Alain Vigneault snubs one of his Flyers for a Penguin at the World Championship.

This is certainly not how you win over your new fans as a head coach in the National Hockey League.

As all of our readers will know by now the Philadelphia Flyers and Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher announced last month that Alain Vigneault would be taking over as the next head coach of the Flyers organization. It was a fairly tepid announcement due in large part to the rumors that had swirled around Philadelphia earlier in the season, rumors that had linked them to former Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville. Quenneville is considered by many to be the best coach in the game, so landing anyone other than him was obviously going to feel like a step down for the Flyers fan base. 

In spite of that however there is no question that Vigneault is a very accomplished head coach. He coached in arguably the most intense hockey market on the planet when he was head coach of the Canadiens for 4 seasons, something that should indicate he will have the thick skin needed for a market like Philadelphia. He also led the Vancouver Canucks to their most successful runs in recent memory while coaching that team for 7 seasons and he most recently was head coach of the New York Rangers and made several deep runs with that team. He has been to 2 Stanley Cup Finals as well so there's likely nothing that Vigneault has not experienced to some degree in hockey. 

That being said he may also have made his first blunder as far as the Flyers fan base is concerned, although it certainly is an understandable move. According to a report from TSN's Brent Wallace it appears that Alain Vigneault will be snubbing one of his Flyers players at the World Championships and, perhaps even more damaging, he will be doing so in favor of a Penguins player. The Penguins are of course Philadelphia's most bitter rival, so I can imagine this decision ruffling a few feathers. 

So who are the players? Well Vigneault is currently coaching Team Canada at the World Championship and he's got both Flyers goaltender Carter Hart and Penguins goaltender Matt Murray on his squad. Vigneault has opted to go with Murray as the starter and although the move may not be popular Vigneault does have some reasoning for it.

"Matt has played in big moments and big games, pressure games. There is no doubt he is our number one goaltender."

It also has to be said that his job at this tournament is to represent the Canadian hockey program and not the Philadelphia Flyers organization, so he should not be looking at things from a Flyers first perspective. Something tells me that won't help smooth things over though.