Top 5 head coaching candidates for the Philadelphia Flyers
Photo Credit: Eric Hartline/Imagn Images
With two games left in their season, the Philadelphia Flyers are fully focused on the offseason with a plethora of picks in the first two rounds of the 2025 NHL Draft, money coming off the books, and a slew of promising prospects who could be ready to take the next step. Before all that can happen, the Flyers must hire a new coach after firing John Tortorella on March 27.
Having already been eliminated from playoff contention after stumbling down the standings following the 4 Nations Face-Off break, Flyers fans are wondering who will be behind the bench when the puck drops next season. With the offseason in mind, and hiring a head coach being the first order of business, let’s look at five of the top candidates for the coaching vacancy in Philadelphia.
(This list is in no particular order and does not include candidates who are currently employed as head coaches for other NHL teams)
1 - Brad Shaw
The Flyers could simply remove the interim tag off of Brad Shaw’s title. The current Flyers interim head coach took over after Tortorella was fired in late March. The Flyers are 5-1-1 under Shaw, playing some of their best hockey as the season comes to a close. While the winning isn’t great for the team’s draft position, it shows that, in a brief period, Shaw is a competent NHL head coach and the players are thriving under his leadership. The 60-year-old joined Tortorella’s staff in 2022 as an associate coach. He is credited for developing and improving the play of many current and former Flyers defensemen including Jamie Drysdale, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Sean Walker.
Shaw began coaching in 1999 with roles in the AHL and IHL before joining the NHL ranks as an assistant in 2005 with the New York Islanders. Later that season, Shaw was named the Islanders’ interim head coach and finished the year with an 18-18-4 record. Shaw has been an assistant coach for numerous teams in the NHL since he departed from the Islanders in 2006. Shaw played 377 games across 11 years in the NHL.
2 - Pat Ferschweiler
After winning the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey Frozen Four Championship last weekend, Pat Ferschweiler is a popular name for teams looking for a new head coach. In his fourth season as the head coach of Western Michigan, Ferschweiler led his alma mater to its first national championship. Ferschweiler transformed a struggling program into a college hockey powerhouse, making the NCAA tournament in all four seasons as the head coach. Ferschweiler was named the 2025 Spencer Penrose Award winner for being the top coach in Division I men’s hockey. The 55-year-old had stops as an assistant coach with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL (2014-15) and the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL (2015-19).
Ferschweiler’s name has been floated around by Flyers fans and team reporters due to his connections with the organization. Ferschweiler and Flyers President of Hockey Operations Keith Jones are long-time friends. The two were linemates together at Western Michigan in the early 1990s. Ferschweiler also coached Flyers forward prospect Alex Bump who had 47 points as an alternate captain for Western Michigan this season. Bump, a 2022 fifth-round pick, signed his three-year entry-level contract with the Flyers today. Ferschweiler is working on a new $500 million-plus arena at Western Michigan, the long-term project that he has had a major hand in could entice him to continue coaching for his alma mater instead of going to the NHL.
3 - David Carle
David Carle’s name is often brought up when an NHL team has a coaching vacancy. Carle is one of the most respected and successful head coaches at the college level and on the international stage. The 35-year-old has been the head coach at the University of Denver since 2018 after taking over for current St. Louis Blues head coach Jim Montgomery. In seven seasons leading the charge at his alma mater, Carle has won two NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey National Championships (2022, 2024) and suffered just one losing season (2020-21). Carle, the brother of former Flyers defenseman Matt Carle, is 179-74-17 as Denver’s head coach. Carle joined the Denver coaching staff in 2008 after having to medically retire from playing following the diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a serious heart condition.
With his success at the collegiate level, Carle was chosen to coach the United States men’s hockey team at the 2024 and 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships. Carle’s young American team won back-to-back IIHF World Junior gold medals for the first time in U.S. hockey history. Carle has coached many of the top American NHL prospects during his time with the junior national team. He also coached Flyers forward Bobby Brink for three years at Denver (2019-22).
4 - Jay Woodcroft
Woodcroft has been without an NHL job after he was fired by the Edmonton Oilers 13 games into the 2023-24 season. In parts of three seasons, Woodcroft led the Oilers to the playoffs twice and finished with a 79-41-13 record. In 2022-23, his only full season as the team’s head coach, Woodcroft’s Oilers amassed 50 wins and lost in the second round of the playoffs. The year before, as the team’s interim head coach, Woodcroft took the Oilers to the Western Conference Finals. Woodcroft started his coaching career as a video coach for the Detroit Red Wings in 2005, winning the Stanley Cup in 2008. The 48-year-old was an assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks until 2015 when he was hired for the same role with the Oilers. In 2018, Woodcroft was named head coach of the Bakersfield Condors, the Oilers’ AHL team.
Like many coaching candidates on this list, Woodcroft has a Flyers connection, albeit a minor one. Before the 2024-25 season started, Woodcroft was a guest of Tortorella’s at Flyers training camp. The former Oilers head coach was there to observe and learn from the now-former Flyers bench boss. Following his short appearance with the organization, Woodcroft traveled overseas to do more of the same with other teams and coaches. What is most enticing to Flyers fans, and maybe the front office, is Woodcroft’s experience coaching one of the world’s best players, Connor McDavid. The impending 2026 free agent heavily defended his ex-coach in the media following his firing. If McDavid hits the open market in a little over a year, reuniting with his former coach could be a key negotiation tactic.
5 - Todd Nelson
The only candidate on this list with no connection to the Flyers, Todd Nelson has garnered attention around the league after leading the Hershey Bears to back-to-back Calder Cups in the AHL. Since being hired as the head coach of the Washington Capital’s minor league affiliate in 2022, Nelson has a 97-33-14 record and won the Calder Cup in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Nelson also won the Calder Cup as the head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2016-17. The 55-year-old has been an assistant coach at the NHL level with the now-defunct Atlanta Thrashers, Edmonton Oilers, and Dallas Stars. Nelson was named Oilers interim head coach for 51 games during the 2014-15 season, finishing the year with a record of 17-25-9.
Nelson was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1989 and played three NHL regular-season games for the Penguins and Capitals. Nelson spent the majority of his playing career in the AHL, IHL, and overseas. After winning the Calder Cup as a head coach in 2016-17, Nelson became the first person to win the Calder Cup as a player (1994, Portland Pirates), assistant coach (2008, Chicago Wolves), and head coach. Nelson also won back-to-back Colonial Cups with the Muskegon Fury of the UHL in his first two seasons as a head coach (2003-04, 2004-05). Nelson once again has the Bears in contention for another run at the Calder Cup, sitting in first in the Atlantic Division with three games to go.
