Team Denmark scored a staggering upset of Team Canada in the quarterfinal round of the 2025 IIHF World Championships. Samuel Ersson (Team Sweden is the lone Flyers player remaining in the tournament. The Florida Panthers grabbed a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes. On Friday, the Dallas Stars will look to seize their own two-game lead in the Western Conference Final opposite the Edmonton Oilers.
Meanwhile, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms are weighing options for their next head coach after the Flyers organization decided not to bring back Ian Laperriere as the farm team’s head coach next season. The Flyers Alumni Association made an announcement regarding the annual Fantasy Camp. Here are your Flyers’ Quick Hits for May 23, 2025.
Phantoms head coach search
Although there has not yet been a public announcement from the Philadelphia Flyers or Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Ian Laperriere will not return for a fifth season as the team’s head coach. I am not sure of the reason for the delay. The organization often waits to announce multiple coaching-related hires at once. Alternatively, perhaps Hockey Operations is waiting to see if Laperriere accepts a different role in the Flyers organization. He will not be an assistant coach with the parent team next season.
If the Daniel Briere, Keith Jones, Alyn McCauley and company elect to stay in-house for the next Lehigh Valley bench boss, Phantoms assistant coaches John Snowden and Jason Smith are both viable candidates to take over for “Lappy”. If Hockey Ops looks outside the organization, Jay McKee is a possibility. McKee, a longtime NHL defenseman, has been the head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Brantford (formerly Hamilton) Bulldogs for the last three seasons. Previously, he coached Kitchener Rangers and served an AHL assistant coach stint with the Rochester Americans.
2025 Memorial Cup
Speaking of Ontario Hockey League teams, the 2025 Memorial Cup tournament schedule gets underway this evening in Rimouski, Quebec. The Western Hockey League champion Medicine Hat Tigers will open the round-robin slate against the tournament host Rimouski Oceanic.
On Saturday, the OHL champion London Knights (Oliver Bonk, Denver Barkey) take on the QMJHL titleist Moncton Wildcats. Flyers 2024 second round pick Spencer Gill remains sidelined Moncton. For a full rundown from a Flyers’ perspective, click here.
Report: Flyers interested in Shabanov
Several months ago, rumor had it that the Flyers were interested in signing Traktor Chelyabinsk (KHL) winger Maxim Shabanov. The rumor was quickly refuted.
Now, however, Snow the Goalie’s Anthony SanFilippo reports that there may be something after all to the original speculation. At a listed 5-foot-8 and 156 pounds (the latter of which is almost certainly out of date), the 24-year-old is a wizard with the puck on his stick. In 2024-25, he was third in the league in regular season scoring (23 goals, 44 assists, 67 points in 65 games) and second in assists. He was a finalist in the MVP voting.
During the 2025 Gagarin Cup playoffs, Shabanov added 20 points (10g, 10a) in 20 games. Traktor reached the Final before losing, four games to one to the champions, HC Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
2025 Flyers Alumni Fantasy Camp
The Flyers Alumni have added Luke Richardson to the list of coaches participating in the 11th annual Fantasy Camp (August 15-18. 2025) at the Class of 1923 Arena on the University of Pennsylvania campus.
The full list of coaches: Richardson, Daniel Briere, John LeClair, Mark Recchi, Patrick Sharp, Keith Jones, Paul Holmgren, Bill Clement, Joe Watson, Bob “the Hound” Kelly and Brad Marsh.
Richardson’s inclusion was in the works since very shortly after he was dismissed as Chicago Blackhawks head coach. Richardson and Marsh were teammates on the Toronto Maple Leafs, and have been friends for 27+years. Put more directly, Richardson coaching at Fantasy Camp does not have any bearing on whether his much-rumored candidacy for a Flyers assistant coach slot comes to fruition. For example, Dave Poulin frequently coaches at Camp (althought not this year) but has not been employed by the Flyers since his playing days.
Flyers Daily: May 23, 2025
In the pre Memorial Day Friday Edition of Flyers Daily, host Jason Myrtetus looks at the following:
- Does Mitch Marner make sense to target for the Flyers?
- 10 Ground Rules for phase two of the Flyers’ rebuild.
- A bonus 11th point: where the Flyers are currently, how they got here and how to ensure a brighter future.
