A long December?

The head coach is gone and the fan base is left wondering whether or not the team has finally hit rock bottom. Whether or not the free fall is finally over.

After losing six of their last seven games and being shut out in back to back contests, the Flyers have fired head coach John Stevens, ending his three plus years at the helm. Also let go was assistant coach Jack McIlhargey.

Welcome to the start of what could be a very long month for fans of the orange and black.

Now, there's no one left to blame but the players on the ice... and maybe the man who put them there, general manager Paul Holmgren.

Taking over for Stevens is Peter Laviolette, the man who led the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup title. Also in is Kevin McCarthy, who will replace McIlhargey.

I don't know much about Laviolette, outside of the fact that he replaced Paul Maurice as the Hurricanes coach during the 03-04 season, only to have Maurice return the favor and replace HIM in December of last year.

Laviolette was a runner-up for the Jack Adams award for best coach in 2006 and coached the US Men's Olympic hockey team in Turin, Italy. Lately, Laviolette has been keeping himself busy working the Vs. Intermission Report and doing a decent if not spectacular job of it.

610 WIP's Paul Jolovitz put it best tonight when he said that "the players got their coach fired today." This is one of the best and sanest things to be spoken over WIP's airwaves in years. Maybe ever. I'm sure Jolly will be promptly fired for it. They don't tolerate that type of crap at WIP.

The Flyers didn't so much quit on John Stevens as they quit on the game of hockey in general. During a 3-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, the Flyers best two players on the ice were back-up goalie Brian Boucher and tough guy Arron Asham. Almost everyone else looked indifferent, content to wildly throw the puck around like a small, disc-shapped hot potato.

The Flyers put some 38 shots on superstar goalie Roberto Luongo, few of which were any real test. Most of them came from the outside, with no screen for him to worry about. As he has been for the last month or so, captain Mike Richards did his best to force every shot or pass he attempted through at least three opponents. If by some strange twist of fate someone on the ice with Richards actually manages to get open, Richie will look elsewhere. I mean, where's the fun in passing to an open guy? Or shooting when you have a lane or a screen?

Jeff Carter.

Oh, you want more? Well Carts has had the least productive almost point per game start to a season ever (9 goals, 14 assists, 23 points in 25 games). Some games I forget Carter is on the team or assume that he's hurt. But no, he's there. He's just not doing much of note. As he did last year and the years before, Carter continues to be one of the streakest players this side of Eric Staal. Good news is that Laviolette managed to squeeze a cup out of the eldest Staal bro, so maybe he can do the same for the Flyers pretty boy.

I could go on like this. There are a handful of players on this team who can look in the mirror and say, "yeah, I've done my best." Ian Laperriere, Danny Carcillo, Arron Asham, James van Riemsdyk, Chris Pronger, Brian Boucher and Matt Carle. The rest of the team should know that John Stevens, a good man and a good coach, is now unemployed because of them.

If they don't turn this thing around soon, the Flyers locker room could look very different by the time the Olympic break rolls around in February.

I've said it before in reference to Marty Biron, but the same is true of Stevens. He was good enough to win a cup with. He was. Sure, his level headed demeanor rubbed some the wrong way and maybe the Flyers needed someone to light a fire under their butts better then the even-keeled Stevens. Its a shame because there is no reason he couldn't have won a cup here. The pieces are in place, the team just wasn't willing to let it happen.

The entire locker room should be ashamed of what they let happen, none moreso then Carter and Richards, who won an AHL Calder Cup with Stevens in 04-05. Two players who grew into superstars under Stevens. Two guys who stood back and did almost nothing when their coach needed them most...