Mike Stothers Mike Patrick Stothers ( born February 22 , 1962 in Toronto , Ontario ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs , and was the head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL and the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL . Playing career . Mike Stothers played his junior hockey with the Kingston Canadians of the OMJHL from 1979 – 1982 , appearing in 183 games , registering 74 points ( 9 goals - 65 assists ) , and in 21 playoff games with Kingston , Stothers had 6 points ( 1G - 5A ) . The Philadelphia Flyers drafted Stothers with their 1st round draft pick , 21st overall in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft . After Kingston was eliminated from the 1982 OHL playoffs , Stothers joined the Maine Mariners of the AHL for the rest of the 1981 – 82 season , going pointless in 5 regular season games and in 1 playoff game . Stothers played the entire 1982 – 83 season with Maine , playing in all 80 games while scoring 18 points ( 2G - 16 ) . He then went pointless in 12 playoff games . Stothers once again spent an entire season with the Mariners in 1983 – 84 , getting 12 points ( 2G - 10A ) in 61 games , and then in 17 playoff games , he recorded an assist . The Flyers moved their AHL affiliate to Hershey in 1984 – 85 , and Stothers moved along with them , and had the best season of his career , setting a career high with 26 points ( 8G - 18A ) with the Hershey Bears in 60 games . He also made his NHL debut with the Flyers , getting no points in his only game of the season in Philadelphia . Stothers returned to Hershey in 1985 – 86 , getting 13 points ( 4G - 9A ) in 66 games , and 3 points ( 0G - 3A ) in 13 playoff games . He also played in 6 games with the Flyers , getting an assist , and played in 3 playoff games with Philadelphia , getting no points . In 1986 – 87 , Stothers was in Hershey again , getting a career high 283 penalty minutes , and had 16 points ( 5G - 11A ) in 75 games . He had no points in 5 playoff games with the Bears . He also once again appeared in some games with Philadelphia , getting no points in 2 regular season games , and no points in 2 playoff games with the Flyers . Stothers started the 1987 – 88 season splitting time between Hershey , where in 13 games he had 5 points ( 3G - 2A ) , and in 3 games with the Flyers , he was held pointless . On December 4 , 1987 , the Flyers sent Stothers to the Toronto Maple Leafs for future considerations . He spent the rest of the season spending time with both the Maple Leafs , getting an assist in 18 games , and the Newmarket Saints of the AHL , with 10 points ( 1G - 9A ) in 38 games . On June 21 , 1988 , the Maple Leafs sent Stothers back to the Philadelphia Flyers for Bill Root , however he would spend the last 4 years of his playing career with the Hershey Bears of the AHL . In 1988 – 89 , Stothers would get 15 points ( 4G - 11A ) in 76 games , along with 262 PIM , and he would earn 2 assists in 9 playoff games . In 1989 – 90 , Stothers would see his production slip to 7 points ( 1G - 6A ) in 56 games as the Bears failed to make the playoffs . In 1990 – 91 , Stothers would get 11 points ( 5G - 6A ) in 72 games , and chipped in with an assist in 7 playoff games . The 1991 – 92 season was the final one of Stothers playing career , and he ended it as a player - assistant coach with the Bears , getting 11 points ( 3G - 8A ) in 70 games , and had an assist in 6 playoff games . Stothers retired as a hockey player in the summer of 1992 and decided to get into coaching . Coaching career . Mike Stothers was an assistant coach with the Hershey Bears , the Philadelphia Flyers AHL affiliate , from 1992 – 1996 . When the Flyers relocated their AHL team to Philadelphia and became the Philadelphia Phantoms , Stothers went along with them , and was an assistant coach from 1996 – 2000 . He also spent some time with the Flyers as an interim assistant coach in the 1998 – 1999 season , and once again in the 1999 – 2000 season before getting the job permanently on June 13 , 2000 . Stothers stayed with the Flyers through the 2001 – 02 season . On July 17 , 2002 , Stothers would leave the Flyers organization to take the head coaching job of the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL . In his first season with Owen Sound in 2002 – 03 , he guided the Attack to a 27 – 30 – 7 – 4 record for 65 points , an improvement of 4 points the team had the previous season , however his team was swept in the 1st round of the playoffs to the Plymouth Whalers . The Attack improved to a record of 30 – 27 – 7 – 4 , 71 points , which was good for 6th place in the Western Conference . The Attack would then go on to lost in a hard fought 7 game series against the Guelph Storm , who went on to win the league championship that season . The Attack improved more in 2004 – 05 , to a record of 40 – 18 – 7 – 3 , 90 points , which is a franchise record . Owen Sound then won their first playoff round since 1999 , sweeping Plymouth , before getting swept themselves by the Kitchener Rangers in the 2nd round . The Attack went into a rebuilding stage in 2005 – 06 , however they played much better than people predicted , finishing with a 32 – 29 – 7 , 71 point season . They had a rematch against the heavily favoured Kitchener Rangers , and took them out in 5 games in the opening round . The Attack then gave the London Knights a scare in the 2nd round before falling to them in 6 games . On July 18 , 2007 , Stothers was named as the next head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins . He succeeded Greg Ireland , who had been head coach of the Griffins from 2004 – 05 to 2006 – 07 . His coaching career in Grand Rapids was limited to only one season , as he was relieved of his coaching duties when the Griffins reacquired coaching responsibilities from the Detroit Red Wings on June 18 , 2008 .