Dont have any link to the story yet, just got the text message. More to follow.


edit* heres the link from the flyers website:

Stevens named Coach of the Year.

I got the text message too....SWEET!!!!!!!!

This should be an interesting thread.

He did a fair job , not spectacular, BB in washington did a great job, but the day Stevens shows emotion will be the day I say he is the best coach in the NHL

You got that right

Yeah..... showing emotion = winning games .

Just a fair job, worst in the entire league to ECF's.

He is very deserving for the award but like he said in the article,"To me, this is more of an organizational award than a coaching award," said Stevens. "I think that it's a reflection of all the good things done from (General Manager) Paul Holmgren down to the players. The honor was given to me, but in my mind it should be given to the entire organization for all the work that everyone has done."

^^^ I completely agree.

Please tell me that was a sarcastic comment. Please??? Should we drop him for Torts??? That'd be awesome!!!(insert sarcastic smile) I don't want any Andy Reid-type threads around here, its bad enough at the EMB.

The Flyers did have some rough streaks this season. It was a great improvement, and looks great on paper. He's right, to give credit to Homer and the Flyers.... I still think the team would of done the same if not better without him.

Why do you feel that way??? What would a different coach have done to make things better???

Very deserving of him, nice job Stevens. Maybe you can take us further next year.

I'm just saying I think the Flyers would have done the same this season, without John Steves.

Another coach could have done things much differently pending, on his coaching strategies. I'm not saying John didn't do a good job, just that I think with the Talent we have, we would have done the same with someone else.

Congrats to John.

Never too high, never too low. Good for him, I thought he should have won the other one as well. Worst to 3rd or 4th best, yea he sux

Huh, that's cool. Good for him.

Who would you of rather had as coach ?

I think he vastly improved throughout the season. He really impressed me in the playoffs when he started to call out his players, the refs, didn't mess with the lines too much, made timely timeouts, and overall, I think the team responded well to that. They lost the first game of the first two series in heartbreaking-fashion, and were able to rebound from those losses with wins. He deserves a lot of the credit for that. But he also deserves a lot of the credit for the two major losing streaks during the season. Also, like he said, Homer deserves a ton of credit for putting this team together. Without his genius, no coach of the year award for Stevens.

I'm enjoyin this thread already

This will be his make-or-break year though. We have to finish in the top four in the conference at least

That was an interesting smiley

It needs an eyebrow waxing

I remember when everybody here was saying how terrible he was and how much they wanted him fired.

That only happens when we lose!

Stevens drew some criticism this year, and i'll go as far as saying next year will be no different. But where this team was at in the whole month of FEB, and where we ended up, shows that he can coach. Next year, he will have more exprience, and maybe he can learn from his mistakes. Congrats to John he deserved it this year.

whats next, JFJ GM of last 5 years!?

haha. not going to lie, he deserved it

That's the best evil smiley I could find.

I remember a lot of people criticizing Stevens during the season, and when they got pressed, they said they'd give him credit if he deserves it when the season's over. I can remember several specific people who said something similar to that. Then, funny thing, most of them were pretty quiet about it when the season was over. Some people don't like a person because they simply don't understand him (e.g. "I'll like him when he shows emotion").

Please, enlighten me. Why does a coach's emotion have ANY effect on the team and its' players. You mean to tell me these million-dollar athletes who have been playing hockey for 20+ years need coach to give them a good ol' speech in order to get some production out of them??? Does Stevens yelling at a ref really help our chances at all of winning the game?? Does a media outburst on a post-game interview truly set things right in the locker room??? Come on. We've seen it first-hand that emotional coaches aren't a grade above composed coaches (refer to Torts). This emotion thing is becoming laughable.

i completely agree. The guy completly turns around the team and no one likes him because he doesnt yell at the refs or the players...

As I believe you said earlier in the Spectrum thread, you have to give credit where credit is due. During the season, there were certainly lots of questions I had about Stevens, but they were more related to his level of experience than his level of ability -- if that makes sense. You can't argue with results, though. On one hand, I think you can say you don't like someone's "style" of coaching while still acknowledging that person can be a good coach. On the other hand, who am I to judge a coach? I am not behind the bench. I don't know what's going on. So, I can't say he's bad or good for that reason.

That's a pretty humble, and honest, statement. That's refreshing.

Thanks. I hope I learn from my mistakes. I know, in the heat of the moment, I've sometimes been at fault for throwing blame on the person that was easiest to blame. It's natural when you're emotionally invested in something. The hockey season is pretty long and, when you're in the middle of it, it's hard to separate yourself from it and view things from an objective standpoint.

"and view things from an objective standpoint."

It's the people that never get to that point who scare me.

niCe!

i agree with you, to bring them back from the bottom of the conference in half a year was an amazing thing to do. however, i don't think babcock should have been in the top 3 and stevens should have been in the top three for the official nhl award. the red wings were expected to be good where as the flyers werent even expected to make the playoffs

THN has a habit of naming random people as the best coaches and players. They already have little credibility in my eyes and this just once again shows that they don't want to choose the obvious names, but try to surprise people. Stevens did a good job in the playoffs and was average in the regular season. It's nice to see him get recognition somewhere, but coach of the year is a stretch.

Congrats, John

Cupcakes for everyone!!!!

A coach should be a calming influence on his team, not a hot head.

Congrats to John! I just hope that he learns from his mistakes and doesn't make the same ones this year. He's great developing our young talent and he definitely has the respect of the team. They play for him and that's all that I'm worried about. His statuesque demeanor means little to me...just as long as we see results on the ice!

As do I.


Agree; also, anything less than reaching the ECF again could be viewed as a step back.

I have to admit I was one of those calling for his head during the losing streak. So good for him.

Me too

Huh. I'm very glad to hear that. I give credit to Stevens for being able to recognize that and say it.

not to take anything away from the guy from washington, but stevens deserved this.

I know during the 10 game losing streak I certainly had my questions about Stevens, but in the end, he did a pretty decent job, and kudos to him on this award.

I'm with you. He wasn't terrible and wasn't great. He made some players become better all around players, but others are simply mind baffling.

I'm glad he was around for the youth movement as I don't particularly relish the idea of Hitchcock with a team will of young, unproven players. Sure he made Gagne better, but that's the minority not the majority. Think of the young players who Hitch simply had no time for. Stevens was better at that imo.

Though some of the guys Stevens picks as whipping boys is simply mind boggling. Hartnell could go 20 (he did infact) without scoring a goal and Stevens wouldn't scratch him even once. Or even decrease his ice time as a wake up call. Upshall could make one mistake and bam he's out of the line up for 2 games. Even Downie, who I think is (or was last year) not NHL ready was inserted in and out of the line up on a whim. Umberger - 4th line for you to start the playoffs (simply and odd call). Or his (maybe more of the organization's) odd sense of faith in Randy JOnes.

Def some good points here. Although I for some reason always had faith in John, even during the 10 game losing streak, i think his class and attitude about the team really shows when he gives the credit for the award to the whole organization. I do however feel like Stevens made the right choice with Hartnell. Although eh could send Hartnell a message by decreasing ice time or benching(like he did with upshall and downie), i feel like Stevens probably didn't want to get in Hartnells head. Hartnell eventually came around, and perhaps not having an distractions or diminished ice time allowed him to play more and get his groove back. Upshall though didn't deserve the benching, and Umberger on the 4th line was stupid when I saw it, but in retrospect in was the playoffs, everybody wanted to play, guys coming back from injury, so the line up was alittle clustered.