John Paddock Alvin John Paddock ( born June 9 , 1954 in Brandon , Manitoba ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and the former head coach of the Winnipeg Jets and Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . He is currently the assistant General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . Playing career . Selected 37th overall in the 1974 NHL Entry Draft by the Washington Capitals , Paddock only played 8 games with the Capitals before he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers . He played a memorable role in the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals , scoring the tying goal to send game 6 of the Finals into overtime . Unfortunately for the Flyers , Bob Nystrom scored at 7 : 11 of overtime to win the Stanley Cup . Throughout his career he had a difficult time trying to crack the lineup on an NHL team . Playing primarily in the minors , in particular the Maine Mariners , Paddock retired as a player in 1983 – 84 and moved to the coaching side . He played 87 games in the NHL and scored 8 goals and 14 assists . Coaching career . Paddock began coaching in the minors including stints with Maine Mariners and the Hershey Bears of the AHL where the teams won the Calder Cup for the AHL championship . He was named head coach of the Winnipeg Jets in 1991 , becoming the first Manitoba - born coach of the franchise . During his coaching stint he would also become general manager of the team , and would relinquish his coaching duties in early 1994 . He would remain the general manager , even after the Jets relocated to Phoenix , until December 1996 . After two years as a scout with the New York Rangers , Paddock would return to head coaching in 1999 , primarily in the AHL . He was head coach of the Hartford Wolf Pack from 1999 – 2002 , winning the AHL Championships in the 1999 – 2000 season . Paddock joined the Ottawa Senators organization in 2002 as coach of the AHL Binghamton Senators from 2002 – 2005 . In 2002 , he was promoted to the assistant coach of the Ottawa Senators . When Ottawa head coach Bryan Murray was promoted to general manager in July 2007 , Paddock became head coach of Ottawa , the sixth head coach in modern Senators ' history . Paddock ' s term with Ottawa started extremely well . In the first 17 games of the season , the club set records for the best start in NHL history , winning 15 of their first 17 games . In the 2007 – 08 season , Paddock was the head coach of the Eastern Conference team in the All - Star game as Ottawa had the best record in the East . However it was not to last . On February 27 , 2008 , Murray fired Paddock after several lackluster performances by the team in February , and a generally poor record since the first 17 games of the year . Murray would serve as head coach for the remainder of the 2007 – 08 season and playoffs . The Senators were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs . Paddock did not stay out of work for long . In August 2008 , Paddock returned to the Philadelphia Flyers organization . He was hired to be head coach of their AHL team the Philadelphia Phantoms , returning Paddock to the league where he has had his most success . On July 9 , 2009 , he was appointed assistant General Manager of the Flyers .