Flyers fire assistant coaches Rocky Thompson, Darryl Williams

The Philadelphia Flyers announced on Wednesday afternoon that they have fired assistant coaches Rocky Thompson, Darryl Williams, and Angelo Ricci.

“I would like to thank Darryl, Rocky and Angelo for their dedication and all of their efforts over the last several years to the Flyers organization,” said Briere in a release from the team. “After careful evaluation, I felt that this was best for the future direction of the team.”

The most significant firing of this bunch is certainly Rocky Thompson. Thompson, 47, was largely responsible for the team’s power play (as well as general offense) which has been an absolute disaster ever since he was hired before the 2022-23 season. The Flyers had the NHL’s worst power play success rate for his first two seasons and this season improved all the way up to 30th overall with 15 percent success rate, largely thanks to the arrival of rookie Matvei Michkov. Whether it was truthfully because of his impact or not, that level of underperformance from a key part of winning actual hockey games, had to be answered for.

In addition to Thompson, Darryl Williams was also let go from his position as assistant coach. Williams, 57, has been with the Flyers since the 2021-22 after being hired during the final year of Alain Vigneault’s reign behind the Philadelphia bench, and then carried on through John Tortorella’s tenure.

Angelo Ricci was also removed from his position as Flyers assistant coach and has been with the organization the longest out of the three. Originally hired as just a skills coach in the 2019-20 season, Ricci worked his way onto the bench as an assistant coach while keeping his skills coach responsibilities for the last two seasons. Previously, he was a skills coach and development consultant for the Buffalo Sabres for four seasons from 2014 to 2018.

Now, we know for sure that the only member of the 2024-25 Flyers coaching staff that even has a chance at still being with this team next season is Brad Shaw. Reportedly, Shaw is being considered for the head coach position, but is also open to returning as an assistant coach depending on who the new head coach is.