The Philadelphia Flyers appear serious about bringing the rough and tumble “Broad Street Bullies” culture of the 1970s back.
Bare Knuckles Fighting Championship (BKFC) fighter, Johnny Garbarino, revealed in an Instagram post on Saturday that he was added to the team’s coaching staff as a part-time fight coach. He joins UFC fighter Andre Petroski, a recent participant in The Ultimate Fighter, who was hired a week ago and already began training several players during the offseason.
“This Flyers season just got a whole lot better!” Garbarino wrote in a jointly-shared Instagram post. “Andre and I are officially your new Philadelphia Flyers Fight coaches! 🤌🏽😤”
In the photo, Garbarino and Petroski are at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, New Jersey, and pose with director of player development Riley Armstrong, president of hockey operations Keith Jones, defense prospect Hunter McDonald, forward Tyson Foerster, and general manager Daniel Briere.
Garbarino, a Philadelphia native who also goes by Johnny Canoli, is currently undefeated in BKFC (2-0) with a middleweight bout scheduled for July 25. According to his fighter profile, he had a 4-1 record before turning pro and went 7-3, earning two titles, as a member of the Art of War Cage Fighting league.
Petroski owns a career record of 13-5 as an MMA fighter, logging four technical knockouts and four victories via submission. Though, he lost his most recent fight by unanimous decision to Edmen Shahbazyan on June 14.
Petroski spoke about his new role on the June 25 episode of the “Tapout or Cashout Podcast,” explaining that the team wanted them to show some of the Flyers’ prospects how to better defend themselves. But the job comes with more responsibilities than that. The fighters have been watching clips of all the team’s recent melees, and are analyzing the bouts to try and offer pointers and analysis. Petroski even suggested thinking through a strategy he would employ so the Flyers could get other combatants’ helmets off to inflict damage quickly.
Per the “Tapout or Cashout Podcast:”
Petroski: I’ve been doing some big things recently. Yesterday, I was at the Flyers Training Facility in Voorhees. Danny Briere was in the picture. They have a couple prospects that they wanted to learn how to fight. So me and Garbarino are going to train some of the prospects. Yeah, so I’ve been watching videos on like these hockey fights and trying to find different techniques.
So yeah, so I never played hockey. Garbarino played hockey. He won a couple championships at that Voorhees center. So he played in high school. He was on a good team. He was pretty good. I don’t know the accolades but yeah. So what better blend here? You got a UFC fighter, I have 11 UFC fights, and then you have a bare knuckle boxer that played hockey.
I’ve found clips of all the Flyers’ fights from the 2024-25 season. So I’ve got all the clips of all the fights and we’re going to break them down and start working on some stuff.
So like, obviously, they’re doing a lot of grabbing, so we’re going to some gi stuff. We’re going to do some judo stuff. Most of them, they grab with one hand and then they punch with the other. But the rules have changed a little bit. Before, when they would fight, ‘all right, we’re f***ing fighting’ they would throw off the helmet. Now they keep the helmet on, they can’t take the helmet off before the fight. I think one dude got knocked out.
But, they usually don’t stop it. So if I punch you and your helmet comes off they don’t stop it. But they don’t want you take it off to begin with.
So with that being said, the visor covers your eyes and you have the helmet. Now the helmet has like this ring for the ear. You can grab that ring. So it’s all about one-hand grabbing or also using that as a frame. I’ve been excited. I’ve been watching a whole bunch of these hockey fights to see what the best strategy is.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the Flyers these past couple years before I started watching these fights… I was like, you guys have to put me in the penalty box and I just coach them up after their fights.
Despite the announcement and picture with Flyers players and personnel, neither Petroski nor Garbarino are listed on the team’s official staff page — at least as of yet.
The hirings come as the Flyers appear to be fed up with being the Metropolitan Division’s little brother. According to HockeyFights.com, Philadelphia players had 10 bouts during the 2024-25 season, and not fairing well in some of them. The team’s best enforcer is Nicolas Deslauriers, who had a marathon bout with Capitals defenseman Dylan McIlrath on Oct. 22, 2024.
“Deslauriers is the one good fighter,” Petroski said. “He’s hurt right now but we’re going to train him, too. They said he was interested. He was the enforcer. He was in like half of the fights. I’m telling you, bro, we can make this guy an animal. He’s a beast. Canadian. Six-foot-one. 218 pounds. Dude, he’s a beast.”
Petroski also revealed that he will work with the Flyers’ superstar, Matvei Michkov. The 20-year-old Russian phenom led all rookies in goals last season with 26, and notched 63 points in 80 games, finishing fourth in Calder Trophy voting.
“Michkov, they were saying, he needs to learn how to fight, he can’t fight. I watched him and he fights a decent amount. He seems a little smaller, but he was in a couple of the fights.”
The Flyers’ focus on fighting and toughness seems like a natural response, playing in a division that features heavyweight bruisers like the Caps’ Tom Wilson and New York Rangers’ Matt Rempe.
Philadelphia’s president of Hockey operations Keith Jones, who was hired out of the broadcast booth in 2023, told local sports radio in October of last year that he believes the team should value its history and legacy more – Broad Street Bullies era included.
“That’s something that’s really been embedded in me. I think it’s one of the most important things about being a Flyer,” he explained. “We are the Philadelphia Flyers. I get it’s not like a team that doesn’t have a great history, and that should never be forgotten. It should be incorporated into who we are and who we’re going to become. It doesn’t mean we have to play the same way as those teams played. It’s obviously a different game, but what’s inside does matter, and having pride and putting that jersey on matters.”
While being physical is important, the Flyers should also make sure to focus on the other parts of the game, too.
Philadelphia finished the year dead last in the Metro Division with 76 points and a 33-39-10 record (.463 point percentage), firing head coach John Tortorella on March 27 with nine games remaining in the season. The Flyers had the sixth worst goal differential in the league, minus-48, and surrendered the third-most five-on-five goals (195).
The Capitals 2025-26 regular season schedule hasn’t been released yet, but fans can circle their calendars for Sept. 25 when they’ll face the Flyers in a preseason matchup at Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Maybe some young Flyers will try to show what they’ve learned from their new fight coaches then.
