The Flyers announced a coaching change today, bringing on former Florida Panthers assistant coach Gord Murphy to fill the same role in Philadelphia. They also announced that John Paddock, who has been with the club in multiple capacities since 2008, has been let go.
“Gord brings a wealth of experience coaching defensemen at the NHL level,” Flyers general manager Hextall said in a press release. “We are excited to have Gord on our staff and look forward to him working with our defensemen and the rest of our coaching staff. We’d like to thank John for being an integral part of our organization and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
Murphy has held two assistant coaching jobs in the NHL: the Florida gig, which he held for three years before the entire Panthers coaching staff was let go in November, and a seven-year stint with Columbus. He also lost that job
Murphy is a former NHL defenseman, drafted originally by the Flyers in 1985. He won the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the Flyers best defenseman in 1989-90, and left Philadelphia in a trade with Boston in 1992. He also played for the Panthers and the Atlanta Thrashers, may they rest in peace.
“I’m very excited and really looking forward to the opportunity and challenge of working with the Flyers organization and with Craig Berube and his staff,” Murphy said. “I couldn’t be more thrilled for this opportunity for myself and my family coming back to Philly. As a former player and now the last 11 years in my role as an assistant coach, I consider myself a good teacher with a good balance of experience. I really look forward to working with and mentoring the defensemen everyday by having them continue to improve and get the Flyers to where we all want to be.”
It seems like Murphy will be responsible for working with the Flyers defensemen, primarily. Hopefully he can be a helpful teacher to young defensemen in the organization like Shayne Gostisbehere, Sam Morin and Robert Hagg.
Ian Laperriere and Joe Mullen remain the other two Flyers assistant coaches under head coach Craig Berube. Jeff Reese is still the goaltending coach, and Adam Patterson is the video coach.
