The Philadelphia Flyers have hired Jason Smith and Riley Armstrong to serve as assistant coaches of the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Smith and Armstrong will serve alongside new Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere.
Smith, 47, played more than 1,000 games in the National Hockey League as a defenseman with New Jersey, Toronto, Edmonton, Philadelphia and Ottawa. He also won a Calder Cup championship with the Albany River Rats in 1995.
The Calgary, Alta., native had been an associate coach with Prince George (WHL) since 2019. He previously served as head coach of Kelowna in the WHL for three seasons, and was an assistant with the Ottawa Senators from 2014 to 2016.
Armstrong, 36, joins the Phantoms after two seasons as head coach of Maine (ECHL). He also served as an assistant in Wheeling (ECHL) for two years after his retirement from playing in 2016.
Armstrong’s 12-year professional playing career included 404 games in the AHL with Cleveland, Worcester, Grand Rapids, Abbotsford, Binghamton and Hamilton. He also appeared in two NHL games with San Jose.
