Jon Anderson once wrote the immortal Yoda-like words "change we must" for his former long-time supergroup Yes.
On eight separate occasions including Tuesday night, the Philadelphia Flyers have made an in-season coaching change revolving around the performance of its previous bench boss.
One exception to the rule was when Craig Ramsay was handed the head coaching duties due to Roger Neilson's cancer treatments in February of 2000.
Including a 2-1 decision over the Florida Panthers in Craig Berube's debut last night, the next Philly head coach has compiled a 4-3-1 record in his first game behind the bench. Here are the results from the first seven changes.
February 1, 1979 -- First-year head coach Bob McCammon was let go and re-assigned to the Flyers' AHL affiliate in Portland Maine, after going 22-17-11 over his first 50 games as an NHL head coach. His final contest was a 7-3 loss at the Spectrum to the three-time defending champion Montreal Canadiens, the eighth in an eventual nine-game (0-4-5) mid-season slide.
Enter Pat Quinn, recalled from the Mariners in his first year as a professional head coach, and the result wasn't much better against the reigning Patrick Division champion Islanders at the Spectrum. Clark Gillies, Mike Bossy and Lorne Henning scored in the third period to snap a 1-1 deadlock and turn it into a 4-1 New York triumph.
March 20, 1982 -- If you could ever call out the franchise for a "coaching carousel" this was it. Quinn was fired and replaced by the supposedly more-seasoned McCammon after a disappointing 4-4 Spectrum tie against the fourth-place Norris Division Chicago Blackhawks that left the Orange and Black 27 points behind the first-place Islanders.
A perfect antidote to losing at that time were the struggling Hartford Whalers, and McCammon's re-debut with the club resulted in a 5-2 victory in Connecticut's capital. Al Hill and Ron Flockhart ignited five straight tallies with two in the second period, after the Whale led 2-0 in the first. Pelle Lindbergh also stopped 38 shots to record his first NHL win.
December 5, 1991 -- Heeding the chants of "Paul Must Go" from the Spectrum faithful, Holmgren's first NHL coaching trial with the club that placed a ton of faith in him to follow Mike Keenan, ended after the club failed to win for the seventh straight time, dropping them to 8-14-2.
Bill Dineen, long-time coach with Adirondack of the AHL and father to recently-acquired forward Kevin Dineen was called upon to take the reins, but the Washington Capitals came to Philadelphia and earned a 6-3 victory. Terry Carkner did manage to make a bit of history in the loss, scoring a 3-on-5 goal in the first period, the first since Murray Craven did so at Winnipeg in December of 1987.
March 10, 1998 -- In one of the most bizarre sequences in franchise or league annals, the Flyers beat Pittsburgh, 4-3 in overtime, on a spectacular rush and goal from Alexandre Daigle. Immediately following the contest, it's revealed that Wayne Cashman had been demoted from head coach to assistant and Roger Neilson hired as the new head coach. Philly is about to begin a crucial six-game home stretch trying to pass the Devils for the top seed in the East.
Neilson debuts in a 2-2 tie against New Jersey, where the hosts were lucky to have pulled out a point despite a 35-19 shot disadvantage. Daigle strikes again, knotting the score with 5:50 left in regulation.
December 10, 2000 -- Ramsay, whose coaching style and personality had all the sharp edge of a circle and all the bite of a newborn, was shown the gate after a sleepy 5-1 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit two days earlier that dropped the Lindros-less Flyers to a shoddy 12-12-4 which included losses in five of their last seven outings.
Bill Barber, who helmed the Phantoms to the 1998 Calder Cup and torch-bearer of the Bullies era, was brought in to inject "passion" to the somnolent lineup. He promptly failed to lose over the course of his first eight games (5-0-3) and the run started in a 5-2 victory over the Islanders and recent ex-Flyers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck. Keith Primeau scored twice and Kevin Stevens enjoyed his best game in Eastern PA with a goal and two helpers.
October 26, 2006 -- With "Bloody Sunday" four days past, John Stevens had a bit of time to prepare for his first NHL game in place of the deposed Ken Hitchcock, who was forced out four days prior following a franchise-worst 1-6-1 start to the year.
Simon Gagne and Peter Forsberg scored in the shootout, with Forsberg and Randy Robitaille tallying in regulation, and Antero Niittymaki making 28 saves to halt Philadelphia's five-game losing skid.
December 5, 2009 -- Stevens' space to operate finally ran out just after reaching the three-year plateau, as team management once again cited the lack of passion in the Flyers' game with the club struggling to a 13-11-1 record that included unthinkable back-to-back shutout losses at Atlanta and home to Vancouver.
The losing streak stretched to four with Peter Laviolette's hand guiding the way for the first time, in an infamous 8-2 defeat to the Washington Capitals on home ice. The most memorable part of the blowout, which tied the franchise record for largest margin of defeat to their new division rivals, was Dan Carcillo jumping and one-punching Matt Bradley into unconsciousness and receiving 19 penalty minutes plus a game misconduct for his efforts.
Patience can sometimes be a virtue
Berube also set a record for the greatest distance between his Flyers debut as a player and as the team's head coach.
The Alberta native made his NHL debut for the Orange and Black in a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 22, 1987, and took the reins as head coach for his first game on October 8, 2013 -- a span of more than 25 years.
Paul Holmgren saw the shortest time between player and head coach, suiting up for the first time with the Broad Street Bullies on March 18, 1976 in a 3-2 win against Vancouver, then taking a 4-1 win over the Devils on October 6, 1988 in his first tilt as head man.
Terry Murray, a reserve defenseman, took the ice in Philly for the first time on November 12, 1975 and managed his first game here on January 20, 1995, a lockout season-opening 3-1 loss to Quebec.
Stevens was called up from Hershey to aid Keenan's ailing defensive corps for a 7-4 road win against the Sabres on January 28, 1987 and stepped into the coaching role in the game mentioned above.
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