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Stevens has his coaching staff ready to go

John Stevens would probably still be an assistant coach with the Flyers, with lots of time to gain the experience a seasoned NHL coach would need before taking charge of his first team.

John Stevens would probably still be an assistant coach with the Flyers, with lots of time to gain the experience a seasoned NHL coach would need before taking charge of his first team.

But it didn't work out that way. Instead, when Ken Hitchcock was fired last October, Stevens was thrust into the limelight.

This coming season is a big deal for Stevens and the Flyers, and the pressure is on the young coach who will have his first NHL team from the start of a season.

So nothing would benefit him more than having some experienced guys around him. Yesterday, the Flyers formally announced they have hired two new coaches with lots of time in the league as both players and coaches.

American-born scoring great Joey Mullen and former Flyers defenseman and Vancover Canucks assistant coach and scout Jack McIlhargey will join Stevens for the coming season.

Mullen, 50, will serve as an "eye in the sky," watching games from above the ice, while McIlhargey, 55, will join Stevens and assistant coach Terry Murray on the bench.

"I'm excited," Stevens said. "The people [the Flyers] have gathered around me are not just good coaches, they're great character people, every one of them.

"It's going to give us an opportunity to do a lot of teaching and hopefully get our team on pace right away.''

"[Murray] has been a terrific, hard-working guy. Bringing [McIlhargey] on board with his experience and great feel for the game . . . and then with an offensive-minded guy like [Mullen], we really feel like we were searching and scratching to get as much out of our team as we can by covering every corner that we can."

Mullen was the first American- born player to score 500 goals and 1,000 points in the NHL and has three Stanley Cup championships with his name on it, two with Pittsburgh and one with Calgary.

"I look at this as a great opportunity for me to get back into the NHL and to work with these guys," Mullen said. "I think that with a young team like we should have here in Philadelphia, we've got a lot of potential to move up. We want to get this organization back to the prominent position that they are used to being in."

McIlhargey, who played a tough style of hockey for the Flyers for three seasons starting in 1974 and returned between 1979-81, said he is also eager to get back to teaching.

"When [Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren] called me, I couldn't wait to get here. Philadelphia has been a great city and I have a lot of good memories and history here, and I'm looking forward to working with this team.''

In addition, the Flyers moved several other coaches around and hired former Phantoms goalie Neil Little to be the AHL franchise's goaltending coach.

Little will work with Craig Berube, who was renamed head coach of the Phantoms. Berube began last season as the coach of the Flyers' minor league affiliate, but was called up to the Flyers to work with Stevens after Hitchcock was fired.

Kjell Samuelsson, who took Berube's place as the Phantoms' head coach, will again become Berube's assistant.

Berube, 41, believes the return to the Phantoms is good for his future. He also feels his role with the Phantoms is an integral one for the Flyers, as he will be in charge of helping develop the team's younger prospects.

"There are a lot of young players down there who are going to be the future of the Flyers," he said. "It's my job and [Samuelsson's] and [Little's] to do the job and get them prepared for the NHL. I'm happy with that role and I'm happy to get the experience as a head coach." *