5 Flyers coaching candidates no one is talking about

The Philadelphia Flyers are narrowing down their search for their head coach. We know that Rick Tocchet is expected to get an interview sooner or later, Pat Ferschweiler has talked with the team, there is an outside chance Brantford Bulldogs bench boss Jay McKee might use his connection with general manager Danny Briere to land an interview, and Brad Shaw is in contention to just stay with the team and have his interim tag removed from his job title.

Beyond those names, no one has truly been connected to the Flyers. In typical fashion with this front office, everything is very quiet until suddenly we know what their decision is.

With that in mind, there could certainly be some names that no one is really talking about, get an interview with the team and blow them away just enough to land the job.

And maybe the most obvious place to look for that is among current NHL assistants who have been part of some very good hockey teams and found success, but are just waiting for that right opportunity to take over. The right balance of experience in this league but not waiting for them to get fired or are just a retread can be typically found among assistants around the NHL. But, that’s enough overview, let’s chat some names.

Jeff Halpern

While we say no one is talking about these coaches, the one name that can challenge that notion is Tampa Bay Lightning assistant Jeff Halpern. The former NHL journeyman has been Jon Cooper’s right-hand man all the way back since the Syracuse Crunch days. First hired as a development coach for the Crunch in 2015, promoted just after one year to last two seasons as an assistant coach under Cooper as they developed the depth core of some of the best teams we have seen in the modern era. And then, of course, has been a Lightning assistant since the 2018-19 season.

It’s just such a natural conclusion to try and snag someone who has been relied upon by arguably the best coach in the entire league. And this wouldn’t be the first time some team wanted Halpern to be their bench boss. He was reportedly in the running to land the Washington Capitals job before they hired potential Jack Adams winner Spencer Carbery last summer.

For the Flyers, they would be getting someone who has been a part of very good teams and know what it takes to really get to the next level. And, as a little bonus, Halpern coached teams every single year that depended on some level of their young players taking key roles throughout the lineup to support the key stars at the top. That is something that Philadelphia will need if they want to consistently content and not just aim for the playoffs but aim for deep runs, as Briere has said multiple times.

Jeff Daniels

Another Jeff! This time, it’s another time of looking around at very good teams and longstanding successful franchises. Daniels, who is rarely ever talked about or praised, has been with the Carolina Hurricanes organization since 2003. That’s right, since before the season-losing lockout this guy has been brought.

Hired almost immediately after hanging up his skates after the 2002-03 season, Daniels was hired as the Hurricanes’ assistant coach in the middle of the following season. Since then, he has just hung around the organization — assistant coach until 2008 when he was the AHL affiliate’s general manager and head coach for seven more years, brought back to the NHL has a pro scout for a couple years, and then has been on the Hurricanes bench as one of Rod Brind’Amour’s assistants.

We have no real knowledge of whether or not Daniels even wants to leave that organization, considering he has been there for over 20 years and probably has roots there deeper than any other assistant coach in the entire league, but he probably deserves at least an interview to see. With experience in several different roles for a team that consistently wants to strive to be better, it feels too enticing to not bring in.

Marc Savard

Marc Savard might be one of the more underrated forwards in the modern era of the NHL and injuries robbed him of being more admired. Anyways, he’s in charge of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ power play and forwards right now. While this season might not be the most perfect year to try and pry a Leafs assistant no one can deny that it is a route some teams take and find some level of success with.

Spencer Carbery, Jim Hiller, Greg Cronin, and Manny Malhotra are just recent examples of people on the Toronto bench that have either become NHL head coaches recently or have done a very good job in the AHL (like Malhotra with Abbotsford). While of course someone like Cronin was generally hated by his young players and Hiller got outcoached by Kris Knoblauch in the first round of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, Carbery alone makes you want to look to that bench.

Under Savard this past season, Toronto ranks seventh in the NHL, in goals per 60 minutes in all situations with 3.23. The Flyers ranked 24th with just 2.79, for what it’s worth. At 5-on-5, the Leafs ranked 10th and then eighth in that same category on the power play. It’s not league-leading numbers but they are well above-average. Is it because of the talent they have, or the coaching? Well, that’s for you to decide.

Dean Chynoweth

While Savard might not be the most attractive option, there is already a former Leafs assistant coach that has moved on and to perform even better at his new home. Dean Chynoweth was an assistant in Toronto for three years under Sheldon Keefe, primarily being in charge of the defense (two years sharing the bench with Carbery and three with Malhotra) and when the coaching change was made this past summer, he took his talents to Winnipeg. And of course, just came off winning the President’s Trophy with the Jets.

Why Chynoweth could be an interesting option is exactly what he was able to do in both Toronto and Winnipeg. When you think of both of these teams you don’t think of defensive fortresses, but instead letting the entire blue line play above their overall talent level and led by two players who were able to flourish their offensive game under Chynoweth. That being Morgan Rielly and Josh Morrisey, of course. Could he do the same with someone like Jamie Drysdale and have a future Flyers blue line that won’t be headed by one single No. 1 blueliner but instead be a by-committee effort? Maybe.

Jamie Kompon

Oh, another assistant coach working for a very good team? Big surprise. Jamie Kompon has been a part of some very good benches. In most recent memory, he has been with Paul Maurice with the Winnipeg Jets and now with the reigning champion Florida Panthers. But the winning doesn’t stop there.

The 58-year-old from Thunder Bay, Ont. started as a video coach with the St. Louis Blues and then was brought up as an assistant coach to stand next to Joel Quenneville instead of go over tape with him, for the 2005-06 season. After this one year of being an assistant, he was hired by the Los Angeles Kings under Marc Crawford, through the Terry Murray reign and even remained on the bench as Darryl Sutter took over in the middle of the 2011-12 season and then lifted the Stanley Cup at the end of the season.

That was noticed by former boss Quenneville and Kompon was quickly hired by the Chicago Blackhawks and then was able to win another whole Cup with that team the very next season. In 2014, with two rings, he took over the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks as general manager and head coach and then got hired by the Jets to be one of Maurice’s assistants and the rest is history.