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Flyers coach Berube wants better defense, play without puck

CraigBerube

New bench boss Craig Berube isn’t micning words explaining what the Flyers needs to improve.

“First of all, team defense,” Berube told CSN Philly. “We need to play better without the puck. When you play good hockey without the puck, the team comes together and does the right things to get the puck back and to keep the puck out of your net.

“Right now, we need to stress that.”

Berube, 47, knows of what he speaks. He wasn’t exactly a skill guy during his 18-year career, racking up 3,149 penalty minutes in 1,054 games, the seventh-most PIM in league history.

What Berube was, though, was a hard-nosed grinder type that earned the admiration of another tough guy -- Chris Simon -- when Simon broke into the league in 1990.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Simon, the Flyers’ initial second-round draft pick and the 25th selection overall in the June 16 [1990] NHL entry draft, says that he admires Craig Berube because the three-year veteran left winger isn’t afraid to mix it up along the boards.

“He’s the chief,” said Simon, who shares an Indian heritage with Berube. ''He’s my type of player. He’s very aggressive, and he knows what to do when he gets the puck.”

Berube went on to notch a career-high eight goals with Philly that season, along with 293 PIM in 74 games.

In describing what he plans to do with the current crop of Flyers, Berube stressed that the focus wouldn’t be entirely defensive. He wants the team to get back to being a hard-nosed group, perhaps even mimicking its coach.

“We want to be an aggressive hockey team on both sides of the puck,” he explained. “And for me right now, I don’t see our team doing a very good job without the puck. Everybody’s going to say, we only scored three goals in three games.

“You want to score more goals? Do your job without the puck.”