Coaching overseas for the first time at 63 years old.
Making a somewhat surprising trip across the pond, a former Philadelphia Flyers interim coach is jumping to the KHL, taking over one of the league's better teams.
After five years, former Flyers coach Scott Gordon has returned to the bench as the head coach of a professional hockey team, following his appointment as the new head coach of the KHL's Traktor Chelyabinsk.
Flyers fans will remember Gordon, 63, as the coach who replaced the fired Dave Hakstol in the 2018-19 season, before returning to his post as Lehigh Valley Phantoms head coach in the AHL.
Gordon coached the Phantoms for six seasons before he was succeeded by Ian Laperriere, and guided the Flyers to a 25-22-4 record in 51 games during his lone season in charge of the big club.
Previously, Gordon served as the head coach of the New York Islanders for parts of three seasons, amassing a dismal record of 64-94-23.
During his time with the Flyers organization, Gordon wasn't given the lay of the land to work with, but the former NHL goalie did help develop players such as Alex Lyon, Anthony Stolarz, Travis Sanheim, Phil Myers, Shayne Gostisbehere, Scott Laughton, Cam York, Morgan Frost, Tyson Foerster, and Joel Farabee over his six-year tenure.
Now in the KHL, Gordon takes over a Traktor team that is just one year removed from an appearance in the Gagarin Cup Final.
"We've had nothing but positive feedback about Scott Gordon from the start, both from his North American colleagues and the players he worked with. Everyone noted his high level of organization and culture in building key team processes: daily life, training, game preparation, and team relations," Traktor GM Alexei Volkov was quoted as saying by Championat.
"The number of players who graduated from his teaching and went on to play at a high level in the NHL is truly impressive. In daily conversations about Chelyabinsk and Traktor, Scott repeatedly emphasized his readiness to apply his vast experience to a new location and would gladly accept the club's offer. We are confident in his personal qualities and have already begun a great deal of work together."
Gordon and his new Traktor team will be seeing quite a bit of Flyers prospect Egor Zavragin, who was just traded to Metallurg Magnitogorsk on Saturday; Metallurg and Traktor both play in the Kharlamov Division in the KHL's Eastern Conference.
After leaving the Flyers organization in 2021, Gordon served as an assistant coach for the San Jose Sharks from 2022 to 2024, went to be an assistant coach for the USHL Youngstown Phantoms, then took over as head coach of the USHL Waterloo Black Hawks.
Now, the one-time Flyers boss is going international for the first time.