The Flyers Just Hired A Coach Who Once Took His Shirt Off And Tried To Fight Evander Kane At Practice
Rocky W. Widner/NHL. Getty Images.A late great philosopher once said "if you can't beat 'em, then beat 'em up". And that appears to be exactly what Chuck Fletcher and the Philadelphia Flyers intend to do. Because the roster they've assembled couldn't even beat your Tuesday night C-division beer league team. That wasn't going to stop them from going out and signing Nic Deslauriers to a 4-year deal as their big splash in free agency yesterday.
And apparently it's not enough to make sure they assemble a roster full of fighters, but also a coaching staff full of dudes who will throw down at any given moment. Even if it's with their own players.
Source -- The Athletic also reported that Kane almost got into a fight with Sharks assistant coach Rocky Thompson over the winger’s positioning on the power play.
Kane addressed the dispute with Thompson, who went unnamed, in the TSN interview:
“There was one story with an assistant coach, who had taken his shirt off during a power play meeting and challenged me to a fight," … "We were in a power play meeting, I think we were just giving our opinions on what we could do better and I gave my opinion.
“I think our assistant coach, he maybe didn’t agree with it — anyways, the meeting was over and we’re all kind of getting ready and chatting afterwards and he comes back into the locker room, with his shirt off and flexing and kind of being all hype and whatnot, and challenging me to a fight.
Rocky Thompson was definitely an animal in his playing days. Guy played in 25 career NHL games and had 117 penalty minutes. From everything I've read, it seems like he's tried to shed that persona and be a legitimate hockey mind behind the bench. But I guess if you put him in the same room as Evander Kane for long enough…
It sucks because if the Flyers had a halfway decent roster, I would have LOVED this hire. A meathead who pops the top off and challenges his players to a fight in the locker room? That's my kinda guy right there. But since this team is so atrocious, this hire just comes across as extremely desperate. Like they're forcing this Broad Street Bullies identity onto this team because they know they're going to be awful and it's the only way to try to sell the product to the fans. The Flyers have been trying to reclaim the days of the Broad Street Bullies since 1975 at this point and it hasn't worked yet. Maybe one day those idiots in charge will realize it'll never work. But yeah. Welcome to Philly, coach.
P.S. -- Guarantee you at least 35% of the reason behind this hire is because he goes by "Rocky".