Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 2:23 PM | 10 comments |
 

Stevens makes TV debut
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Former Flyers coach John Stevens made his debut as a television analyst on Versus’ Hockey Central on Monday night.

It was his first public appearance since being relieved of his duties on Dec. 4, 2009.

Stevens joined Keith Jones, Brian Engblom and Bill Patrick at the Versus studio in Stamford, Conn. He will also be on the program Tuesday night when Phoenix visits Detroit.

Coincidentally, both of the Flyers’ coaches this season have done work on Versus’ Hockey Central this year. Peter Laviolette and Stevens are two of the four guest analysts to appear in the 2009-10 season. Mike Keenan and Darren McCarty have also participated.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said earlier this month that Stevens will begin scouting work for the Flyers sometime this month. Holmgren said that Stevens would probably take up scouting the amateur and college ranks, possibly looking for undrafted free agents.

Darroll Powe and Jared Ross are two undrafted players that found success at the NHL level under Stevens.

Stevens, 43, has maintained that he would be interested in coaching again should an opportunity present itself. He had a 14-10-1 record with the Flyers this season before he was fired and holds a 121-108-34 record as an NHL, including the Flyers’ worst season in franchise history in 2006-07.

Below is video of Stevens’ debut on Versus. What did you think? He didn’t shy away from talking about last Thursday’s fight between Dan Carcillo and Marian Gaborik or about watching a former player, Scottie Upshall, tonight against Detroit.

Besides tonight, there is no word yet on when Stevens will be on the tube again.

Follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DNFlyers for the latest updates.
Posted by Frank Seravalli @ 2:23 PM  Permalink | 10 comments
10
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:41 PM, 01/26/2010
    Who cares about Stevens? He has the personality meant for a newspaper and I don't mean that as a knock against the writers. He is boring and bland with no personality. He is not fit for a television analyst position. He was a terrible coach that was held onto for too long because of 'loyalty' rather than results. This organization is too loyal to a fault. Move on from him already.
    — perfectcrime
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:49 PM, 01/26/2010
    I fell asleep just reading about him!!!
    — jacdjc1
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:51 PM, 01/26/2010
    I thought the studio show was moving into the Comcast Center downtown, since Comcast owns versus. Are they still moving?
    — wingslax35
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:53 PM, 01/26/2010
    BRING BACK SCOTTIE
    — bobdiz
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:17 PM, 01/26/2010
    Stevens was a good coach when this team was young, coming off the calder cup win with the phantoms.... Lets not forget he is the one that worked with Richards and Carter to mold them to who they are today. Now that they are getting older those types of players needed to step up into leading roles and thats where Stevens lacked the connection. i had no problem with the way he coached, i dont think you need to be a raging lunatic like that idiot from the Rangers. With that being said the team was getting older and needed more then what Stevens could offer and I think bringing in Lav was the best move. Sometimes in hockey the coach has to take the fall for players lack of effort and thats what happened here. Laviolette is in a great spot he was hired into a team that has the right mold of players but just needed to put them in there place. LETS GO FLYERS!!!
    — talktoya
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:24 PM, 01/26/2010
    I hate Directv...they don't provide Vs anymore...
    — kjuggs77
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:23 PM, 01/26/2010
    BOBDIZ - I couldn't agree more - bring back Scottie! hey here's a thought....trade HARTNELL for Upshall!!! GO FLYERS!!!
    — NinaNoodle
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:18 AM, 01/27/2010
    Stevens wasn't bad. At least he knew where to look when speaking. I've seen former NFL'ers looking evrywhere BUT into the camera when they get their chance to speak. With polish, John could be as good as Ray Feraro maybe.
    — Blvd Al
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:22 AM, 01/27/2010
    Unfortunately, it is not directv but Comcast. Recently, however, the courts have found against Comcast and unless they argue the outcome, viewer on Directv and others will be allowed to see Versus and other Flyers and Sixer events that were previously blacked out even though they were outside the mile range.
    — d.w.d.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:39 AM, 01/27/2010
    YAWN.....
    — Njtod10


10 comments
About Frank Seravalli
Frank Seravalli is in his fourth year with the Daily News and third season covering the Flyers. He started at the Daily News as an intern writing about the boozing legends of the Lincoln Financial Field lots and hasn't left. Since joining the Flyers beat, he has covered everything from the Winter Classic to the Stanley Cup Final and everything in between. Prior to joining the Daily News, the Bucks County native did a large amount of freelance work for local media outlets, covering high schools, colleges and all four of Philly's major sports teams. He resides in Center City. E-mail Frank at seravaf@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter @DNFlyers.

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