[News] Flyers fire Craig Berube

[sureLoss]

http://flyers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=763801

The Philadelphia Flyers have relieved head coach Craig Berube of his duties with the club, according to general manager Ron Hextall.

Berube was the 18th head coach in Flyers history and was named to the post on October 7, 2013. He recently completed his second season as head coach and leaves the position with a record of 75-58-28 (.553).

Prior to being named head coach, Berube spent six seasons as a Flyers assistant. He has spent 18 seasons with the organization as a player, assistant coach and head coach, doing all three with both the Flyers and Phantoms.

The team will begin a search for a new head coach immediately.

[Dr. Doom]

Terrible coach

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by Dr. Doom

Terrible coach

Flyers get a late dirty hit in. Hartley puts out Bollig. Berube puts 4th line out as a response. Hartley, having the last change, goes "Ha-ha! Sucker!" and sticks Monahan's line out instead, who promptly scored.

[Poe969]

That whole team needs an overhaul. Berube was a turri-bad coach. I like what Vinny Lecavallier said about Berube the other day. They should be a better team then they have been.

[Locke]

Going after Todd McLellan?

Berube was always going to get fired, they were a better team than that.

[Komskies]

The fact that Steve Mason could only win 18/51 games with a .928 and 2.25 GAA, and they had two players in the top 12 in the league in scoring, says a lot about how he coached that team. Those two stats alone should keep you at the playoff bubble.

[Erick Estrada]

Are they really that good of a team? They had some good individual performances but to me they are kind of a fringe team that any season could make or miss the playoffs. Defensively they are pretty average and they have some good forwards but some of their younger guys are taking longer than anticipated to develop. I would imagine a better coach could get them into the playoffs but I don't know if they will ever be a contender as they are now.

[Kolbe31]

First time the Flyers have had good goaltending since 1987 and they couldn't get in the playoffs.

Twitter folk suggest the Flyers short list consists of Babcock, Julien and McLellan. Three guys who currently have jobs. Maybe they should fire the list maker, too.

[Locke]

Historically sketchy goaltending and the loss of Pronger and Timonen to freak health issues really set them back.

Their defence is beyond average, its borderline atrocious.

[Bezer]

If anyone had it coming this guy had it coming...horrible, horrible coach. I wouldn't surprised if there was a parade in Philly today.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by Locke

Historically sketchy goaltending and the loss of Pronger and Timonen to freak health issues really set them back.

Their defence is beyond average, its borderline atrocious.

Yeah but goaltending was not an issue this year. Mason was outstanding, he would have been a serious Vezina candidate with a half decent blueline ahead of him. Having such fantastic stats, but only 18 wins in 50+ games really tells you all you need to know.

Berube was a terrible coach and he deserved to be fired.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by devo22

Yeah but goaltending was not an issue this year. Mason was outstanding, he would have been a serious Vezina candidate with a half decent blueline ahead of him. Having such fantastic stats, but only 18 wins in 50+ games really tells you all you need to know.

Berube was a terrible coach and he deserved to be fired.

No argument from me on that one.

[united]

My favourite Steve Mason/Flyers stat was at one point in mid-March, Mason had more road shutouts (2) than road wins (1), as he lost both games 1-0 after the shootout. What is he supposed to do? Hilarious.

[Psytic]

I wouldnt even pick up the phone for TO now that Philly is available if I was McLellan.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Forever a Flame?

[Philly06Cup]

Glad to see some love for Mason on this board. Many informed people still think the Flyers failed because of crap goaltending, which is very untrue. His numbers are even better if you look at his even strength SV% and GAA (the Philly PK was really bad).

On paper I think their D was at least average. Coburn, Grossman, Schenn/Schultz are servicable stay at home D; Streit, MacDonald, Del Zotto are good puck moving D. Problem was injuries and coaching. Coburn, Grossman, MacDonald, Schenn, Del Zotto, all hurt for parts of the year. The last 3 were scratches even when they were healthy. Hard to build a strong D if you don't know who you're playing with or if you will even play.

Giroux and Voracek with big years; Simmonds and Schenn also showed great improvement. Read and Coturier were 20 goal scorers last year, and disappeared this year. If they can bounce back and the D stays healthy, they will be a playoff team next year.

[N-E-B]

Philly has been one of the most weirdly managed teams in the league in recent memory. Outside of 2010, they've really done nothing and have made some odd trades and signed some atrocious contracts. It seems like they have an up year and then a down year.

[Pagal4321]

There's a blank cheque waiting for either McLellan or Babcock I'm sure.

[dammage79]

Berube was a placeholder anyways. But I feel Philly was smart this year holding out on replacing him during the season.

Philly has been a circus for the last few years and Hextall appears to have done a splendid job keeping the circus out of the spotlight.

McLellan would be a savvy hire for that roster.

[JJ1532]

Can't deny though that the problems with the Flyers go way beyond coaching. I mean, some of the contracts they have handed out over the last few years as just ridiculous. Streit, McDonald, Umberger, Lecavalier. Whilst its the GMs job to give the coach a decent roster, what can any coach do with players like these tied up to decent term/money?

I mean, they are going to encounter the same cap problems in 12 months time when B.Schenn, Couturier and Vorachek come to them looking for renewals and likely pay rises.

Their problems aren't going to go away by simply firing Berube and hiring someone like McLellan.