to make changes in personnel?
CF: We made a lot of changes in personnel last summer. I do believe this group can be a better team. Right now, it’s everything. I just think our details are lacking right now. Obviously, our confidence is lacking. Guys are struggling. They care. They try. Right now, I just feel like Mike can help us get back to the identity we need to have to win games.
Was there any hesitation to pull the trigger knowing we have a back-to-back, 5 in 7, the road trip at the end of the week?
CF: Yeah, there is always hesitation. AV is a good coach. Mike Therrien is a good coach and a good friend. This is not what you’re looking for, but there is never good timing to do this. We’re all complicit. As I said last week, I’m the one who is ultimately responsible. At this point, we need to affect change. We need to play differently. Now is the time.
Chuck, in your evaluation, do you feel that AV had lost the locker room and his message was falling on deaf ears at this point?
CF: That’s a hard question. I don’t know that. I honestly don’t know that. I certainly know that he tried, and certainly you go back to the 19-20 season, his message was well received. We were a really good team. Right now, we have lost our way. That’s what we have to find out how good our group is. We have to get guys playing better, playing a little bit differently. Right now, I think a new voice is needed.
Chuck, this franchise has won 1 playoff series in 10 years, what are some of the problems that go beyond just who the head coach is?
CF: I can only speak for the last few years. Two years ago, we did win a playoff round. We got to game 7 in the second round and lost to a pretty good Islander team. We played hard and we played with structure. I do think we have good players. We have good people here and everybody is trying. Again, I can’t speak for the last 10 years. Most of these guys haven’t been here that long. I think only Giroux and Couturier have been here that long. To me, the process right now isn’t right. We have to get back to playing the right way. Defending a little better. The details in our game have to be better and that’s what I’ve asked Mike to do. Mike, in my option, is an excellent coach in that regard and he has the ability to get these guys playing better.
You said the process has been off all year. Can you explain that a little more? Specifically, what’s been off and what would you like to see change?
CF: The details in our game, whether it’s our forecheck, defensive zone coverage, transition game. I just would like to see some changes in how we play the game. Obviously, coaches were trying. Everybody’s been trying, but I just think at this point we need a new voice and a new approach.
Are you giving Mike the chance to finish out this season or are you starting the hiring process right now?
CF: No, I’m not starting any process right now other than trying to get this team back on track. I’ve spoken with Mike. He knows there are no promises going forward, but he has his hands on the wheel now. It’s his opportunity to help this team get going in the right direction. As I said last week, I still don’t know truly what we have here, what our group is. As we go forward, I think things will become clear on what we need to do. Going forward, the focus right now is not on interviewing people and rushing to hire a head coach. Right now, it’s to support Mike and get this team playing the right way. Then we can make the decisions we have to make at the right time.
Mike, I know you haven’t had a lot of time to think about it, but what changes do you think you are going to implement and who will be the power play coach?
MY: You’re right. I haven’t had a lot of time to think about that. I can tell you, Daryl Williams will be running the power play meeting. Chuck and I haven’t even had a chance to discuss anything with staff. We both had the same thoughts – “Let’s get into tonight, let’s do what we have to do to make sure we’re ready to go and then we can talk about some of that stuff afterwards.”
Is it difficult to get a chance like this?
MY: I can tell you that I didn’t sleep very well last night. It’s a very emotional day for me. Both of those guys treated me unbelievably. AV, I have a ton of respect for him. He was really a great person to work with and my history with him goes back a long time. That part I’m still a little bit emotional about. That said, being a member of this organization is really special to me. To be a Flyer and now to have an opportunity like this, not only to stay on board, but to get this opportunity to turn things around and get things going the right way, that’s also incredibly exciting for me, too. One second my emotions are over here and the other, they’re over here. That said, again, I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity and obviously looking forward to tonight to get going.
Mike you were in a very similar situation to Alain a few years ago in St. Louis, what did you learn from that experience and what can you bring to help you here?
