With Ken Hitchcock gone, Flyers Assistant Coach John Stevens took over head coach duties. Craig Berube who was head coach of the Phantoms gets promoted to replace Stevens as Assistant Coach of the Flyers. Kjell Samuelsson who was Assistant Coach for the Phantoms gets promoted to head coach of the Phantoms.

Interim General Manager Paul Holmgren on the announcement.

Craig will be a good fit for John. They have worked together the last couple of years with the Phantoms and they have a real good bond. Terry and Craig also have a good relationship, so I’m very happy that we’re able to do that and get those guys all together here tomorrow morning for practice.

We’ve also appointed Kjell Samuelsson the head coach of the Phantoms. I think that is a good move for Kjell, as well as a good move for the organization. Last summer, when John moved up to the Flyers, it was a very difficult decision to make between Kjell and Craig in terms of who was going to be the head coach. They are both very qualified coaches and good hockey guys.

Craig Berube

I’m thrilled. Any time that you have the opportunity to be in the NHL, especially in the Flyers organization – a place where I’ve lived and played for a number of years, it’s exciting.

It was fun (coaching the Phantoms). I really enjoyed it. I learned a lot. I would like to do that (run a team) again someday. I have worked with John (Stevens) before with the Phantoms for a few years. I played for Terry (Murray) and I think that it’s going to be a good mixture.

Kjell Samuelsson

I have been here for seven years and I think I have a lot of experience. I will continue what we started and play with hard forechecking, using the speed and skill that we have.