One of the biggest storylines of the Philadelphia Flyers’ 2025 offseason will be their hunt for a head coach. And the possibilities are quite literally endless. Danny Briere remained mum at his end-of-season presser, so we went ahead and made a short list of candidates for him.
Number 5: David Carle
Carle has some of the fasting rising coaching stock in all of hockey at the moment. He has coached the University of Denver to two NCAA championships in the last four years and recently led Team USA to gold at the 2024 World Juniors. It’d be a huge shift for the Flyers to go from the man who built the old school to the face of the modern day hockey coach.
There’s also some Flyers connections there, as he coached Bobby Brink and Massimo Rizzo at Denver and he’s the brother of former Flyer Matt Carle.
Carle has been rather coy about leaving the collegiate level for the NHL. He’s only 35 years old and has openly gave interviews about looking for the “opportunity of a lifetime” but he’s “in no rush” to jump to the NHL level. Being the man to lead a once-proud franchise like the Flyers back to their former glory would be a huge feather in his cap, but at the same time, given how long the stagnation has rotted away at the Flyers over the last decade, taking the gig only to have a couple years of similar lackluster results because of an incompetent front office certainly doesn’t look good on a résumé.
Number 4: Jay Woodcroft
Woodcroft was hanging around Flyers’ training camp earlier this season as he looked to learn from John Tortorella to get his career back in track. He did take the Oilers to a Western Conference Final in 2022, but finished with a lesser result in a second round exit in 2022-23 before being canned just 13 games into the 2023-24 season after a 3-9-1 start. He had some success in the AHL and won a Stanley Cup with Detroit as their video coach, but his lone test at the NHL didn’t exactly breed enticing results.
Woodcroft probably is atop the “random re-tread” category, which is not the bucket they should be picking from. He hasn’t been around the organization since training camp, but you never know what kind of seeds were planted then. This current front office regime loves familiar faces.
Number 3: Ian Laperriere
We did a deep dive about Lappy’s chances to land the Flyers HC gig earlier this week, but at this point, he very well could be the dark horse candidate.
He’s been around the Flyers organization in a coaching role for over a decade now, and has been serving as head coach of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms since 2021-22. He led them back to the postseason for three consecutive seasons and got them past the prelims for the first time since 2018 in 2024.
His claim to fame is his ability to be a “players’ coach,” meaning he’s likable and “one of the boys” i.e. the exact opposite of hard-nosed disciplinarian Tortorella. For a team that loves culture as much as the Flyers, bringing somebody in that is not only already familiar with a chunk of the roster but is a guy who can nurture that environment may be what they’re looking for.
Can Lappy be a viable head coach at the NHL level? He’s certainly not the sexiest option out there, but he’s celarly being groomed by the organization for an eventual return to an NHL bench, and now seems like as good a time as any for the transition.
Number 2: Brad Shaw
It’s kinda funny that the team has had a fairly decent turnaround under Shaw but not many seem to have him picked to retain the head coaching gig moving forward.
Shaw’s largely responsible for the improved penalty kill and organized defense with the Flyers. Moving him over to head coach and letting him name a new assistant (and hopefully two, replacing the dreadful Rocky Thompson as well) seems like the most logical course of action.
Though historically, Shaw has always been an assistant. He coached 40 games as an HC in 2005-06 with the Islanders, but has spent nearly two decades between the Blues, Blue Jackets, Canucks and Flyers as an assistant focused on defense.
There are rumors that he was considered for head coaching roles in 2023, notably the Ducks sniffed around, but nothing came to fruition and he stayed in Philly. Maybe a focus strictly on the defense and PK is just his preferred role, and based on his success, he’s earned the right to stay where he’s comfortable.
If the Flyers do go through a coaching change and Shaw, for whatever the reason, doesn’t land the head coaching job, he’d be the only worthwhile member of the current staff to keep onboard.
Number 1: Pat Ferschweiler
The man who just led Western Michigan to a national championship has been the most recent rumored name the Flyers could be sniffing around… largely because he and Flyers president Keith Jones were college teammates at WMU back in 1990 through 1993.
Ferschweiler presents one of the more intriguing options out there. He coached Western Michigan to a 104-50-26 record over the last four years, and does have some assistant coaching experience at both the AHL and NHL level within the Red Wings’ organization as he was a favorite wingman for Jeff Blashill.
When going the collegiate route, he doesn’t have the accolades that someone like David Carle does, but he has more experience to his name than someone like Dave Hakstol, for example. There’s a level of professional experience that is comforting, but fresh enough and possesses enough theoretical upside that he could be exactly what the Flyers are looking for.
And of course there’s a connection to the front office as Keith Jones and Ferschweiler were teammates 35 years ago. Now, it is hockey. There’s six degrees of separation between every last player, coach or front office member, so it may not be anything more than a coincidence… but it’s the Flyers. Based on their recent hiring patterns, it may be exclusively for that reason and nothing to do with his national championship victory.
Honorable Mentions
Mike Sullivan
We’ll know for sure in the next couple days whether or not the Penguins fire Mike Sullivan (as of this publishing he’s still employed.), If they do, he’ll be atop the list for every team looking for a head coach. If the Flyers are hellbent on competing whether they’re ready for it or not, there are few better options with recent success as Sullivan available, as his two Stanley Cups in the last decade will attest. It’s probably a case of the wrong guy at the wrong time, but it makes a statement about their bold plans better than just about any other hire could.
Rick Tocchet
Rick Tocchet’s time in Vancouver is more than likely coming to an end. He’s had virtually no success in his coaching career with the exception of the 2023-24 season which ultimately ended in a first round playoff exit. He’s cut from the same stupid cloth John Tortorella was and would be here almost exclusively because of his status as a former Flyer. Dear God, literally anybody but Tocchet.
Any Former Flyer
Speaking of former Flyers, the current front office regime loves hiring former Flyers no matter how much experience they lack in any given role. What’s Andreas Nodl up to these days? Perhaps Luca Sbisa will return to the team that drafted him, or maybe Kent Huskins is out there some where. Can you imagine Ilya Bryzgalov behind the bench? When the application only has one box that says “have you played for the Flyers?” The possibilities are endless!
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: usahockey.com / phantomshockey.com / wmubroncos.com
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