Quick Hits & Musings: Assistant Coaches, Phantoms, Draft Lottery

Flyers general manager Daniel Briere announced on Wednesday that assistant coaches Rocky Thompson and Darryl Williams would not be brought back for the 2025-26 season. The organization also let go of skills coach Angelo Ricci. Goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh has been retained.
Interim head coach Brad Shaw’s status has yet to be determined until management makes a final decision on the next head coach. The likeliest scenario is that a new head coach will be hired rather than removing the interim tag from Shaw. Shaw, however, is likely to be offered the option of returning to the familiar role of assistant coach in charge of the defensemen and the penalty kill. Shaw indicated in his Exit Day media availability that he’d be willing to return as an assistant if the head coaching job is not in the cards. At age 61 and having had extensive NHL assistant coaching experience but only two short-term interim stints as a head coach, Shaw seems to be accepting of the possibility that he will remain an assistant for the rest of his NHL coaching career. He was, however, a head coach at the minor league (IHL and AHL) level in the early years following his retirement as an active player.
I will comment on the coaching staff in general once a new staff is fully in place. What I will say for now, because several people have asked me about Dillabaugh, is that the role of goaltending coach at the NHL level is often based more on the rapport and working relationship between goalie and goalie coach more than stats. For example: If the goalie coach suggests an adjustment, is there enough trust that his charge(s) will try it out? On the flip side, if the goalie isn’t comfortable with a certain suggested tweak, is the working relationships strong enough that the two sides trust each other enough to work out a Plan B idea? There’s the technical side to how they work together but there’s also very much a psychological and emotional side as well. This is why goalie coaches, once settled in, often tend to remain in organizations across multiple head coaching tenures. It’s a very specialized role, and not one where won-loss records and stats tend to be the immediate triggers for a change.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms opened their best-of-three playoff series against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins with a 5-2 road victory on Wednesday evening. Making his Calder Cup playoff debut, Alex Bump led the way offensively for Ian Laperriere’s team with a pair of goals while Olle Lycksell notched a goal and an assist. Rodrigo Abols and Anthony Richard also tallied in the win. Jett Luchanko, who is fast developing chemistry with Bump, notched a pair of assists. Defenseman Emil Andrae chipped two helpers as well. Goalie Parker Gahagen (28 saves) flirted with a shutout until late in the third period before the Baby Pens scored twice. Game Two is Friday evening at PPL Center in Allentown.
The Phantoms lineup in Game 1 was as follow:

15 Olle Lycksell – 56 Jacob Gaucher – 74 Zayde Wisdom
29 Nikita Grebenkin – 18 Rodrigo Abols – 21 Alex Bump
17 Garrett Wilson – 77 Jett Luchanko – 90 Anthony Richard
43 Oscar Eklind – 22 Rhett Gardner – 54 Givani Smith

19 Hunter McDonald – 7 Louie Belpedio
6 Emil Andrae – 5 Ethan Samson
37 Adam Ginning – 3 Helge Grans

37 Parker Gahagen
[40 Cal Petersen]

Scratches (healthy and injured, inclusively): 4 Ty Murchison, 8 Ben Gleason, 13 Brendan Furry, 16 J.R. Avon, 20 Cooper Marody, 27 Samu Tuomaala, 32 Eetu Makiniemi, 34 Carson Bjarnason, 36 Sawyer Boulton, 46 Alex Ciernik, 55 Xavier Bernard, 72 Alexis Gendron, 73 Massimo Rizzo, 91 Elliot Desnoyers.
If you check out the top menu on the Hockey Hot Stove front page, you’ll see that we’ve added the NHL Draft Lottery odds for the 16 teams that did not qualify for the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. For the Flyers, the odds are as follows: 1st overall pick — 9.5%, 2nd overall — 9.5%, 3rd overall — 0.3%, 4th overall — 15.4%, 5th overall — 44.6%, 6th overall — 20.8%.
There is one — any only one — Draft Lottery scenario in which the Flyers could end up with the third pick of the first round. Keep in mind that teams can only move up a maximum of 10 spots. Thus, if the Detroit Red Wings (12th-worst regular season record) win the first of the two lottery drawings, Detroit would get the second overall pick of the first round. If the Flyers won the second drawing, Philly would get the third overall pick. The first overall selection would go by default to the San Jose Sharks.

8. Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen underwent successful surgery on March 26 to repair a ruptured right triceps tendon. The surgery was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles, CA. Ristolainen is expected to miss 2025 training camp and be out for about six months. He is expected to make a full recovery, per the Flyers. However, it is notable that the player sustained a similar injury last year.