Flyers hire Jaroslav Svejkovský as an assistant coach under Rick Tocchet
The 48-year-old was an assistant last season for Tocchet in Vancouver, where he ran the league's 15th-ranked power play (22.5%).
Slowly but surely, the Flyers coaching staff is coming together.
The Flyers have hired Jaroslav Svejkovský as an assistant coach, the team announced Thursday. Svejkovský, 48, spent last season as an assistant coach on Rick Tocchet’s staff with the Vancouver Canucks, and is the first assistant brought in by the new regime in Philly. He becomes the first European coach, head or assistant, in Flyers history.
Svejkovský, who goes by “Yogi,” had spent the last four years in the Canucks organization and ran Vancouver’s 15th-ranked power play last season (22.5%). Before being promoted to NHL assistant last season, the Czechia native held skill coach positions with the Canucks and their American Hockey League affiliate in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
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While it has yet to be confirmed whether Svejkovský will run the power play or not, the Flyers will be looking to make improvement in that area next season. The Orange and Black finished 30th out of 32 teams last season with the man advantage (11.8%), snapping a three-season streak of finishing dead last in the category.
“You’ve got to have creativity,” Tocchet told The Inquirer about his power-play approach. “You’ve got a guy like [Matvei] Michov, who’s obviously a very high-level offensive guy, and getting him the puck when you beat pressure. You figure a lot of times, hopefully, he’s going to make a lot of good plays out of that pressure.
“But when things get stagnant, it’s because players look for plays. I don’t like that. I want them to beat pressure, whether it’s a spread, whether it’s, like [Vegas’] Bruce Cassidy likes low plays. There’s a certain part, when a PK sells out high, when that puck goes low, it’s on, and that’s where you beat pressure. So I think that’s the sort of concepts that I like.”
The Flyers fired previous power-play coach Rocky Thompson, alongside fellow assistants Darryl Williams and Angelo Ricci, on April 23. After the Flyers hired Tocchet, associate coach Brad Shaw, who was considered for the head coaching position, also elected to move on. Shaw officially joined the New Jersey Devils on May 27. Goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh is a holdover from John Tortorella’s staff.
A first-round pick by the Washington Capitals in 1996, Svejkovský played in 113 NHL games (23 goals, 19 assists) over four seasons split between the Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning. He has spent most of his coaching career in the Vancouver area, first working as an assistant with the Western Hockey League’s Giants and then with Abbotsford and the Canucks.
Even with Tocchet and Svejkovský in tow, the Flyers’ coaching search wages on. The team is still in the market for one or two more NHL assistants, as well as head coaches in AHL Lehigh Valley and Reading (ECHL).