Coach Stevens Ain't Messin' Around, Benches Hartnell

Not long after Joffrey Lupul's lackluster play landed him on the Flyers fourth line, his good friend Scott Hartnell was benched for the third period of a close game in which another forward left with an injury.

Writing for Comcast Sportsnet's impressive new web site, Tim Panaccio says the moves are indicative of a sea change for coach John Stevens.

This is not the kinder, gentler Stevens who succeeded Ken Hitchcock.

Rather, it's the nastier, "I'll embarrass you in front of your teammates," Stevens no one has seen.

I was a bit surprised when, for a second day in a row, I saw the coach rip a player with the cameras on him. But as I drank my coffee and watched the daily dose on CSN, that's just what happened.

"It didn't look like he wanted to play tonight so, we went another direction," Stevens said of Hartnell, an eight-year veteran. "I didn't like his game. I didn't think he was moving his feet. I thought [Andreas] Nodl was going. And then [Arron] Asham moved up and we got more jump in our game."

Ouch. As we've seen throughout the years, the NHL is not a place where players or coaches can get lackadaisical. Stevens himself succeeded a coach who was fired quickly into a poor start to a season, so don't think he's going to let himself get settled in when his team is near the bottom of the division.

We've already seen a significant trade and two wrist slaps of key players, and I don't think we've seen the end of the efforts on the part of the GM and coach to turn this thing around before it gets really ugly.

Comments

[DLo34]

I like John Stevens and he is totally right for getting on Hartnell and Lupol. At this point, with the exception of Lupol's game 7 heroics, he has not shown me much at all as a Flyer, I would not mind shipping him out of here.

Also, I kind of expected a slow start from the Flyers, look at the first 8 teams they played and those team's final seeding last year:

Rangers (East 5 seed)(who had already played a few games in Europe - hence a total bumrush in the first period)

Canadiens (East 1 seed)

Pens (East 2 seed)

Avalanche (West 6 seed)

Sharks (West 2 seed)

Sharks (West 2 seed)

Devils (East 4 seed)

Devils (East 4 seed)

Granted, they have gotten off to a very rough start, I still believe they will be contenders when it is all said and done. Acquiring Matt Carle could be the steal of the year. They got rid of Mr. Liability Steve Downie who cost us a game in the East Finals last year and we got the 06' Hobey Baker Award winner (best college player). We have also missed the services of Randy Jones on defense and even Ryan Parent who played well in the playoffs last year in a filler role. Furthermore, Marty hasn't exactly hit his stride yet this season; I'm hoping to see more of the old Marty like we just saw against New York yestderay.

Bottom line is, I expect this team to be up there in 2nd place in the Atlantic by the All-Star Break. They score way too many goals to lose this many games.

[Pete D]

I think the players will step up, but this team is definitely frustrating. They just can't clear the defensive zone and aren't playing well in front of their own net. Lets hope they take it to the Pens tomorrow night.

Hadn't really checked that comcast site by the way...and hadn't noticed Panaccio left the inqy either. Looks like they're stepping up their coverage quite a bit online.

[doubleh]

Let's hope the Pens blew their wad in their "revenge" game against the Wings last night. I can't believe the Wings blew a 2 goal lead to them with 4 mins left to play.

[yeahhh]

smells like mike keenan....