Rumor: Flyers looking at bringing in legendary defenseman to help coach Ivan Provorov

A smart move that makes a lot of sense.

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Published 2 years ago
Rumor: Flyers looking at bringing in legendary defenseman to help coach Ivan Provorov
Zuma Press

It's fair to say just 23 games into the 2021-22 season that the entire campaign is a complete waste for the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Flyers are at the basement of the NHL's Metropolitan Division alongside the New York Islanders with an 8-11-4 record and a miserable nine game losing streak. Head coach Alain Vigneault has been fired and even local police dogs are taking fat dumps on the Flyers' logo at Wells Fargo Center. In other words: Things can't get much worse.

Interim head coach Mike Yeo is calling the shots behind the bench right now, but there are reports that the team is interested in everyone from John Tortorella to Rick Tocchet to Jim Montgomery. It remains to be seen what happens at the head coaching position, but NHL insider Elliotte Friemdan reports that former NHL defenseman Adam Foote could factor into things in an assistant role for the Flyers.

From Friedman's latest "32 Thoughts" column for Sportsnet:

7. The Flyers are expected to quickly hire someone to coach the defence. We’ve spent a lot of time talking Elias Pettersson’s struggles, but Ivan Provorov is another really talented youngster who does not look anything like himself. One rumoured possibility: Adam Foote, who certainly maximized his own ability.

- Elliotte Friedman

Interesting choice.

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea if Foote is any good of a coach, but he was a fantastic defensive defenceman during the prime of his NHL career. He was an honest, no-nonsense defender who actually had more offensive awareness than people gave him credit for.

The 50 year old Foote did coach one year in the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets during the 2019-20 season where he went 29-28-0-6 with his son Nolan Foote on the roster. Adam's sons Nolan and Cal are, of course, both members of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization.