Flyers move Paddock from asst. GM to asst. coach

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John Paddock has been moved from assistant general manager to assistant coach.

His responsibilities will be on the defensive side of the puck, Paddock said, and hell operate out of the press box.

The move was agreed upon over the summer, but the lockout prevented Paddock from starting his new role until now.

This is why Paddock has been on the ice for the first two days of training camp.

Im on the coaching staff but I wont be doing any of that assistant GM stuff -- I wont have time for it, Paddock told CSNPhilly.com earlier today. It came about between a conversation between Paul Holmgren and Peter Laviolette.

Paddock conferred with Laviolette, who played for him in 1990-91 in Binghamton, and said all three agreed with the move.

Im going to be a sounding board on different things, Paddock said. Maybe a little bit more on the defensive side. Ive known Lavy a long time. I coached him.

Theres complete comfort here where communicating and him asking questions and giving feedback. Im not here to tell anyone what to do.

Holmgren said that Paddock is a coach and always wanted to be a coach. Paddock will join Joey Mullen and Jeff Reese in the press box.

He just changed job title and role and we started talking about this at the end of the playoffs last year, Holmgren said. John is a career coach. ... Hes a knowledgeable guy and I didnt think we were taking advantage of the opportunity to add a guy like that to our staff.

Laviolette said having Paddock as an assistant was a genuinely positive move for his staff.

Paul and I had a few conversations through the summer and the course of the lockout about John, and he was somebody Ive known over the years for a long time, Laviolette said.

I found myself in conversations with John -- he was sitting up top, watching the games -- and I value his opinion as a smart hockey guy at different levels who has been a successful coach. It made sense to add him to the staff.

Holmgren said Paddocks role would tilt toward the blue line.

I am probably leaning a little more on the overall team defensive side of the game because the offense is Lavys bread and butter, Paddock said.

Paul had different thoughts in his mind within the organization and different scenarios in his mind. Could this happen, is this best, whatever. Him talking to Lavy, they asked me. It was a pretty easy decision, whatever you want me to do.

Holmgren said that Paddock would be identifying opponents' defensive schemes and how a team plays.

Paddock said in the last three-plus seasons he grew comfortable in his assistant GM role.

There are always little things that you come here and talk to the coach about that you guys dont know about, things you deal with on a daily basis, he said. Little things you tell them about and deal with it.

I had been a manager before and felt comfortable. But deep down, I would say I am a coach, he added. This is just throwing support to the staff and basically doing anything Lavy wants.

Roger Neilson once said that the perspective sitting high above the rink is very different from a coachs viewpoint -- literally -- than sitting behind the bench.

At ice level, you can miss something very easily. Laviolette said the same thing.

The further you go up, the more defined the game becomes to watch, Laviolette said. This is where hes been for all of our games and it made sense to utilize him.

You may not have the 'feel' for the game, but you can see a broader picture from above.

Its something you might see and just throw out, Paddock said later. At the bench level, everything happens very fast. During the game you have a little bit of a different perspective and a little better view.

After that, the next day, with the video expertise and equipment you have, you can watch anything you want and believe anything you want. Past that, theres hopefully times called upon during a game you can ask the right question or I can make the right suggestion.

With Brian Burke being fired by Toronto this past week, it makes you wonder whether the Flyers would offer him Paddocks old job. Burkes son, Patrick, is a scout for the Flyers.

Push my son, not me, Burke texted CSNPhilly.com.

Holmgren said the position would remain unfilled for now.

Lines
Wayne Simmonds - Ruslan Fedotenko - Matt Read
Zac Rinaldo - Eric Wellwood - Jody Shelley
Scott Hartnell - Claude Giroux - Brayden Schenn
Max Talbot - Sean Couturier - Jakub Voracek
Tye McGuin - Scott Laughton - Tommy Sestito

Defensive pairs
Kimmo Timonen - Luke Schenn
Nick Grossmann - Bruno Gervais
Andreas Lilja - Kurtis Foster
Braydon Coburn - Andrej Meszaros

Loose pucks
The Flyers waived a number of players for the purposes of being able to assign them to the Phantoms. Among them: Brian Boucher, Danny Syvret and Matt Ford ... We had a Pronger sighting. Defenseman Chris Pronger, who will remain on LTIR, was seen observing the second practice from Holmgrens balcony overhang. There is no difference in Prongers physical health, in terms of his ability to play. He cant, because of post-concussion syndrome ... The likely Flyers roster that will be filed on Friday will be about 68.6 million -- at least 1.5 million under the 70.2M transition year cap ceiling.

E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net

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