Paul Holmgren handed Peter Laviolette a set of square pegs, and Laviolette tried to fit them into circle-shaped holes. The young players lacked the experience, knowledge, and discipline to play within Laviolette’s system, and Laviolette was not the kind of coach that could teach them the skills they needed. He was doomed to fail when Holmgren traded away the two franchise cornerstones. The result was what Flyers fans saw the first three games, a team that stopped responding to their coach, and had what Ed Snider called the worst preseason he’d seen of any Flyers team in their 47 years of existence.
Even though Laviolette was dealt a set of cards that didn't fit his plans, he cannot be absolved of all the blame. Particularly against the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils, he failed to make any in-game adjustments to adjust to their hard two-man forecheck. John Tortorella and Peter DeBoer outcoached him on a regular basis in important head-to-head matchups. They would send in two men hard on the forecheck, and the Flyers defense struggled mightily to break the puck out. Instead of having the forwards sink lower to support the defense on the breakout, Laviolette stuck with his system that clearly wasn't working, and the result was a multitude of turnovers in the defensive zone and an inability to break the puck out effectively.
Those problems were compounded when Chris Pronger suffered a career-ending injury, and the severely underrated Matt Carle left via free agency while Holmgren was fixated on signing Ryan Suter. None of their puck-moving ability and breakout prowess was replaced by new acquisitions, and the result was the sixth worst even strength team in the NHL last year. Most of that is on Holmgren, but part of it is still on Laviolette for not making adjustments to accommodate the talent he was given.
The similarities to 2006-07 are striking. A team that many predicted would be a playoff contender starts off terribly, fires their system-oriented, rigid coach, and hires a familiar face that the players love and admire. Can Craig Berube be “John Stevens†to Couturier and Schenn like Stevens was to Richards and Carter? If you ask me, that’s the biggest thing that this firing could change. The defense is what it is, immobile and aging. The goaltending still appears to be a question mark, although Steve Mason has played well so far.
Berube and Stevens are not exactly the same, however. All indications are that the players are willing to fight tooth and nail for Berube like they were for Stevens, but Berube has a much more in-your-face approach. If you aren’t meeting the expectations that Berube has for you, he has no qualms about sitting you down on the bench, whether you’re Claude Giroux or Jay Rosehill.
Very rarely do you find a coach that can develop young talent, but also effectively integrate them into their system at the same time. The coaches that do that are the all-time greats. Can Berube do both? My gut says no, I see him as a more intense John Stevens that will help develop the younger players on the team, but not necessarily be able to implement the systems necessary to take the team from talented to a cup contender. Look for more analysis on Berube in my next article.
