Brad Shaw will not return to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2025-26. When Flyers general manager Danny Briere hired Rick Tocchet as the new head coach, Briere formally asked Shaw if he wanted to resume an assistant coaching role with the new staff.
Briere told Shaw to think about the decision for a few days. Shaw, 61, made up his mind quickly. By Thursday, the now-former associate coach declined the offer. Meanwhile, Shaw departs as a highly coveted assistant coaching candidate among various NHL teams with vacancies .
Charlie O’Connor was the first to break the story across local media. Chris Therien also touched briefly on Shaw’s departure in Wednesday evening’s Therien’s Take blog at HockeyHotStove.com, and, culled from Charlie’s report, Nasty Knuckles posted a tweet on the same topic.
Luke RIchardson is the rumored frontrunner to take over Shaw’s duties as defense and PK coach. Meanwhile, the Flyers have vacancies for a forwards/power play coach, bench assistant, and (if the role itself is retained) a skills coach. Goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh remains with the club.
Side note: In an upcoming blog, I will discuss why goaltending coaches often seem to last across multiple head coach and general managers’ tenures.
Richardson would be a great addition to the coaching staff.