It took less than two weeks as general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers for Chuck Fletcher to see what he needed to see with Coach Dave Hakstol.
The Flyers were still making too many mistakes, still not playing up to their talent level and it was all too clear the message wasn’t getting across from their fourth-year coach. With the team mired in a four-game losing streak, Fletcher fired Hakstol on Monday and named Scott Gordon as interim replacement.
“To my eyes there was a disconnect between what he was preaching and how the players were playing,” Fletcher said. “We need a new voice. We need to have the coaching staff (give) the message to the players and hopefully have the players receive that message and that’s why I decided to make the move.”
Not much has improved since the team fired General Manager Ron Hextall just after Thanksgiving. The Flyers have lost 5 of 6 and 11 of 14, and are in last place in the Eastern Conference. They went 1-3-1 on the trip Fletcher said he’d use to evaluate Hakstol, the rest of the coaching staff and the team in general.
Hakstol is the fifth coach fired this season.
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