Report: Flyers to ‘Move On’ from Mike Yeo in Head Coaching Role

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher will meet with the media on Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. This will presumably be among the first items on the agenda.

According to a report from ESPN and NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes, the Flyers will “move on” from Mike Yeo in a head coaching role.

This move would come as no real huge surprise. The Flyers essentially made it known that all options would be reviewed come the offseason and that there were no guarantees that Yeo would stay in the role beyond the remainder of the 2021-22 season as an interim.

There is, however, the possibility that Yeo will stay in the organization. The wording of the report makes it clear that the Flyers do see that Yeo brings value to the organization, perhaps in an assistant coaching role, player development role, maybe even as an AHL head coach, as opposed to being the bench boss of the NHL team.

Yeo took over for Alain Vigneault as the interim head coach on Dec. 6, 2021. In the final 60 games of the season, Yeo had a 17-36-7 record behind the bench.

Weekes’ report noted that the situation remains fluid. The Flyers will likely begin a coaching search that can start immediately, but don’t necessarily have to make the final decision on a hiring anytime soon, potentially waiting out some assistant coaches from current playoff teams as options if they choose. 

A few potential candidates that could be explored are current St. Louis Blues assistant coach Jim Montgomery or coaching free agent David Quinn, who coached Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics and will continue to serve in the head coaching role for USA hockey at the World Championships later this month. Current television analysts like Rick Tocchet and John Tortorella are also names that have been circulated as possibilities as head coaching candidates for the Flyers.

A new head coach will only be one of the major decisions that the Flyers need to make in the offseason.