John Stevens (ice hockey)

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Position Defence
Shot Left
Height
Weight		 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
195 lb (88 kg/13 st 13 lb)
Pro clubs Philadelphia Flyers
Hartford Whalers
Nationality Flag of Canada Canada
Born May 4, 1966 (1966-05-04) (age 42),
Campbellton, NB, CAN
NHL Draft 47th overall, 1984
Philadelphia Flyers
Pro career 1986 – 1999

John A. Stevens (born May 4, 1966, in Campbellton, New Brunswick) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and the head coach of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers. He was named head coach on October 22, 2006 when coach Ken Hitchcock was fired and GM Bob Clarke resigned after the Flyers' worst start in 15 years.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

A skilled defensive defenceman, drafted in the third round (47th) of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft by the Flyers, Stevens followed up a junior career with the Oshawa Generals by playing four seasons for the Flyers' former AHL farm team, the Hershey Bears. He was signed by the Hartford Whalers in 1990 and reassigned to the Whalers' farm team, the Springfield Indians, which he captained to the franchise's seventh and final Calder Cup that season. When the Indians' franchise moved to Worcester in 1994, he was the first captain of its successor franchise Springfield Falcons, where he played for two additional years (for a total of six seasons in Springfield).

In 1996, Stevens signed once more with the Flyers, and was named the first captain of its expansion farm team, the Philadelphia Phantoms. In his second season as captain, Stevens led the team to its first Calder Cup championship. He was named to play in several AHL All-Star games throughout his career.

As a player, Stevens played in 53 NHL games for the Flyers and the Whalers scoring no goals, ten assists and recording 48 penalty minutes. In the AHL, he played in 834 games, scoring 20 goals and 166 assists for 186 points. Ironically, given his low scoring output as a defensive defenceman, Stevens scored the first goals in franchise history for both the Falcons and the Phantoms.

[edit] Coaching career

Stevens was forced to retire as a player in 1999 due to a career-ending eye injury but remained with the Phantoms as an assistant coach. He then became the club's second head coach in 2000 when Bill Barber was promoted to the Flyers. During his six season tenure as coach, the Phantoms made the playoffs four times and won their second Calder Cup title in 2005. Stevens was himself promoted to the Phantoms' parent club as an assistant coach after the 2005–06 season, and on October 22, 2006, was named as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers after Ken Hitchcock was fired. On October 26, 2006 Stevens coached his first NHL win (the Flyers defeated the Atlanta Thrashers 3–2 in an overtime shootout). On November 20 the Flyers announced that they had signed Stevens to a 2-year contract that will have him coaching through the 2007–2008 season. [1]

His first season with the Flyers saw his often injury-depleted team set a franchise record for consecutive losses (10 games) and finish the 2006–07 season with the club's worst record in its 40-year history. The Flyers set an NHL record for the biggest dropoff in points from one season to the next -- 101 points in the 2005–06 season to 56 points in the 2006–07 season for lowest point total in the NHL. [2]

[edit] Awards

[edit] Records

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Playing stats

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1983–84 Oshawa Generals OHL 70 1 10 11 71 7 0 1 1 6
1984–85 Oshawa Generals OHL 45 2 10 12 61 5 0 2 2 4
1984–85 Hershey Bears AHL 3 0 0 0 2 -- -- -- -- --
1985–86 Oshawa Generals OHL 65 1 7 8 146 6 0 2 2 14
1985–86 Kalamazoo Wings IHL 6 0 1 1 8 6 0 3 3 9
1986–87 Hershey Bears AHL 63 1 15 16 131 3 0 0 0 7
1986–87 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 6 0 2 2 14 -- -- -- -- --
1987–88 Hershey Bears AHL 59 1 15 16 108 -- -- -- -- --
1987–88 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 3 0 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- --
1988–89 Hershey Bears AHL 78 3 13 16 129 12 1 1 2 29
1989–90 Hershey Bears AHL 79 3 10 13 193 -- -- -- -- --
1990–91 Springfield Indians AHL 65 0 12 12 139 18 0 6 6 35
1990–91 Hartford Whalers NHL 14 0 1 1 11 -- -- -- -- --
1991–92 Springfield Indians AHL 45 1 12 13 73 11 1 3 4 27
1991–92 Hartford Whalers NHL 21 0 4 4 19 -- -- -- -- --
1992–93 Springfield Indians AHL 74 1 19 20 111 15 0 1 1 18
1993–94 Springfield Indians AHL 71 3 9 12 85 3 0 0 0 0
1993–94 Hartford Whalers NHL 9 0 3 3 4 -- -- -- -- --
1994–95 Springfield Falcons AHL 79 5 15 20 122 -- -- -- -- --
1995–96 Springfield Falcons AHL 69 0 19 19 95 10 0 1 1 31
1996–97 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 74 2 18 20 116 10 0 2 2 8
1997–98 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 50 1 9 10 76 20 0 6 6 44
1998–99 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 25 0 1 1 19 -- -- -- -- --
NHL Totals 53 0 10 10 48 -- -- -- -- --
AHL Totals 834 21 167 188 1399 102 2 20 22 199

[edit] Coaching stats

[edit] AHL

Team Year Regular Season Post Season
G W L T OTL SOL Pts Finish Result
PHI 2000–01 80 36 34 5 5 - 82 4th in Mid-Atlantic lost in 2nd round (2–4) to WBS
PHI 2001–02 80 33 27 15 5 - 86 3rd in South lost in 1st round (0–3) to SYR
PHI 2002–03 80 33 33 6 8 - 80 4th in South DNQ
PHI 2003–04 80 46 25 7 2 - 101 1st in East lost in 2nd round (2–4) to WBS
PHI 2004–05 80 48 25 - 3 4 103 2nd in East Calder Cup (4–0) over CHI
PHI 2005–06 80 34 37 - 2 7 77 6th in South DNQ
Total 480 230 181 33 25

[edit] NHL

Team Year Regular Season Post Season
G W L OTL Pts Finish Result
PHI 2006–07 74 21 42 11 (56) 5th in Atlantic DNQ
PHI 2007–08 82 42 29 11 95 4th in Atlantic lost in conference finals (1–4) to PIT
Total 156 63 71 22

[edit] External links

 
Links to related articles
Preceded by
Ken Hitchcock		 Head Coaches of the Philadelphia Flyers
2006 – present		 Incumbent
v • d • e
Philadelphia Flyers Head Coaches
Allen • Stasiuk • Shero • McCammon • Quinn • McCammon • Keenan • Holmgren • Dineen • Simpson • Murray • Cashman • Neilson • Ramsay • Barber • Hitchcock • Stevens