PHILADELPHIA – Brad Shaw might be auditioning for a full-time coaching position with the Flyers but that doesn’t mean he’s going to compromise his values to gain favor.
The team’s interim head coach for all of four games, Shaw knows the odds are pretty long that he will have the interim tag pulled off his title when this season is over.
There are likely going to be a lot of more highly accomplished head coaches on the open market so all Shaw can do is hope the folks upstairs are impressed with his work.
Make one thing clear, however: If he were to be offered the job, he would take it in a heartbeat.
“It’s the best job in coaching,” he said after Monday’s practice at the Wells Fargo Center, held there instead of the usual Flyers Training Center because it was team photo day. “I think everyone in coaching aspires to it.”
The players seem to be responding to Shaw’s coaching style as the head man.
“I’ve enjoyed my time here,” he said. “The one thing that happens when you get a little taste of head coaching, I would really like to try it and have the team from mid-summer.”
Shaw takes a 3-1 record into Wednesday night’s game against the Rangers at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
“You kind of forget how all encompassing it is, compared to assistant coach,” Shaw said. “There’s so many other things going on outside of the Xs and Os, the structure of what’s happening on the ice.”
One player said Shaw is a patient coach but on any given day if a message isn’t sinking in properly, he can get a little emphatic with his tone.
Then again, he has to watch what he says because he really isn’t a permanent full-time head coach.
“I really haven’t been given a mandate,” he said. “So I’m not really in that position to talk from that point of view for these last few games. But up until that point, I would like to try to keep things intact as possible.”
Players’ work habits play a big part in the approach to the game, according to Shaw.
“I think habits determine success or non-success,” he said, knowing the Flyers had just been eliminated from playoff contention for the fifth straight year the night before. “When you get that “E” (for eliminated) beside your name in the standings, it’s a tough pill to swallow for a lot of guys.
“It’s the realization as a group we didn’t get the job done for what we set out to do at the start of the year. That can be a tough mental pill to swallow. That’s the first thing that falls off, that lack of concentration.”
Without question, Shaw believes he can get the job done if the Flyer brass decides to keep him around in the head coach position.
Both Cam York and Travis Sanheim are big believers in Shaw.
“I think it helps that we’re familiar with him in a way,” York said. “It’s been good. We all want him to do well. We’re playing hard for him and he’s a good coach at the end of the day. I think we all like him and we’ll see what happens.”
York believes Shaw is getting the most out of his players.
“I don’t think guys are squeezing their sticks as tightly (as they did under John Tortorella),” York said. “There’s more freedom in a way.”
Sanheim also thinks Shaw is a worthy candidate for a full-time title.
“He’s done a great job with a lot of us (as the former defense coach),” Sanheim said. “Guys are getting better each year. It’s kind of nice to see him get this opportunity. He’s done well with it. Different style, a lot of knowledge.”
>Short shots
Couturier was not on the ice for practice and Shaw indicated he’s “a bit nicked up.” No word on his availability for the Rangers game.
