The 47-year-old was an assistant coach with the Flyers the past eight seasons.
"It's going to be an adjustment for me and for the players around me, but at the end of the day, I'll be myself," Laperriere said Monday. "It's taken me this far in life and I'm not planning on changing. There's one thing I do have, that's control of the ice time. That's the thing I've never controlled before and players have to know that.
"The way we're going to play, the style of play I'm going to bring and the structure that me and [Flyers coach Alain Vigneault] are talking about, there's a lot of stuff that won't be negotiable in the system. Players will make mistakes, coaches will make mistakes, that I can live with. But you have to stick with the system, with the structure that we're going to talk about, and hard work."
Laperriere scored 336 points (121 goals, 215 assists) as a forward in 1,083 NHL games in 16 seasons with the Flyers, Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues. He played 82 games for Philadelphia in 2009-10 but sustained a concussion when he was hit in the face blocking a shot in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at the New Jersey Devils and never played again.
Laperriere remained active with the Flyers the following season and won the 2011 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy voted as the NHL player who best exemplified the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
After retiring as a player June 12, 2012, he was hired by Philadelphia as director of player development, a role he held for one season before becoming an assistant coach.
"The work ethic this man has is tremendous," Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said. "His career, I think he had over 1,100 National Hockey League games including playoff games and he willed and worked his way for a very successful, long career. He's continued to evolve in terms of being a coach and he's worked with a lot of very good people. ... He has a lot of experience as a coach, as a player. His understanding of the game, he's been involved in all of our systems work since I've been here. He's very aware of the X's and O's. And most importantly, the ability to connect with people, the passion, the work ethic, the honesty."
NHL.com deputy managing editor Adam Kimelman contributed to this report
