When Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet was brought on board on May 14, 2025, it was totally reasonable to believe he would hire his own assistants. At the time, there was speculation the team’s interim head coach, Brad Shaw, might stick around to be one of the assistants. But just under two weeks later, Shaw joined New Jersey as an assistant coach. On June 5, 2025, the Flyers announced that both Jay Varady, and Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovsky would join the staff. Fifteen days later, the team rounded out the staff with Todd Reirden hired, primarily in charge of the defense and penalty killing unit.
“I’m excited to bring Yogi and Jay on board with me,” Tocchet stated at the time of the first two assistant hirings. “I know both of them very well. They each provide a different skill set and more importantly, a different voice, both of which I believe is crucial in not only building a coaching staff, but an entire team and how we grow together. I very much look forward to getting down to work with them again soon.”
Svejkovsky was Tocchet’s assistant in 2024-25 in Vancouver while Varady spent three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings from 2022 through to 2025. While neither was given precise roles publicly, the general consensus was Svejkovsky — who was an skills coach with the Canucks before becoming an assistant — would be at the helm for the power play. It was a tall order, to get the dire Philadelphia power play off the mat after years of being terrible. In 2024-25, the team finished 30th in the league at 15 per cent. However, the idea seemed to be some fresh ideas, schemes, and plenty of video work would have the Flyers turn the corner.
Well, just over a year after Tocchet’s hiring, Philadelphia’s power play improved by seven-tenths of a percent. But there should be no celebration or parade because of that miniscule increase. That 15.7 per cent was dead last in the 32-team league. They scored 37 goals in 235 opportunities. Seventeen teams were at least five per cent better than Philadelphia was over the course of the 82-game season. Edmonton, who topped the league, was just eight-tenths of a point away from doubling the Flyers’ power play percentage. Even worse for the Flyers, by allowing nine short-handed goals over the season, their net power play was just 11.9 per cent. again last in the league. All these numbers, and Philadelphia still overcame this to earn a playoff spot. A resilient season, but not a recipe for long-term (and playoff) success.
So, with no visible improvement under Tocchet and his assistants in year one, is it time to possibly look at a change in the assistant coach personnel? Or should the coaching staff stay the same and allow Flyers general manager Danny Briere a chance this summer to add more high-end talent (particularly down the middle), thus maybe giving the power play life?
Flyers’ power play started well, then went downhill
In the first 16 games of 2025-26, Philadelphia had 10 power play goals, including a four-game streak where they scored a power play goal. The newly acquired Trevor Zegras had five power play points in October, and four more in November. The Flyers weren’t lighting the league on fire with a torrid power play. But compared to 2024-25, being a bit further from the bottom of the league — even if for a portion of the season — seemed a huge step forward. Unfortunately, Philadelphia would score 27 goals the last 66 games with the man advantage. Perhaps even more staggering was Zegras factored in on 23 of the 37 goals, or just over 62 per cent of the team’s output. As bad as the power play was, imagine what it would’ve have been without Zegras?
Here’s a month by month look at what the power play did:
| Month | Power play goals/opportunites | Percentage |
| October | 6 for 30 | 20 per cent |
| November | 5 for 33 | 15.1 per cent |
| December | 6 for 44 | 13.6 per cent |
| January | 8 for 50 | 16 per cent |
| February | 2 for 13 | 15.4 per cent |
| March | 6 for 45 | 13.3 per cent |
| April | 4 for 20 | 20 per cent |
Whatever was done during the first month and last month of the season, ideally Philadelphia sees much more of that percentage next year. Adding Zegras to the power play unit was paying off dividends early, but then petered out the longer the season went on. And at season’s end, Porter Martone’s arrival saw him score two power play goals and added two assists. Thus, Martone factored in every power play goal in the final month.
In general, the power play suffered from a lot of the same problems in previous years. The Flyers resorted to the “slingshot” method to enter the offensive zone. Yet sometimes having six guys to squeeze by (four of your teammates and often two defenders) often resulted in broken plays, quick clears, or a bevy of offside calls. When they got into the zone, the decision-making and passing was often at a snail’s pace, with the reads or seams never developing to Tocchet’s liking. Too often in game-day pressers or after games, Tocchet would break down the other team’s penalty kill blueprint, knowing there was an odd-man advantage that could be created with quick tape-to-tape passes. But seeing those breakdowns and seeing the players taking advantage of those were two different things.
“So these are just things that we’re going to have to go through and keep teaching,” Tocchet said on March 15, with the Flyers still not quite in the playoff hunt but not dead in the water. “How do you give them confidence? Got to keep working on practice, try different things. I know it’s a rinse and repeat, I get that. But that’s the thing we have to come up with and get some juice for some guys. Some guys get dejected too early and too easily and you can’t. You got to have that power play, regardless if you’re 0 for 5, you get that sixth power play with three minutes left, you got to have that confidence to put it away. So it’s on us to give those guys confidence.”
Confidence in the assistants?
Tocchet, Svekjkovsk, and Varady are going to have their work cut out for them this summer if Briere isn’t able to add some high-end talent up front, or acquire a highly offensive defenseman with a booming shot from the point. Otherwise it’s using essentially some of the same personnel as last season and trying to implement confidence that the team can score more often than not when they get a power play. The two things the coaching staff — as well as everyone else watching the team — needed to acknowledge at year’s end was that it was a new system being implemented. And perhaps most importantly, the condensed schedule thanks to the Winter Olympics left any teams trying to put together a new blueprint regarding special teams behind the eight ball right off the bat.
By having a horde of back-to-back games, three-in-four, or four-in-six, Tocchet and his staff simply didn’t have the time to get the required reps in both mentally and physically. In short, much less time to work on the power play resulted in a power play that often looked like it needed a lot of work. So there was a learning curve Philadelphia didn’t have time to wrap their heads around. However, while that explanation might buy the staff a bit more wiggle room heading into 2026-27, it’s not something the team can use as a legitimate excuse heading into December or January this coming year. They need to hit the ground at least walking come October regarding the power play.
Perhaps what might put Svejkovsky on the hot seat is if the power play is at the same efficiency 30 to 35 games into the season. The likes of Zegras, Matvei Michkov, Owen Tippett, Tyson Foerster, and Travis Konency should be aided by Martone, Denver Barkey, and Alex Bump up front. So next year’s version of the team will have more talent up front than last season. Having more talent should create more chances and, hopefully, putting Philadelphia somewhere near the middle of the pack regarding effectiveness. A better power play would put less pressure on the club all around. It might put the Flyers in the lead far more than they were starting games in 2025-26. It would also take some pressure off goaltender Dan Vladar, possibly realizing the team could score three or more goals a lot easier than they did in his first year with the club. And, if down in a game, they could know they would have a puncher’s chance at tying the game on the power play.
Playoff success raises expectations
Finally, the Flyers made the playoff with a bad power play. That is often a rarity for any team. It’s rare for a team to be this bad the next season a man up and make the proverbial dance again. So expectations have been raised based on making the playoffs, whether that’s fair or unfair starting next year. Seeing Philadelphia get off to a bad start on the power play would only bring back memories the last few seasons, and the same mistakes would most likely start reappearing. Nobody needs to see Zegras, Michkov, Martone, Barkey, and Bump struggling early on next year, particularly on the power play. If they do, it’s seems likely that the general manager won’t give the assistants another full 82-game slate to figure things out. Nobody is expecting the Flyers to turn into Edmonton south on the power play. Just some measurable, tangible improvement would satisfy many. And probably nobody more than Tocchet, Svejkovsky, and Varady.
