When the Philadelphia Flyers made the decision to part ways with head coach Craig Berube, speculation immediately began to swirl that GM Ron Hextall was likely to target current Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock.
While that's still entirely within the realm of possibility, Babcock remains employed - and in the playoffs - and Hextall, Flyers owner Ed Snider and President Paul Holmgren can't simply wait around for Babcock before really kicking their head coaching search into high gear.
Todd McLellan, who recently parted ways "mutually" with the San Jose Sharks recently, may instead now vault to the top of the coaching candidate list for Hextall and Co.
Sam Carchidi of The Philadelphia Inquirer believes that McLellan's ousting in San Jose makes him "a major contender" for the Flyers. If that is in fact the case, McLellan can get a head start on evaluating the Flyers roster during Team Canada practices in May.
"Interestingly, when McLellan coaches Canada in the world championships in the Czech Republic next month, he will have three Flyers on his team: Claude Giroux, Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier," writes Carchidi.
In seven seasons at the helm in San Jose, McLellan and the Sharks reached the postseason six times. Despite the consistent run of regular season success and playoff berths, the Sharks were hounded by questions of leadership and failure in the season's biggest moments. They reached the Stanley Cup Finals in back-to-back seasons in 2009 and 2010, but emerged Lombardi-less both times.
After an epic collapse in the 2013-14 playoffs which saw the Sharks ousted despite taking a 3-0 series lead into Game 4 against the Los Angeles Kings, San Jose GM Doug Wilson chose to stick with McLellan and give his coach and his team - albeit with a few key changes, like stripping Joe Thornton of the "C" - another chance.
This season's playoff miss spelled a clear end for McLellan in San Jose and if the Flyers are smart, as Carchidi expects, they'll make a serious move for a high-quality coach raised in the Red Wings system who was beset by issues of leadership and mismanagement far beyond his control in San Jose.
Another interesting angle to consider for Philadelphia in the wake of Berube's firing and when perusing potential new coaches, is what it all means for the future of Vincent Lecavalier.
Lecavalier originally signed with the Flyers in 2012 largely because of the presence of former Philadelphia head coach Peter Laviolette, who was fired and replaced with Berube only a handful of games into the 2013-14 season.
After 2014-15 finally came to a merciful close, Lecavalier was clear that he viewed his future in Philly as a "him or me" proposition.
"The fans are great, the organization is great," Lecavalier said during his season-ending exit interview, according to Randy Miller of NJ.com. "Living here ... my wife and kids absolutely love it here. But, yeah, things did change when Chief came onboard. When I signed here ... one of the main reasons was to come and play for Lavy because of his style of play and what he thought about me. So obviously when you get a new boss - it's like any company - things change and obviously it didn't go well for me."
With Berube officially gone, will Hextall now keep Lecavalier despite his age - he turns 34 today - and cap hit - $4.5 million for the next three seasons? The Flyers reportedly had deals in place with a couple of teams - the Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators (where Laviolette is now running the show) - at various points over last summer, but each time ownership for the other franchises stepped in and nixed the trades.
The prideful future Hall of Famer, a player who has 411 career NHL goals to his name, finished this past season under Berube with just eight goals and 20 total points. He sat out 17 games as a healthy scratch and missed eight more with a couple of injuries.
Lecavalier still seemed - at times, at least - to have enough left in the tank to perform as a quality asset for the Flyers - granted, playing alongside fourth-liners will limit nearly any NHLers effectiveness, so we may not have a truly clear indication of his remaining abilities - but even so, his future remains cloudy.
"I like this team," said Lecavalier, per Miller. "I like the players. But my future ... I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens around the draft and during the summer."
