After the Philadelphia Flyers hired Rick Tocchet as head coach earlier in May, many were wondering who he was going to add to his staff as assistant or associate coaches. Rumours have been swirling but according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovský is expected to rejoin Tocchet in Philadelphia.
Svejkovsky was a former player who spent parts of 5 seasons in the NHL as a left wing, scoring 23 goals and 42 points in 113 games split between Washington – who drafted him in the first round in 1996 – as well as Tampa Bay and Detroit from 1996-2000.
He spent a few years as an assistant coach for the Vancouver Giants of the WHL before joining the Canucks organization as a skills coach for both the NHL and AHL teams. He then joined Tocchet’s coaching staff last year as an assistant, where he was responsible for the Canucks power play that finished 15th in the league. It was a slight step back from the previous year when Vancouver finished 12th league-wide.
Last year was a bit troubling for the Canucks’ offense as they dealt with a myriad of injuries to key players as well as the Elias Pettersson-J.T. Miller feud that resulted in the latter being traded to the New York Rangers. Pettersson played 64 games, Quinn Hughes played in 68 games, Brock Boeser missed 7 games, and Miller missed a chunk as well before being moved.
As for the Flyers, a 15th-ranked power play would be a massive step up from their bottom-ranked power plays over the last 4 years. After finishing dead last in 3 straight years, the Flyers improved to 30th this past season, scoring 32 times on 214 attempts for a paltry 14.95%, which ultimately led to Rocky Thompson’s dismissal.
The Flyers had Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny leading the way with 8 power play tallies, followed by Tyson Foerster’s 6, and Bobby Brink, Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale each tallying two. Conversely, Jake DeBrusk led Svejkovský’s power play with 14 goals, followed by Boeser’s 9 and Pettersson’s and Conor Garland’s 7 tallies.
The Thompson-led power play was as futile and abysmal as we’ve ever seen in recent years. The Flyers power play used to be an advantage and a source of offensive firepower, however it became a disadvantage to a point where it killed momentum almost immediately and helped the opposition more than the Flyers itself.
Perhaps with a new coaching staff in charge, the Flyers power play can at the very least return to the middle of the table. They have solid weapons all around where they should improve but they needed a strategic overhaul after too much predictability from not being able to enter the zone, no one-timers, and never being in the right position.
The Canucks power play did struggle at times last year but there were far larger issues fundamentally outside of the man advantage. With a clean slate for both organizations when it comes to the coaching staffs, it will be interesting to see how both teams fare. The Canucks promoted Adam Foote as their head coach shortly after Tocchet was hired by the Flyers, and the former added Kevin Dean earlier this week as well.
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