Deep Blue Sea: Flyers fire coaching staff, promote Mike Yeo

The morning after the Vancouver Canucks cleared house, the Philadelphia Flyers followed suit and relieved multiple coaches of their duties. The team started the season with an 8-10-4 record, so firings started with head coach Alain Vigneault, who was in his third season with the club.

Vigneault’s 2019-20 Flyers made it to the second round of playoffs after the COVID-shortened regular season, and 24-teams postseason play-in/seeding round. However, the team posted a mediocre record in 2020-21, missing the playoffs in the East Division by roughly seven wins — a significant number in a 56-game season.

Along with Vigneault, the Flyers sent assistant coach Michel Therrien packing. He was hired by the team in summer of 2019 and mainly handled the team’s power play duties during his time behind the bench. Therrien was formerly a head coach with the Montreal Canadiens.

With these moves, the Flyers have promoted Mike Yeo to interim coach for the time being. He’s been an assistant coach with the team since the 2019-20 season. Last night was his first game as head coach of the team — they fell 7-5 to the Colorado Avalanche.

Yeo has not been a head coach of a team since the 2018-19 season, his third with the St. Louis Blues. The team went 7-9-3 in their first 19 games before Yeo was relieved of his coaching duties. We all know what the Blues went on to do after that.

As of right now, it’s not believed that the Flyers have looked into candidates for a permanent head coach.

News & Notes

• Sharks, SAP Center to enforce new COVID requirements for kids this week [The Mercury News]
• Sharks sign forward Brandon Coe [NHL.com]
• Three realistic trade options Sharks can explore with Kane [NBC Sports Bay Area]/

Blood in the Water

• Jets’ Pionk suspended two games for kneeing Maple Leafs’ Sandin [Sportsnet]
• Toffoli out several weeks for Canadiens with upper-body injury [NHL.com]
• Simmonds fined $2,250 for actions in Maple Leafs game [NHL.com]
• Kevin Connauton, Riley Nash placed on waivers [Pro Hockey Rumors]
• Canadiens’ goalie Carey Price unlikely to return before Christmas [The Athletic]
• What we’re hearing about the NHL, COVID-19 and the Olympics [ESPN]
• Golden Knights’ Robin Lehner bows out of Beijing Olympics for mental health reasons [CBC]/

Scores & Recaps

• Colorado Avalanche 7, Philadelphia Flyers 5
• Anaheim Ducks 3, Washington Capitals 4 (SO)
• Ottawa Senators 3, New Jersey Devils 2 (SO)
• Arizona Coyotes 1, Dallas Stars 4
• Pittsburgh Penguins 6, Seattle Kraken 1
• Los Angeles Kings 0, Vancouver Canucks 4/

Click on a team name to find a recap on their SB Nation site!

On the Schedule

• New York Islanders at Ottawa Senators, 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET on TSN5, RDS2, MSG+, ESPN+
• Tampa Bay Lightning at Montreal Canadiens, 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET on TSN2, RDS, BSSUN, ESPN+
• Nashville Predators at Detroit Red Wings, 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET on ESPN+, HULU
• Columbus Blue Jackets at Toronto Maple Leafs, 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET on TSN4, BSOH, ESPN+
• Anaheim Ducks at Buffalo Sabres, 4:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+, HULU
• Carolina Hurricanes at Winnipeg Jets, 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET on TSN3, BSSO, ESPN+
• Florida Panthers at St. Louis Blues, 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET on BSMW, BSFL, ESPN+
• New York Rangers at Chicago Blackhawks, 5:30 p.m. PT/8:30 p.m. ET on SN, SNE, SNO, SNP, NBCS-CHI+, MSG2, ESPN+
• Minnesota Wild at Edmonton Oilers, 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET on SNW, BSN, BSWI, ESPN+
• Calgary Flames at San Jose Sharks, 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET on SN1, NBCS-CA, ESPN+/