Laperrière named Flyers assistant coach

In the wake of the Philadelphia Flyers replacing coach Peter Laviolette with Craig Berube after the team opened the season with three consecutive regulation losses, a familiar name has been pinpointed as an assistant coach, per a TSN report.

Ian Laperriere and John Paddock expected to assist Berube. Sounds like Kevin McCarthy also let go.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) October 7, 2013

 

The Flyers confirmed Laperrière as an assistant coach in the link above.

Laperrière, 39, had recently begun his second year as Philadelphia’s Director of Player Development. The gritty, character forward spent nine seasons with the Los Angeles Kings after joining the organization along with Ray Ferarro, Nathan LaFayette, Mattias Norstrom and a 1997 fourth round choice in a trade that sent Marty McSorley, Jari Kurri and Shane Churla to the New York Rangers.

Before the Kings honored Laperrière during a Legends Night in February, I spoke with the former Kings assistant captain and popular figure in team history.

Darryl Sutter, on Ian Laperrière Legends Night:
I told our players ‘let’s go play like Ian Laperrière today.’ You know what? It’s nice to see the role guy get recognized instead of the star guy. It’s pretty cool. That’s what I told his boys. It’s nice to see your dad get recognized instead of him always talking probably about the star players on the team. It’s nice to see Ian get recognized.

Sutter, on what he remembered about Ian Laperrière:
I remember him good. I coached against him once. Those guys always stand out. It wasn’t an enforcer role. It was a hard-working, come-to-play-every-night role. And the best part about Ian was he played a long time. He started out, worked his way up. Everybody questioned whether he was going to be able to skate well enough to play in the NHL, and he found a way to do it for how many years? 15? 16? Whatever it was, it was a long time.