Is John Stevens the Resurrection of Fred Shero?

The post-lockout NHL has seemed to emerge as a new era for the Philadelphia Flyers. 

John Stevens took over the duties for head coach Ken Hitchcock after 2006-07. He became head coach two seasons after he won the AHL’s Calder Cup with the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers' minor league affiliate.

Stevens then "led" the Flyers to the bottom of the Atlantic division in '06-'07, missing the playoffs completely, and forcing a complete restructure of the team.

The next year, Stevens led the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Finals, only to fall to Philadelphia’s cross-state division rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

A similar situation also happened during the 1972-73 Flyers season, led by a man a 1999 Philadelphia Daily News poll called the best coach/manager in Philadelphia sports history. 

Fred Shero led the Flyers out of the cellar by coaching a team which finished fifth place in the division in 1971-72 to the second round of playoffs in the 1972-73 season. This was after Shero coached the Buffalo Bisons of the AHL to a Calder Cup two seasons before his debut as head coach of the Flyers in 1969-70.

In 1973-74 Fred Shero led the Philadelphia Flyers to their first Stanley Cup championship win, and in 1974-75 to their next Stanley Cup win. Shero was in his third season with the Flyers for his Stanley Cup win.

This year is John Stevens' third year as the Flyers ringmaster, and he has turned the team around after his brutal first year as coach. He took the team to the playoffs like Shero in his second season. And Stevens' third season has many believers thinking the Flyers will make it to the Stanley Cup finals.

Want more proof? 

Shero’s coaching statistics going into his third season of play were 63 wins, 68 losses, and 25 ties. Shero's Flyers had five wins and six losses in the 1972-73 playoffs.

After two seasons as head coach of the Flyers, John Stevens has had 63 wins, 71 losses, and 22 overtime losses (the new era's equivalent to kissing your sister). Stevens coached 74 games in the 2006-2007 season, after joining the team following Hitchcock’s firing eight games into the season. Stevens currently has a 9-8 career postseason record, good for a .529 winning percentage.

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