MY: I learned that it sucks. Obviously, I’ve been on both sides of it. I have experience in St. Louis, which I think could help this year in terms of I was an assistant coach, took over that year and we were able to get things going in the right direction. Get guys feeling good about themselves, build a game that we were able to take into the playoffs, win a playoff round. I think I can lean back on that experience. When I was in Pittsburgh, I was an assistant coach for something similar that happened. We ended up winning a Stanley Cup that year. I’ve been on the other side and what that allows you to do is reflect and obviously since my last head coaching opportunity, I’ve had a couple years to reflect. I would say I have a different perspective in many areas, but I also have a lot of belief in some of the things I think that I’m strong at. This is an opportunity to prove that I’ve grown and I fully believe that I am ready for that.
How and when did you tell Alain? And how did he receive it?
CF: I spoke with Alain this morning and Michel. It’s probably what you expect. You’re really disappointed. Alain came here to try to win a Stanley Cup. He’s disappointed he wasn’t able to deliver. In return, I’m disappointed, too that I couldn’t do more for him to avoid being in this situation. He’s been professional guy. He’s a classy guy. We’ll have a chance to have a more in-depth conversation later on. I think they’re both obviously disappointed.
Was Alain angry or surprised?
CF: Angry’s not. We had a very rational conversation. I can’t answer that I don’t know if he felt surprised or not.
Why was the decision to relieve Michel Therrien of his duties as well, while keeping the rest of the assistant coaches?
CF: Again, I don’t know if there is any playbook for this. You just go with what you see. I thought we needed a new voice and just thought it was time for this to happen. We’re going to work on finding someone to come in and work with Mike and Daryl as well here over the next little bit if we can find someone to come in and help and help do some of the duties. Again, it’s just what I felt. It was a gut feeling.
Mike, Chuck mentioned that the process has been off all year. Having been here all year, what are some of the things that you plan to change?
MY: The biggest thing for me is having watched the Flyers, having coached against the Flyers, been on the other side when you come into this building, it’s not fun. We have to make sure that it’s not fun for other teams, whether we’re on the road or at home to play against the Philadelphia Flyers. Does that mean that we go out and fight everybody every shift? No, it doesn’t. It means that we’re very hard to play against. That can be physicality, that can be the way you defend, the way you pressure, the way you attack. The way that you play as a 5-man unit all over the ice.
As Chuck mentioned the word, details. There’s a lot of teams out there that maybe aren’t the most physical team in the world, but they’re very difficult to play against. That’s where we’re going to start. The way that we approach the game, we’ve got to be physically engaged, but we’re going to defend. We’re going to check and the way that we’re going to attack is going to be organized. We’re going to be on the same page. For me, I love to play with the puck. I want us to spend time in the offensive zone. I want us to grind the other team down. I want us to attack the net and when we lose the puck, we want to get it back very quickly
How long have you been considering this move? Has it been weeks? Days?
CF: I wouldn’t say weeks. We obviously haven’t won in 8 games. So, when you’re struggling to win games, you try to look at ways to change the narrative and get better. Certainly, it’s something that as we’ve continued during this stretch, it’s given more thought as to what we can do to change the direction. I wouldn’t say it’s been weeks or months of anything. Certainly, something I’ve been thinking about for a few days.
Do you think something happened during the pandemic period that made the message not translate as well as it did during the second half of the 2019/2020 season?
CF: It’s a fair point and good question. Clearly, we are chasing a lot of games right now. Whether we’re falling behind in games or we don’t have the puck enough for sure. We’re defending too much. Last year, we’ve been through it. I’m saying this in all sincerity, last year was such a crazy year. I don’t know, just the environment around the game. We obviously didn’t handle it very well. I’ve said that repeatedly. We got knocked down by COVID pretty hard. We had some players really struggle on and off the ice. I didn’t know if that was a one off. We came into this year; we made a lot of changes. I just thought we’d be able to regroup and be quite a bit better than we were last year The first 10 games as I mentioned to you last week, to me, we didn’t have the puck as much as we’d like. We were defending too much. I saw a lot of positive signs. I thought we were doing things better, whether it was goaltending, PK, defensive zone structure.
