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Quick Hits: Vigneault, PK, TIHF and More

June 15, 2020, 8:00 AM ET [13 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Quick Hits: June 15, 2020

1) Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault has a chance to make some team and individual history this year depending on how the voting goes for the Jack Adams Award. With four apiece, the Flyers are tied with the Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes for the most Jack Adams Award wins among their respective head coaches over team history. The previous Flyers winners were Fred Shero (1973-74), Pat Quinn (1979-80), Mike Keenan (1984-85) and Bill Barber (2000-01). Terry Murray was a finalist in 1994-95 but Marc Crawford (Quebec Nordiques) won that year.

If Vigneault finishes in the top three of the NHL Broadcasters' Association poll, it will mark the fifth time and fourth team for whom he's earned a Jack Adams Award finalist spot in his distinguished NHL coaching career. If he wins the award, it will be his second win after previously capturing the honor with the Vancouver Canucks in 2006-07. Additionally, Vigneault would join select company as just the eighth repeat winner in the award's history and the seventh to do it with two or more teams.

Vigneault is not a slam-dunk to win this year's award. He faces tough competition from the likes of Bruce Cassidy (Boston), former Flyers head coach Craig Berube (St. Louis Blues), John Tortorella (Columbus), Jared Bednar (Colorado) and a few others.

Today on the Flyers' official website, we have a feature article looking at the case for Vigneault to win the Jack Adams Award this season. Additionally, on today's edition of Flyers Daily on the Flyers Broadcast Network, Jason Myrtetus and I discussed the same topic. Click here to listen on demand.

2) Speaking of Flyers Daily, in case you missed it, on the June 12 edition of the show, Jason was joined by Flyers assistant general manager and club vice president Brent Flahr to discuss the organization's prospecs in the farm system. In the second segment, Jason and I discussed Phase 3 of the NHL's return-to-play plan. Click here for more.

3) Other articles to watch for this week and next on the Flyers' official website: a new in-depth "Inside the Numbers" feature, with numerous video examples to illustrate the Flyers' penalty killing improvements this season before the NHL pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic; a look at how the goalie rotation might be handled at the start of Phase 4; an all-new Therien's Take with Chris Therien, and a look at the Flyers forecheck in the offensive and neutral zones. I'm also working on developing a scouting-related article.

4) Today in Flyers History: June 15, 1994

In exchange for obtaining permission for Florida Panthers general manager Bob Clarke to break his contract with the team and rejoin the Flyers for a second GM tenure, the Flyers sent a 1994 second-round pick (Ryan Johnson) as compensation. Out-going general manager Russ Farwell stayed on long enough to oversee the Entry Draft in conjunction with Clarke, as there were only 13 days left before the Draft would be held in Hartford. The prep work and all but the final pre-Draft meeting with the scouts had already been done.

5) On Facebook, there is an excellent group called Roger Neilson's Coaches Connection, which is a legacy project of the camps started by its late namesake. Through this group, I discovered a blog that I think will be of interest to hardcore hockey fans as well as to coaches: The Hockey Tactics Newsletter. It is free to subscribe.

A recent blog, for example, looks at the pros and cons of deploying wingers on their off-wing.
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