PHILADELPHIA, PA - John Stevens played for the Hartford Whalers in parts of three seasons from 1990 to 1994. The defenseman had a modest career in the NHL with eight assists in 44 games at the Mall and he spent time earlier in his vocation with the Philadelphia Flyers. These days, Stevens is coaching the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms and in his four years has a record of 148-119-33-20. MOFO Sports caught up with the former Whaler at a Phantoms game recently and he was kind enough to answer a few questions about his coaching career and his time in Hartford.

John Stevens: Our team is a lot like it was last year. We are a hard working crew; we don’t have any prolific goal scorers and we are going to score by committee. But we are going to play hard as a team and we are going to have that relentless effort each and every night. That was our identity last year and I fully expect it to be ours this year.

JS: Well, I played a long time and when I finished my career playing here, the Flyers game me an opportunity to stay on as an assistant coach after I had an eye injury in late 1998. The opportunity was something I thought about from my late 20s on and I enjoy studying and learning the game, so it was something I thought I would like to do.

JS: There is no question; when you look at my numbers, I was a career minor leaguer. Having gone through that experience, I understand what guys go through going up and down. I was never the most skilled guy, but I had to pay attention to details as a player and I think that helped me more than anything else did.

JS: That’s a very good question. There are so many coaches I played for that I learned a lot of things from. I don’t know if I could pin point one guy, but certainly Bill Barber and working along side him was great. But I played for a lot of coaches and I learned something from all of them.

JS: In the case of Pitkanen, I don’t think he is teaching the younger guys, but his attitude has been great with the young guys feeling their way. We have veteran guys here, who are expected to carry the load and their attitude has been tremendous. Their development will bode well for the Flyers when they get back and play.

JS: We like to keep the hope alive for all our players. If you look at our defense, they all have the potential to play in the National Hockey League. All these guys have an upside to play in the National League. Even our veteran players like Ryan Ready are not that old. And then we have Tony Voce and R.J. Umberger. We don’t count anybody out; we think they all should have the goal to play in the NHL and their play here will give them an opportunity to advance to the next level.

JS: I always strive for the top. I certainly enjoy what I am doing right now and I certainly have no timetable at what I am doing. But if the opportunity came to go up to the next level, I think it would be a great experience.

JS: There is nothing like it. Philadelphia loves their hockey and they support two teams tremendously; you get sometimes 30,000 people over a course of a day attending games. They love hockey here and being a blue-collar town, they love the way their teams stick together so. I have the opportunity to win a championship here and it is really the highlight of my career.

JS: Not really. I think the writing was on the wall. They still have a strong presence in the American League with the Wolf Pack and I think they really enjoy their hockey, but they can’t support a NHL franchise with Boston so close down the road.

JS: That’s a good question. Certainly, I would like to win a championship and anytime you are with a group of players you have success with, seeing the players have success is the most gratifying thing.

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