The Philadelphia Flyers’ coaching search continues on, and we have another fresh rumor report to talk about. Guess what? It’s about Rick Tocchet again, who seems to be the odds-on frontrunner for this job, at least in the media.
On Friday’s edition of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman briefly discussed the status of the Flyers search for a head coach.
“Philadelphia, we talked the last pod about Rick Tocchet, the feeling that he’s their number one guy, and I still believe that. But I will say this, there seems to be a growing belief that he will consider television next season,” Friedman said. “There seems to be the belief that he will consider TV next year if the overall landscape isn’t as he wants it.
“But Philly’s definitely interested, and I think he’s the first guy on their list,“ Friedman concluded.
We previously knew that Tocchet was piquing the Flyers’ interest, but this is the first report that he’s potentially at the very top of the list. This report does suggest some level of uncertainty regarding if Tocchet will actually coach in the NHL next year, lending credence to the idea that Tocchet might have had a level of “burnout” this past year in Vancouver. We’ll see if the Flyers will attempt to persuade Tocchet to coach the Orange and Black, or if Tocchet opts for another job (perhaps broadcasting!).
Even more interesting from the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Friedman mentions a possible candidate that we’ve not seen any reports about yet: Brantford Bulldogs head coach Jay McKee.
“I think another coach who could be on Philly’s radar, somebody mentioned him to me the other day. He’s got a history with Daniel Briere. They were teammates in the NHL. And that is Jay McKee, the former Buffalo Sabre, who has spent the last seven years coaching in the Ontario Hockey League,” Friedman said.
Briefly examining the coaching résumé of McKee, he began his coaching career as an assistant with the AHL’s Rochester Americans in 2011, before moving to the OHL for an assistant role with the Erie Otters and then the Kitchener Rangers. Then, McKee took over as head coach of Kitchener in 2016, where he guided the Rangers to the Western Conference Finals in 2018 before being fired two seasons later.
Since 2021, McKee has been the head coach of the Brantford (formerly Hamilton) Bulldogs. In his very first season with the organization, McKee led the team to the OHL’s equivalent of the President’s Trophy – the Hamilton Spectator Trophy – and eventually an OHL championship. Since then, the organization moved from Hamilton to Brantford, and it took until this past season for the Bulldogs to really compete again. With a roster that includes expected lottery pick Jake O’Brien, the Bulldogs led the Eastern Conference in points with 93, before falling in the second round to the Oshawa Generals.
Long story short, McKee has experienced some success and has had an extensive amount of experience developing young players in juniors. Seems like he checks some of the Flyers boxes, so we’ll see if he becomes a serious candidate for the Flyers job in the coming weeks.
