Here's what transpired at the podium on Monday in the Hall of Fame room at Wells Fargo Center during the presser to announce Craig Berube replacing Peter Laviolette as Flyers coach:
Philadelphia Flyers Press Conference
October 7, 2013
Ed Snider – Comcast-Spectacor Chairman
Peter Luukko – Comcast-Spectacor President/COO
Paul Holmgren – Flyers General Manager
Craig Berube – Flyers Head Coach
Opening Statements
Paul Holmgren: "Thank you all for being here today. Just to fill you in on the timeline of things here: I met with Peter Laviolette early this morning and informed him that he was being relieved of his duties as head coach. Right after that, I met with assistant coach Kevin McCarthy and told Kevin the same thing. After that, I met with Craig (Berube), and we talked, and I offered him the job to be the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. Craig accepted, and here we are today.
"I think from a timeline standpoint of my decision, on making this change at such an early point in the season, I can go back a little bit to last year with my concerns on how the team played. Looking back, you think, lockout, shortened year, we didn't have a training camp, we had a lot of injuries—I thought it was important that Peter had another shot with our training camp.
"I think some of the additions that we made this summer were good additions—Ray Emery, Vinny Lecavalier, and Mark Streit. I think there was some excitement about our team going into training camp, and right from day one of training camp I was concerned about how the team looked. 0-3 is 0-3; we still have a long way to go in terms of the season, but it was more about how we played, and it was unacceptable. We don't look like a team at all.
"It was just a gut feeling that I needed to make the decision. I made the decision last night on the plane, when we were coming back from Carolina. Here we are today. I'm excited about the opportunity to have Craig coach the Philadelphia Flyers. Craig is one of the smartest hockey guys I've ever been around. He's learned the coaching business over the last nine years; he's been a head coach with the Phantoms. He demands respect, he holds people accountable, and he's a no B.S. kind of guy. I'm looking forward to Craig taking over the team starting today. We have some work to do—Craig has some work to do, he understands that. Our team—I'm not going to let the players off the hook. We'll meet with them later today. Things have to get better, and they will."
Craig Berube (CB): "First of all, I'd like to thank the Flyers organization—Mr. Snider, Peter Luukko, Paul Holmgren—for giving me the opportunity to coach the Flyers. It's a great honor, it really is. I've always been a Flyer in my mind, and now I'm the head coach, so I'd like to thank them.
Questions
On the perception of frequent head coaching changes:
PH: "I've only been a part of a couple of those—well, maybe I was on the back end as a coach, but obviously, the expectations are big for the Flyers. We expect to be in the playoffs; we expect to win. Sometimes, that's just the way the business goes. I'd be remiss to not thank Peter Laviolette for what he brought to the Philadelphia organization over the last three-plus seasons. I think Peter did a good job. He's a good coach, and we wish him all the best. You know what, things weren't going well, and we needed to make a change, and I felt that this was the right time."
Ed Snider (ES): "Why do you want to go back to all of those coaches? There was a reason each time. The general manager at the time, and Paul now, made decisions. They felt that we needed coaching changes, and they made them. Period. That's it."
"But you approved those?"
ES: "Of course I approved them."
"I'm just asking why that's the case."
ES: "They work for the general manager, and if the general manager feels that he has to make a change, I approve it. It's as simple as that. It's not any more complicated than that."
"So is it mistakes? Mistakes by the organization when they hire this many?"
ES: "Obviously, it may be a mistake, but it wasn't a mistake with Peter Laviolette. He did a very good job for us. But right now, we've been struggling, and we think we need a change. I'm a fan of Peter Laviolette. I think he did some very good things for this organization. It's a tough day when you have to let somebody go, but Paul felt it was time to make a change, and I would never say to Paul, 'you can't make a change.'"
"Paul, you said that you thought about replacing (Peter Laviolette) after last season, did you seriously…"
PH: "No, not really. You think back—did it enter my mind that we needed something, maybe a fresh voice, maybe new ideas…? But I like Peter. I think that he deserved another opportunity. We made some changes in the summer that got us all excited. It was a fleeting thought. At the end of the day, going back—I think it was the right thing to do at the time. Start training camp, start the year with Peter—I just didn’t like what I was seeing. It was a gut decision."
"What's missing? You said that the team doesn't look like a team. What's missing? Why don't they look like a team?"
PH: "This is just a gut feeling on my part. Right now, we're just not playing the way we have to play. We're not playing well enough to win in the National Hockey League, and that has to change. Whether it's fresh ideas or a new voice, I'm not going to sit here and try to pinpoint that, that's up to Craig. That’s his job. But I didn't like the direction that the team was heading, and I felt we needed a change."
"Did you consult any players before making that decision?"
PH: "No."
"No players came to you about anything?"
PH: "No players. No."
"Was there something that you were looking for from Laviolette?"
PH: "I think that Peter worked his hardest to try to get things turned around. He's as frustrated as all of us right now. When I met with him this morning, he expressed his frustration about trying everything. He gave it all he could to try to get things turning around."
"So is this more of a case of his message not getting through to the players?"
PH: "Maybe. Sometimes that happens, in all sports. Sometimes teams need fresh ideas, or a new voice, or whatever. Peter Laviolette worked his ass off for the Flyers. It just came to that point where I had a gut feeling on my part where I felt we needed a change."
"This is not an interim tag, right?"
PH: "No, it's not."
"Did (Berube) sign a multi-year deal?"
PH: "Those things are internal. It's more than this year, yes."
"Ed, you said a few weeks ago that Peter wasn't on the hot seat. What changed after three games, and did you share some of the concerns as Paul?"
ES: "First of all, it's Paul's job to make these kinds of decisions. From my own point of view, I'm very disappointed in the start that we've had, and quite frankly, I was very disappointed in the preseason that we had. I'm hoping for better. We always try to make the team as good as we possibly can. Sometimes, we're not right. Hopefully, this time, it will work our on our behalf."
"Ed—I haven't talked to Craig yet, and I don't mean this as a matter of disrespect to him, but are you worried at all about the perception of an insular kind of attitude by bringing in someone—given the fact that you guys haven't won a Cup in 38 years, why bring in somebody who is steeped in that sort of culture?"
ES: "What's the culture?"
"A culture that hasn't won a championship."
ES: "We haven't won a championship, but we've been in the Stanley Cup Final a lot of times, and we've been in the playoffs a lot of times, and the culture is to win. 30 teams are trying to win the Cup, and we're doing our damnedest to do it. That's our culture. That's our culture."
"A fresh perspective…?"
ES: "No, we don't need a fresh perspective. We have a pretty good culture, and we know who we're dealing with."
"Craig, specifically, what are some of the changes that need to be made right away with the approach that the players go through for each game?"
CB: "Well, first of all, team defense. I don't think that we're playing well enough without the puck. We need to play a lot better without the puck, and I think that we need to compete a lot harder."
"Paul, did this roster have the components to allow Peter to coach the style of hockey that he wanted to play?"
PH: "Well, it's a fair question. First of all, I believe in our players. I said earlier that I'm not going to let them off the hook. At the end of the day, they didn't do their job, either. But I still believe in our players. We have good players. We just weren't playing very well. We need to play better."
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