Laperriere, 47, becomes the 11th head coach in franchise history. He hails from Montreal and was a round 7 selection of the St. Louis Blues in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. He played in parts of three different seasons in the AHL from 1993-96 with the Peoria Rivermen and Worcester IceCats.
Laperriere has been an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers for the last eight seasons since 2013-14 and had served as the team’s Director of Player Development in the 2012-13 season. Previously, Laperriere was a hard-working forward who had long been regarded as one of the NHL’s toughest players. He enjoyed a 15-year playing career in the NHL that encompassed 1,083 games in which he scored 121 goals with 215 assists for 336 points while accumulating 1,956 penalty minutes. He rates 58th all-time in NHL career penalty minutes and is 226th in games played. He was well-respected by teammates and considered a warrior throughout the league in a role that involved killing penalties, blocking shots and standing up for his teammates in skirmishes.
Laperriere is married to Magali and has two sons named Tristan and Zachary. He was sworn in as a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2011.
