"I'm honored to join the Philadelphia Flyers organization," Williams said in a statelent. "I can't wait to get started with such a great staff and an exciting group of players."
Williams and Vigneault have a lengthy history of working together. In fact, the Flyers will be the third NHL organization for whom they've collaborated.
Williams served as an assistant coach and video coach for the Vancouver Canucks from 2008-09 to 2012-13. After Vigneault's departure from the Canucks, Williams remained with the Canucks for one additional season as the video coach under head coach John Tortorella. Thereafter, he rejoined Vigneault with the New York Rangers as an assistant coach for the duration of AV's term through the end of the 2017-18 season.
"Darryl has experience at every level and I am confident that he will fit seamlessly into our coaching staff," Vigneault said in a statement. "There is a high level of familiarity having worked with Darryl for several years and I know what he is capable of to help bring success to our group."
As Vigneault referenced, Newfoundland native Williams has extensive head coaching and assistant coaching experience at various levels of the game. For the last two seasons, he was an assistant coach for the ECHL's Newfoundland Growlers. The team won the Kelly Cup (ECHL championship) in 2018-19 and was 42-17-1 at the time the 2019-20 season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rest of the season was ultimately canceled, along with the playoffs. In 2020-21, the Growlers opted out of participating in the season.
Before his recent stint in Newfoundland and prior to his time together with Vigneault, Williams was a minor league head coach for the Long Beach Ice Dogs (International Hockey League/ West Coast Hockey League) and Kansas City Ice Dogs (United Hockey League), an AHL assistant coach for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks and a major junior assistant coach (along with simultaneous video coordinator, and strength and conditioning director duties) for the QMJHL's St. John's IceDogs.
As a player, Williams was a hard-nosed, two-way winger. He played 11 professional seasons, mostly in the AHL and the now-defunct IHL. He had a two-game National Hockey League cup of coffee with the Los Angeles Kings during the 1992-93 season.
A member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Halls of Fame, Williams posted 126 goals and 157 assists for 283 points in 676 career AHL and IHL games. Never shy about dropping the gloves, he racked up 200 or more penalty minutes in seven pro seasons. He topped out at 325 PIM along with scoring 18 goals for the IHL's Phoenix Roadrunners in 1992-83, where one of his teammates was Sean Couturier's father, Sylvain.
