After Dave Hakstol hiring, status of Flyers assistant coaches still in question

Philadelphia Flyers assistant coaches Ian Laperriere, Joe Mullen and Gord Murphy still have their jobs, but their future with the organization remains very much up in the air. In a nutshell, new head coach Dave Hakstol doesn't know what he's going to do with his staff just yet.

Consider it evaluation in progress.

"I'm going to work through that process over the next couple of weeks," said Hakstol. "I'm a rookie head coach at this level. I'm looking for good people, good work ethic, good minds, and then putting the pieces of the right staff together to move forward."

Hakstol has said in the past that he likes his coaching staff to really work as a unit, and not so much as a top-down pyramid where the head coach surrounds himself with a bunch of so-called yes men. So gathering a staff that he's comfortable with is important, and it's obviously important that Hakstol has a group that can help him learn the quirks of coaching at the NHL level.

Maybe that means an experienced NHL coach steps in -- some have suggested that veteran NHL head coach Terry Murray step up from coaching the AHL's Phantoms, where's he's been for several years -- or maybe it means guys Hakstol's worked with in the past step in. Maybe it means some combination of those options. But it's all still a question.

"Dave and I are going to sit down and start to gather ideas about what we want" said general manager Ron Hextall, "and we'll form a staff from there. All the assistants now are still part of our staff, and when we move forward here we'll let everybody know. Dave and I, through our talks ... it's very important to him to have the right people, the right fit on the staff, and I feel the same way. We're going to again get together on that and start working our way through it.

"All those guys will have a chance to stay, but again we'll see when we get through it."