No. 3 Peter Laviolette
In Montreal or Toronto, a statue would have been erected outside of the Canadiens or Maple Leafs' arena bearing Peter Laviolette's iconic image - holding his tormented piece of chewing gum - if the Flyers' legendary comeback last May in Boston had been completed behind another bench.
In Montreal or Toronto, a statue would have been erected outside of the Canadiens or Maple Leafs' arena bearing Peter Laviolette's iconic image - holding his tormented piece of chewing gum - if the Flyers' legendary comeback last May in Boston had been completed behind another bench.
Regardless of his length of stay in Philadelphia, Laviolette's deft use of the timeout - with his team trailing 3-0 just 14 minutes into Game 7 in Boston - will forever be remembered.
"Just score one goal," Laviolette told his team.
James van Riemsdyk scored 3 minutes later and the Flyers rallied from three goals to become the first team in 35 years to complete the historic three-game playoff comeback.
Laviolette's impact has been far more reaching than just that playoff series. He has changed the face of a franchise from an overpaid, underachieving bunch to a consistently hungry, winning group.
Since taking over the Flyers on Dec. 4, 2009, Laviolette turned around the Flyers' identity, moving them from 29th place in January all the way to the Stanley Cup finals in June. The passionate, Cup-winning bench boss (2006 in Carolina) knows what buttons to push. And when most teams experience a finals hangover in the season after, the Flyers have gone nowhere but up. *