John Stevens John A . Stevens ( born May 4 , 1966 ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and is the current assistant coach of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . He is a former head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers . Playing career . A skilled defensive defenceman , Stevens was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the third round , 47th overall , of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft . Stevens followed up a junior career with the Oshawa Generals by playing four seasons for the Hershey Bears and earning call - ups during the 1986 – 87 and 1987 – 88 seasons , playing in a total of 9 games with the Flyers . He was signed by the Hartford Whalers in 1990 and reassigned to the Whalers ' farm team , the Springfield Indians , which he captained to the franchise ' s seventh and final Calder Cup that season . When the Indians ' franchise moved to Worcester in 1994 , he was the first captain of its successor franchise Springfield Falcons , where he played for two additional years ( for a total of six seasons in Springfield ) . In 1996 , Stevens signed once more with the Flyers , and was named the first captain of its expansion farm team , the Philadelphia Phantoms . In his second season as captain , Stevens led the team to its first Calder Cup championship . He was named to play in several AHL All - Star games throughout his career . As a player , Stevens played in 53 NHL games for the Flyers and the Whalers scoring no goals , ten assists and recording 48 penalty minutes . In the AHL , he played in 834 games , scoring 20 goals and 166 assists for 186 points . Ironically , given his low scoring output as a defensive defenceman , Stevens scored the first goals in franchise history for " both " the Falcons and the Phantoms . Coaching career . Stevens was forced to retire as a player in 1999 due to a career - ending eye injury but remained with the Phantoms as an assistant coach . He then became the club ' s second head coach in 2000 when Bill Barber was promoted to the Flyers . During his six season tenure as coach , the Phantoms made the playoffs four times and won their second Calder Cup title in 2005 . Stevens was himself promoted to the Phantoms ' parent club as an assistant coach after the 2005 – 06 season , and on October 22 , 2006 , was named as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers after Ken Hitchcock was fired . On October 26 , Stevens coached his first NHL game , a 3 – 2 win over the Florida Panthers . On November 20 , the Flyers announced that they had signed Stevens to a 2 - year contract . His first season with the Flyers saw his often injury - depleted team set a franchise record for consecutive losses ( 10 games ) and finish the 2006 – 07 season with the club ' s worst record in its 40 - year history . The Flyers set an NHL record for the biggest drop off in points from one season to the next – 101 points in the 2005 – 06 season to 56 points in the 2006 – 07 season for lowest point total in the league . However , as stunning as their fall from grace was the previous season , Stevens guided the Flyers to an immediate renaissance in 2007 - 08 . The Flyers won 42 games and amassed 95 points in the regular season under Stevens guidance . In the playoffs , the Flyers beat the Washington Capitals in the first round and upset the top - seeded Montreal Canadiens in the second round before falling to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals . For this , The Hockey News honoured Stevens with their Coach of the Year award .