2 year extension, discuss.

good move, im a fan

Source:


Can't hurt to give him an extension. Coach contracts mean nothing in this day and age. If he does a bad job, he'll get fired. So, giving him an extension is a win/win situation, for the most part.

I thought this happened already.

Thats what I thought too.

I said the same thing

Same for me.

Same for me.

I thought so also. But I guess that was just an extension offer made that we all heard of. And this is Stevens actually accepting it.

I think you're thinking about the one-year extension that he signed during the season that covered the upcoming season.

Dang. Byrns thought it twice.

I know I was quite sure!

You meant once for each year of the extension... right?

Good for Stevens

Congrats to Stevens, he earned it .

Not a big fan, but I can't say he doesn't deserve it.

I like it

i'm glad

The sad thing is, I replied to both comments by the same person.

The jurys still out on this one! I don't know if his coaching style is good, bad, or ugly. He 's either a genius or a moron! He's an enigma!

That makes you look silly and not meehh.

Good. I like Stevens and hope he and the team continue to grow together.

i like it
john stevens imo is a really good coach that has the ability to bring out the best in young players, and we have a lot of those

For EVERYONE!!!!

I thought everyone on these boards hated Stevens O.o

Almost everyone

I didn't like him until we beat Montreal in semifinals on the road. That was a rare moment that I've only enjoyed once before in '87. Seriously, from last to conference finals: great turnaround.

Some people are not able to see quality before they see results.

It's usually "hate first, ask questions later" around here.

Stevens has had his ups and downs regarding popular opinion. The 10 game losing streak didn't help, but he did coach the Flyers into the ECF and has a winning history in the AHL.

I predict a very strong year for Stevens and the Flyers

You would.

He always looked so lazy behind the bench, I didn't understand his coaching style at first but as the year went on, I started really liking the guy. Some of his moves were questionable but no coach is perfect.

i hated him for the majority of the season. He put the wrong guys out a lot for match ups, and the 10 game loosing streak obviously wasn't good...along with other mistakes i know he made but can't think of right now lol. But the great playoff run changed my opinion of him. As far as the extension, I'm glad he got it, I think he will do fine this season, maybe win the division.

I am willing to bet everyone will jump right back on that I hate Stevens train once we lose our first game haha.

I won't ..never been on that train

honestly, he's gonna have to do alot for me to hate him. i think he's a really good coach

I liked him throughout the entire season. Yeah, there were some moments that left me scratching my head, like benching certain players (for example of this statement, please turn your attention left to my avatar. please, no flash photography). I was one of the peole who did have a problem with letting other players seem to slide for making the same mistake. However, as others on this board said, we don't see everything that goes on off the ice. What was done was done for a reason, and in the end I still thought he did an amazing job.

we gave him a one year extension during the season (at least i think it was a 1 year) and now were giving him 2 more years, so i think he now has a 3 or 4 year contract

you cant really hate a guy when he takes you to the ECF after being last place... i'm even starting to warm up to him

Agreed. At this point he's gonna have to mess up pretty bad in my opinion for the hate to come back.

Not sure why there ever would have been hate.

maybe hate was an overstatement....dislike would be more appropriate.

Me either..oh wait, he doesn't scream at players from the bench , he shows no emotion , the people that were all over him last season are....... well, nevermind

I agree! Stevens is a good guy I like em!

Some quick Stevens facts from Wikipedia:

Awards
1988 - Calder Cup Hershey Bears (Player)
1991 - Calder Cup Springfield Indians (Player, Team Captain)
1996 - AHL All-Star Game (Player)
1998 - Calder Cup Philadelphia Phantoms (Player; Team Captain)
2005 - Calder Cup Philadelphia Phantoms (Head Coach)
2007 - Philadelphia Phantoms Hall of Fame inductee [3]
2008 - The Hockey News Coach of the Year [4]

Records
1994 - Scored first goal in Springfield Falcons history
1996 - Scored first goal in Philadelphia Phantoms history
2006 - Most consecutive losses in Philadelphia Flyers history (10) (Head Coach)
2007 - Largest point drop from one season to the next in NHL history (101 points in 2005 – 2006 season to 56 points in 2006 – 2007 season) (Head Coach)
2008 - Tied 2006 record of most consecutive losses in Philadelphia Flyers history (10) (Head Coach)

The poor stats Stevens has to his credit (most consecutive losses, largest point drop, worst season in Flyers' history) are freakishly bad but you have to wonder if anyone would take issue with him if you remove the '06-'07 year from the equation.

Sure, the Flyers dropped 45 points from '05-'06 to '06-'07 but, if you ask me, the organization did a crappy job at bringing in talent for that '07 team. Calder, Robitaille, Zhitnik, York, Nedved, Jonsson, etc. The list of crap goes on while the team guys like Primeau, Johnsson and Desjardins from the '05-'06 season. (Ok, Primeau barely played before he got hurt.) Forsberg also played 20 fewer games in '06-'07. Also, the young guys (Richards, Carter, Umberger) were all having rough years.

Anyway, Stevens has captained two teams to the Calder Cup, coached one team there, coached the Flyers to the ECFs (while getting 39 points more than the previous year), and was named coach of the year. Not a bad track record at all and I don't think there's really much to worry about when people's biggest complaint is that he's not loud enough. Berube's behind the bench now too.

Did he make mistakes? Sure, everybody does. Does he favor certain players? It's possible but I can't say for sure since I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Did I criticize Stevens in the past? Sure. It's the typical Philly fan MO that someone sucks until that person has proven otherwise. (ie. Just last night, my dad was calling Jayson Werth a bum as he was hitting what became the game winning home run.) I think it's safe to say that Stevens is proving otherwise.

Awards
1988 - Calder Cup Hershey Bears (Player)
1991 - Calder Cup Springfield Indians (Player, Team Captain)
1996 - AHL All-Star Game (Player)
1998 - Calder Cup Philadelphia Phantoms (Player; Team Captain)
2005 - Calder Cup Philadelphia Phantoms (Head Coach)
2007 - Philadelphia Phantoms Hall of Fame inductee [3]
2008 - The Hockey News Coach of the Year [4]

Records
1994 - Scored first goal in Springfield Falcons history
1996 - Scored first goal in Philadelphia Phantoms history

Looks like the man is Blessed!