Source: Lehigh Valley Phantoms to promote John Snowden to head coach
Snowden, 43, was an assistant for the past two years under Ian Laperrière with the Phantoms. He recently helped run the Flyers' development camp.
About two months after the Flyers named Rick Tocchet their new coach, a team source has confirmed that the organization has promoted John Snowden to head coach of its American Hockey League affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Terrence Wallin has been hired as an assistant.
The Athletic was first to report that Snowden would be the head man with the Phantoms.
According to the source, the futures of assistant coach Jason Smith, assistant coach and director of hockey operations Bill Downey, and goaltender development coach Brady Robinson are still being decided, but changes are expected.
Snowden, 43, spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach under Ian Laperrière, who transitioned to an adviser role in the Flyers’ hockey operations department, where he works with president Keith Jones and general manager Danny Brière, in late May.
Across the last two seasons, the Phantoms went 68-59-17 — the AHL plays 72 regular-season games — and made the postseason each time. This past season, they beat Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the first round before pushing the two-time defending champion Hershey Bears to the brink in Round 2.
Like for the Flyers, Brière was seeking a teacher for the AHL post. This season, the Phantoms are expected to be littered with key prospects, including goalie Carson Bjarnason, defenseman Oliver Bonk, and forwards Denver Barkey, Karsen Dorwart, and Devin Kaplan. If winger Alex Bump does not make the NHL, he alsowould be a major cog in the Phantoms’ offense.
“Well, development is key for us,” Brière told The Inquirer in June. “Someone who can work with our development team is going to be extremely important. We have so many young guys who are starting to come this year, next year, and the following year with all the picks that we have this summer. So the next three years, four years, will be heavily about the development of the younger guys.”
Snowden came to the Flyers after serving as an assistant for two seasons with the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate. He was promoted to that job after he spent a year and a half leading the Newfoundland Growlers, the Maple Leafs’ ECHL team. He led the now-defunct team to its only Kelly Cup after Ryane Clowe stepped down midway through the 2018-19 season because of health reasons.
A career minor leaguer, the native of Everett, Wash., helped run the Flyers’ development camp last week. Also on the ice was Anthony Peters, who recently was named the coach and general manager of the Reading Royals, the Flyers’ ECHL team.
Wallin spent the past three seasons as the coach of the Maine Mainers, the Boston Bruins’ ECHL affiliate. He led them to a 107-94-15 record in the regular season, with playoff appearances in each of his first two seasons.
Wallin, 33, from Yardley, is a career minor leaguer who played 27 AHL games after graduating from UMass-Lowell, where he played a season alongside Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck.
He played two seasons for the Mariners and notiched 30 points in 41 games in 2018-19 and 43 points in 56 games the following season. Riley Armstrong, who now is the Flyers’ director of player development, was the coach each season, and Brière was the vice president of hockey operations and general manager across the two seasons.
Breakaways
Former Flyers coach Dave Hakstol was hired Tuesday as an assistant coach by the Colorado Avalanche. Hakstol, 56, led the Flyers to a 134-101-42 record from 2015 to 2018. He served as coach of the Seattle Kraken for three seasons before he was fired after the 2023-24 season. ... Rhett Gardner, who spent the past two seasons with the Phantoms and played a game for the Flyers in 2023-24, signed with CSKA Moscow of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League. Last season, Gardner was an alternate captain in the AHL.