Climbing the Ladder
Landmark victory just another patient step for Flyers’ coach Vigneault
It will likely prove in the long run to be just another regular season game, even though in the moment it produced a rather important result.
Any victory in a shortened season is a welcome accomplishment, but this one Sunday was the Flyers’ third win in a row, the last two by shutout. That doesn’t happen every season, even when the opponent for both those blankings was the defensively inept and offensively disinterested Buffalo Sabres. Oh, and one more thing for the memory banks ... this second 3-0 win in as many
days was Alain Vigneault’s 700th victory as an NHL coach. He’s only the ninth head coach in league history to hit that mark, and with the Flyers’ next win will pass Mike Babcock – a peer so enriched by his NHL success that in May he’ll take on his newest challenge as head coach at the University of Saskatchewan (no, really) – and into the eighth spot all-time for career coaching victories. Certainly a day to remember ... ? “Well, I’ve been very privileged,” Vigneault said Sunday. “I’ve worked for great organizations; just look at who I’ve worked with and who I’m working with now. I’ve worked with some great GMs, guys that really had my back and worked
with me. Those GMs gave me some real good teams and I was very fortunate to be able to pick my staff ... I’ve had some great coaches I’ve worked with.”
That last point, Vigneault said with a slight chuckle. After all, he came to the Flyers in the summer of 2019 after a year out of the league because they gave him a five-year, $25 million contract, then they agreed to hire upon his demand/polite request two more accomplished head coaches as his top two assistants.
Good thing those intrusive NBC beancounters don’t know much about hockey coaches.
“You put all those things together and you get to the number (of total games) I got to a couple of games ago,” Vigneault said, with a reference to his 1,300th game as an NHL head coach last Sunday against the Bruins in Lake Tahoe. “Again, because I had some good teams, I was able to get to 700 (wins). But I’m working on that one thing that I don’t have yet, and I’m going to continue to work real hard for that.”
That, of course, would be the elusive Stanley Cup. His expensive helpers, Michel Therrien (all or parts of 12 seasons with Montreal, Pittsburgh and Montreal again) and Mike Yeo (all or parts of eight seasons at Minnesota and St. Louis) won a slew of playoff games but never had the chance to cap them with a parade.
Ditto Vigneault. More than 1,300 games, 700 regular season victories, 12 playoff appearances with four different NHL clubs, two Cup finals appearances ... and still searching for his first championship of the NHL kind.
Yet he manages to maintain a cool curtain of patience.
“Teams that progress, teams that are able to improve throughout the year, are the ones that are able to get into the playoffs and have the opportunity to compete for that Stanley Cup,” Vigneault said. “We want to be one of those teams. So we have to continue to improve our game.”
Vigneault chased the Cup in his youth, too, though mostly in his mind. He did manage to play 42 NHL games as a defenseman, but didn’t waste much time playing in the minors (mostly in the Central
Hockey League), quitting as a player so that, at the age of 25, he could take over as a head coach in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 1986. He paid his dues there, worked as an assistant with the Ottawa Senators for a few seasons,
went back to junior for one more taste before the Montreal Canadiens finally gave him a chance as a head coach for the 199798 season.
Reminded on the Zoom chat Sunday that win No. 1 came more than 23 years ago, Vigneault visibly winced but showed the memory is still somewhat sharp.
“Was that in Boston?” he correctly guessed. “Wouldn’t that have been my first? That was a long time ago.”
And yet, as Vigneault was quick to add, you’re never too old to stop learning.
“Any person in any line of work has to constantly improve himself,” Vigneault said. “If you want to stay in the hockey game, the hockey business or any pro sport, you have to adjust, adapt and get better. Throughout my time, whether it be in Montreal or the seven years in Vancouver, five years in New York and now the time in Philly, I’ve constantly tried to surround myself with the best people, and to get better. Again, you don’t get to coach that many games and win that many games without having some real good players and I’ve had some good players.”
He may not know it, but he is 2½ months shy of his 60th birthday, yet Alain Vigneault’s enthusiasm never seems to wane.
Perhaps that hunger for a championship is one way to keep old age at bay.