Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) – The Philadelphia Flyers reached an agreement with head coach John Stevens on a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“I am very excited,” Stevens said. “This is something that we talked about in the early part of the summer. We knew that it was just a matter of time before we got it done. I love being a part of this organization and the direction that the team is heading.”
Stevens, who had agreed to a one-year contract extension worth a reported $650,000 in December, finished his first full season behind the bench with a 42-29-11 record, good enough for fourth place in the Atlantic Division and a sixth-seed in the postseason.
However, the 42-year-old led his club to a surprise berth the Eastern Conference finals, one season removed from having the worst record in the NHL.
“John is very deserving of this contract,” said Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren. “He is a very energetic coach who brings a lot of enthusiasm and passion to the game, and we look forward to working together over the next few years.”
Since his hiring on October 22, 2006, Stevens has compiled a 63-71-22 mark in 156 games, his first foray into the NHL coaching ranks after a successful tenure in the American Hockey League.
Prior to his elevation with the big club, Stevens was the head coach for the Flyers’ AHL affiliate — the Philadelphia Phantoms — for six seasons (2000-06), compiling a 230-181-33-25 record to go along with 29 playoff wins and a Calder Cup championship in 2005.
Content Copyright 2007, The Sports Network. Distributed by XML Team Solutions.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 3:09 PM and is filed under Flyers, John Stevens, Paul Holmgren.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
![[Valid RSS]](/images/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
