The City of Brotherly Love wasn't so brotherly or lovely for Philadelphia Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette.
Paul Holmgren, the general manager of the Flyers had a "gut feeling" it was time for a change. And since when does preseason really matter that much? In the case of the Flyers, gut feelings, a 1-6 preseason and an 0-3 start was enough for the ax to fall on Laviolette…
…And this is why the NHL confuses me to no end.
In his fifth season with the team, Laviolette was relieved of his coaching duties after the Flyers lost to the Carolina Hurricanes on the tail-end of a back-to-back game weekend on the road in two different countries. Tough break to start the season having to play the Montreal Canadiens in Quebec, Canada, then travel to play in Raleigh, N.C. just 22 hours after the game North of the United States' border started.
Since when do preseasons really matter enough to base a firing off of? If that were true, the New York Yankees would've fired Joe Torre years before he could've seen out his 12 year term in the Bronx.
Since when was an 0-3 start to a season enough to fire a coach before the fourth game? Hockey season started just last week. Holmgren said he thought about replacing Laviolette after last season, one in which the Flyers didn't make the playoffs for the first time under Laviolette. Remember though, it was a lockout-shortened season with no training camp and about 20 other factors going against the Flyers, including the Ilya Bryzgalov debacle that Sporting News' national hockey writer Sean Gentille called "a total side show."
Instead of going a different direction in the offseason, Holmgren decided to give Laviolette another chance. In no world does three games consist of another chance.
In his four-plus years with the team, Laviolette led the Flyers to the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals, but lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games. That's the same Blackhawks team that won the Cup last season, so they're just a little bit good. The Flyers' 2010 run wasn't exactly a guaranteed thing either. It was improbable and probably could've come close to comparing to the Los Angeles Kings run in 2012.
Sure he could be a tough coach to play for and the time could have just come for him to move on, but if that's the case, let him go before the season starts and not three games in.
The good thing for Laviolette is this is hockey. He's resurrected a Carolina franchise and led them to a Stanley Cup championship in 2006. Laviolette is an Olympic coach for the U.S. in next year's Olympics. It's not like he's an ESPN analyst trying to get back in the game like the Barry Melrose experiment with the Tampa Bay Lightning that went horribly wrong. (He was fired 16 games into his first season with the team). Laviolette is going to get another job if not as soon as the next firing this season. But wow, that's a rough termination for a guy three games into the season.
On a completely unrelated note to Laviolette being fired, how about Patrick Roy's tirade on, of all nights, his NHL coaching debut with the Colorado Avalanche.
If you missed it, it was a doozy.
http://youtu.be/3y2OOc6WTrg
Welcome back to Colorado, Patrick. Here's to hoping the antics don't wear out your welcome too fast. Your club did win 6-1 after all in your debut, so obviously something is going right.