Sportsbooks have seen the Philadelphia Flyers struggle somewhat this NHL season and their lack of success has cost head coach John Stevens his job. It appears that Peter Laviolette will be the new head coach. His hiring could provide an immediate boost to the Flyers in terms of results versus the odds at the offshore sportsbook.
Sportsbooks had the Flyers losing six of their last seven games before Saturday’s game against Washington. The Flyers still have a winning record at sportsbooks but when you are a Stanley Cup contender, 10th place in the Eastern Conference is simply not good enough. Stevens took over from Ken Hitchcock early in the 2006-2007 sportsbooks season. They didn’t make the playoffs that season but the next year they made it to the Eastern Conference Final before falling to Pittsburgh. Last sportsbooks season they lost in the first round to the Penguins.
Laviolette has a lot of experience as an NHL head coach. He has coached the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes in the past. When he was with the Islanders they actually made the playoffs twice. In Carolina he coached for more than four seasons as offshore sportsbook stats show and made the playoffs just once. That was a great run though in 2005-2006 since he led the team to a Stanley Cup championship. He has won everywhere he has coached and should do very well with the Flyers.
Expectations are everything in terms of life and in terms of odds at sportsbooks. The Flyers actually have a winning record at the offshore sportsbook, yet they fired their head coach. Going a little deeper it does appear that there were some troubling signs with the Flyers. They were just barely over .500 yet they ranked in the Top 10 in both goals scored and fewest goals against as offshore sportsbook statistics showed. Normally when a team is in the Top 10 in both of those categories they have a very good record. That was not the case with the Flyers. Stevens took the blame and Laviolette inherits a situation that could be a very good one.
Philadelphia is still respected in odds at sportsbooks as they were favored at home against the Capitals this past weekend. The schedule is helpful to Laviloette as after Monday’s game at Montreal they get winnable home games against the New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators.