East Notes: Flyers, Mittelstadt, Spezza

Following the coaching change in Philadelphia on Monday, the Flyers find themselves down a couple of assistant coaches; Michel Therrien was let go while Mike Yeo moved from assistant to interim head coach.  The team is looking to hire an assistant soon, notes Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link) with player development coach Nick Schultz helping out in the interim.

One candidate for a spot on Philadelphia’s bench is Adam Foote, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column.  The 19-year NHL veteran isn’t currently coaching anywhere and last worked during the 2019-20 season when he was the head coach at WHL Kelowna.  The Flyers’ back end has struggled this season and adding someone who was a strong NHL defender in Foote could certainly help, especially with youngsters Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim.

Elsewhere in the East:

• The Sabres may be without center Casey Mittelstadt for a while again, relays Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. The 23-year-old was injured in Tuesday’s contest versus Anaheim and head coach Don Granato revealed that it’s in the same area as the upper-body injury that took him out in the season opener that kept him out for six weeks.  Mittelstadt is undergoing testing to determine the extent of the injury but Granato acknowledged that it could be another long-term issue.
• The NHLPA announced (Twitter link) that, as expected, they have indeed filed an appeal on the six-game suspension for Maple Leafs center Jason Spezza for his kneeing incident on Winnipeg blueliner Neal Pionk. Commissioner Gary Bettman will hear the appeal first and has the authority to reduce the suspension.  If he elects not to do so, it can then go to a neutral arbitrator although, by the time that would likely be scheduled and a ruling rendered, the suspension will have been fully served.