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| Courtesy of WRAL |
Phanatic Hockey Editor
When Phanatic Offseason Biweeklies left you 2 weeks ago, we asked you to consider the first half of Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s blueprint for success – as mentioned on the Nasty Knuckles podcast from July 9 – and whether or not the Philadelphia Flyers front office and roster possess the requisites to duplicate.
In the second of this two-part column, further examining the back half of Brindy’s prime points, we’ll tackle organizational buy-in for longer-term success and player buy-in with the coaching philosophy.
We know ‘Canes owner Tom Dundon wanted to win, but lacked the requisite knowledge and patience most multi-millionaire owners do in pursuit of championships. Does a gestalt entity like Comcast want to win?
I don’t think Dan Hilferty has ever directly addressed this, on the dais or at breezy downtown lunch hours. Like appeals for a number of chronic diseases, there’s more money in research and development instead of cures, with less risk involved.
There’s certainly less risk in Flyers GM Danny Briere preaching about waiting for something that “has to make sense” compared to the cap hell that his three predecessors both faced and put themselves in. Nothing about this offseason put a dent in that idea – especially the Carlsson offer sheet, which the opposing GM emphatically stated would be matched, and was.
Tocchet’s on the second of a 5-year deal that history and entropy strongly suggests he’s not likely to finish; Briere’s entering his 4th year at the helm. Sands through the hourglass are about to be falling at a quicker rate – unless they can replicate the Hurricanes’ 8 straight years of reaching at least the conference semifinals.
From a statistical standpoint, the Flyers have only seen one stint in franchise history equivalent to the Hurricanes’ current run: nine seasons from 1972-81 reaching the 2nd round or further, including 2 Stanley Cups and 4 Finals berths.
But that was in a league steadily growing from 14 to 21 teams, with a handful of impatient, maverick owners and GMs willing to throw away 1st-round draft picks for immediate gratification. One GM, Keith Allen, presided and earned the nickname “Keith the Thief.”
This does not exist in the current 32-team league where 16 make the playoffs and 22 are in the running until a week before the regular season concludes.
Between 2007 and 2012, the Orange and Black won at least one playoff series in 4 of those 5 seasons. That spree bridged two head coaches, John Stevens and Peter Laviolette, but included several major moves which radically altered team chemistry.
Although Brind’Amour has been the on-ice leader this whole time, the Hurricanes acknowledged that even a well-respected franchise icon like Ron Francis was unsuited from the GM chair to transition from a tear-down through a rebuild. Francis was essentially promoted, then his contract terminated. After, Don Waddell, who signed on as both president and GM, was sacrificed in 2024 for the players’ inability to get over the hump.
They hit the jackpot with Eric Tulsky, who cannot be confused with any traditional hockey mind.
Meanwhile, the Flyers keep going in the same direction. Cleaned out the perceived cold, corporate personages in the front office only to goose the spirits of the suffering faithful by hiring a bunch of photogenic ex-players to key positions. Which, counterintuitively, if you’re going for a longer term rise to success, it kinda makes sense to give the John LeClairs and Patrick Sharps and Keith Joneses of the world plenty of runway to learn their craft among the league’s administrative sharks.
They’ve already got the Flyers-as-family, “if you’re not for us, you’re against us” attitude down pat. No need to look further than the smear campaign against William C. Gauthier as a tell.
But it’s hard to imagine even Hilferty could keep up the jovial “past is prologue” attitude for another 5 years. He’s on the back nine of his professional and personal life and no doubt would start getting an itchy throat and trembly hands if his shiny new toy doesn’t win a few races soon – or at least gains a few hundred more season tickets in the effort.
They got a big spiritual and financial boost with a surprise playoff chase that resulted in a second-round appearance but linear continuation is not a reality. It was clear for those who watched, that Briere’s “step back” was couched in terms of a playoff berth or playoff success. The Flyers may win 40 games and lose a round next year; they may win 44 games and not make it. It is no doubt maddening for fans young and old to accept this is part of the process.
In that way, the Hurricanes cracked a code more daunting than Enigma, because they *never* took a step back in 8 years.
When asked about the ingredients for success in his coaching methods, Brind’Amour led with the following: “Everybody’s playing. You just have to get the buy in. There’s no master class on which way to go. It goes back to the leadership stuff. If your top guys are buying in, you don’t have any room for anyone to do it differently.”
Brind’Amour, though, is a unique mixture. He’s the kind of person who’s a) obsessively driven, b) carries a better-than-average hockey IQ (dating back to his playing days) even if he’s not sold on analytics, and c) knows what it takes to win both as a player and direct supervisor.
Tocchet really isn’t an analogue. He’s definitely not a, hasn’t convinced anyone in Philadelphia or anywhere else that b applies (with the possible exception of championing Steven Stamkos when Barry Melrose slagged him off in Tampa), but can skate by with c as he both won as a player in 1992 and stood beside Mike Sullivan for the Penguins’ last 2 titles in 2015-16.
You know who was an obsessive? Mike Keenan, Tocchet’s first coach and architect of the first Flyers Renaissance from 1984 to 1987. Keenan, famously, never powered down from the insecurity that drove him to act like he did, because he didn’t play professionally.
If anything, that buy-in from Carolina players clearly emanates from a deep respect for the guy on the bench.
We heard a lot of propaganda in the break-up pressers from Flyers coaches and players themselves about how ‘Tocc’ is embracing a more modern mindset with the younger roster – Michkov aside – and how the players are comfortable with the way things are. I hope that supposed concordance will be analyzed and scrutinized beyond this space in the coming year.
“We’ve been real fortunate. The 23 guys we have here are here for a reason, they get it. The guys who didn’t quite fit, you gotta move on. That’s just kinda how it works,’ Brind’Amour added.
“That’s our secret sauce. We got the right people in the right chairs and they’ve been able to put the team first, which is … everyone talks about it, but to be able to do it … I see it every day in the way we go about our business,” he noted.
We know there is a significant gap in presentation and belief regarding the Flyers power play, with Tocchet having admitted that one of his young defensemen is publicly at odds with the system. We don’t know whether Sean Couturier – who showed flashes of his old self in the playoffs – can rejuvenate to the level of Jordan Staal (28 goals regular/postseason) or successfully put the team’s needs ahead of his own as he cruises toward retirement on a mega-contract.
We don’t know what happens to team chemistry when roster changes are necessary. It can’t be playtime in the sandbox all the time. Two or three or more of the current young core may not be here if Briere sniffs the sweat off the Cup and it is up to those remaining to suck it up, learn and grow along the way.
We don’t know if Tocchet or Briere will preside over things by the time a return to the Finals is made, but continued success and applied knowledge will spur management to find appropriate bridge deals to keep both where they are.
“It doesn’t guarantee everything,” Brind’Amour concluded. “It guarantees you one thing, and that’s a legitimate chance. That’s what we’ve had these 8 years, we’ve been knocking on the door. It’s much better knowing you have a chance by the way you play.”
