Two weeks after the Philadelphia Flyers decided to cut ties with GM Ron Hextall, the team announced on Monday that they were firing head coach Dave Hakstol.
Hakstol, who was in his fourth season with Philadelphia, reportedly asked new Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher for a vote of confidence before his firing. Fletcher could not give Hasktol that and from there, the rest was history.
Replacing Hasktol for the interim will be Scott Gordon, who is the head coach of the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms
No one was surprised that Hakstol was fired, especially since the team was struggling and getting blown out on a nightly basis. This season, the Flyers have a record of 12-15-14 (28 points), good for dead-last in the Metropolitan Division.
Nevertheless, with Hakstol out of the door, it is now time to figure out who will be the next guy to lead the Flyers. One name who has come up is former Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville.
According to Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post, Quenneville was reportedly offered the job and will accept it. However, at Monday’s press conference, Fletcher told reporters that he has not asked Chicago for permission to speak to the 60-year-old head coach.
With that being the case, who else should the Flyers take a look at? Here are three potential outside the box head coaching options:
1. Todd McLellan
McLellan was fired by the Edmonton Oilers in November after they got off to a bad start to begin the season (9-10-1). The 51-year-old head coach was surprisingly replaced by former Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock.
Just like Hakstol, McLellan was in his fourth season with Edmonton and had an overall record of 23-119-24. During his tenure, the Oilers made the Stanley Cup playoffs last season but did not see the postseason the previous two seasons. This was a far cry from what he was able to do in San Jose, where he had six playoff appearances and three division titles.
2. Mike Yeo
Yeo was among the four head coaches who was fired in November, the former St. Louis Blues coach was replaced by one-time Flyers head coach Craig Berube.
Are you starting to see a pattern here?
At the time of his firing, the Blues had a record of 7-9-13 for 13 points, making them one of the worst teams in the NHL.
Unlike McLellan and Hakstol, Yeo was in the third year of a four-year contract. Coincidentally, he took over for Hitchcock halfway through the 2016 season.
Yeo led the Blues to the playoffs that season and had an overall coaching record of 73-48-11. Before joining St. Louis, he was the head coach of the Minnesota Wild for five seasons (2011-16).
3. Troy Mann
Mann is the head coach of Ottawa Senators’ AHL affiliate, Belleville Senators, and could be due for a promotion to the big leagues sooner than later. The 48-year-old head coach played a big part in developing a lot of the players on Washington Capitals’ roster as he was the lead guy for their AHL affiliate in Hershey, PA.
With the Hershey Bears, Mann led them to a couple of Atlantic Division titles and went to the Calder Cup Finals in 2016. Before becoming their head coach, he was an assistant coach from 2009-10 to 2012-13.
This season, the Senators have a record of 12-15-2 for 26 points, second-to-last place in the AHL’s North Division.