The group cares about each other. There’s good chemistry. This isn’t a case where the room has fallen apart. There are no fractures in there. There was a lot of positive signs I knew we had to build. Before this 8-game streak, we were in a playoff spot. We weren’t playing perfectly, but we were a decent team. A decent team that needed to get better. Now we’ve just completely lost our way. There’s process, now you’ve got confidence. I’m sure you guys saw the game last night. We gave ourselves opportunities to have all kinds of scorning chances. Guys are squeezing their sticks, maybe hesitating a second and shot gets blocked or you pass when you should shoot. Clearly there is not a strong self-belief right now. You give up a goal and you give up a second, and you can see the air come out of the tires. I don’t know. That’s why I said, really was hoping to buy some time to give this group a chance to get all the pieces, get guys going. Whether the timing is right or wrong, this is the decision I made today. This is where we’re at and I believe Mike has the ability. Like he said when he took over in St. Louis, they won 22 of the last 32 games. They knocked my team out in the first round and lost to a pretty good Nashville team in the second round. That team played well, got them playing the right way. I believe he can do that here again.
Given the schedule this week, what is your plan of attack for trying to implement the changes that you have spoken of wanting to make?
MY: We have to be smart as a staff. If we come in there tonight and show how we want to make a ton of changes, then we are going to play slow. We’re going to be thinking and reacting as opposed to being on our toes. A lot of it for me tonight is a little bit more about attitude than it is about the X’s and O’s. It’s going to take a little bit of time. We don’t have a ton of practice time coming up. Again, it’s not a matter of when you’re talking about being really good at your job, it has to be habit. That’s what we’re going to start working on, building habits. When you get that, you have trust that everybody else is doing their job. Play faster, look faster and again you’re harder to play against. Tonight, we aren’t going to make a lot of big changes just because I don’t think that’s the right approach for this game tonight. In terms of the attitude we bring, we’re going to be ready to compete. We have to make sure we have a next shift, next play mentality. If the other team scores first, we can’t just all the sudden fall apart in our game. We have to start believing in ourselves that if we compete, battle, and play the right way for 60 minutes that we’ll have the right result at the end of the night. That’s going to be more of our approach tonight. And again, the message to the players this morning and going forward in this next little stretch is this is an opportunity for us to start building our game. That’s the most important thing. We can talk about where we want to be at the end of the year, playoffs or everything else. We’re not going to get there unless we start building a game that we play consistently. When you do that, you’re going to start building confidence.
Chuck, you have now had 6 head coaches in the last 8 seasons. Is that because of the coaching or the personnel?
CF: Again, I haven’t been here 8 years, so I don’t know. AV was my first big hire. As Charlie mentioned, we had a pretty good stretch there in ‘19-20 and weren’t able to get it back. It’s combination of probably everything. I can’t go back beyond a couple years. Right now, we’ve lost our way. There’s no question. It’s not just all on AV or Michel. It’s on all of us, but I needed to make changes. This is the decision I made today.
Do you think this is still a playoff team?
CF: That’s certainly going to be our goal. I think as Mike mentioned, right now, it sounds like clichés, but we have to make sure the process is strong. We have to get back to playing the right way. If we do that, then we have a chance to be a good team. We’ll see. That’s certainly our goal.
Mike, have you been able to talk to Alain?
MY: No, I haven’t yet, no. I saw Mike very briefly. No, I haven’t gotten that opportunity yet. Again, what I would say is thank you. He was nothing but outstanding to me and I enjoyed every day that I got to work with him.
Is suddenly being on a losing streak built into your psyche as a head coach?
MY: I’ve been on both sides of it before. I’m not a young pup anymore. I’ve been around in the league for a long time, so I’ve seen obviously when times go poorly and why that is and how things can get turned around. What I do know is I like Chuck. I believe in this group, I really do. I believe in where we’re going to get to. For me personally, I’ve learned lessons from the past. Coaches can learn. Coaches can grow. Chuck had mentioned, I’ve had some success. For me, in my opinion, my best days are yet to come. Again, this is a very difficult time. It’s emotional, yet this is an unbelievable opportunity. That’s what all the players in the room have, is an unbelievable opportunity to turn this around. This is not a very good story right now, this season. The nice thing is we have the opportunity to change that, so let’s get to work.
