Rumor: Alain Vigneault has alienated some of his own players.

The Philadelphia Flyers have had a truly spectacular collapse in the second half of this National Hockey League regular season and as you would expect all kinds of rumors are flying around about why exactly this has happened. One thing that appears to be a constant however are the rumblings surrounding head coach Alain Vigneault and his future with the organization, a future that according to some is now in doubt.

The latest on this front comes courtesy of Philadelphia Flyers insider Sam Carchidi who revealed on Monday morning that some of the players in the Flyers' locker room are unhappy with their head coach. Carchidi, citing his insider sources, revealed that public comments made by Vigneault this season have rubbed some of the members of the Flyers locker room the wrong way.

From Carchidi:

Some of the Flyers are not happy with Vigneault’s public criticism of them, according to a source connected to the players.

That of course is not a good thing, but you have to realize that you're never going to be able to keep every player happy while also keeping them accountable for their play on the ice. It would be one thing however if Carchidi was the only one reporting on the current issues with Vigneault, but that is not the case. 

Over the weekend we touched on a report from NHL insider Larry Brooks of the New York Post in which the insider revealed that he was hearing rumblings that Vigneault could soon be out the door.

From Brooks:

We’re hearing that it is no sure thing at all that Alain Vigneault will return for his third season in Philadelphia next year.

If Vigneault is directly responsible for alienating players in his own locker room, as Carchidi's sources would appear to suggest he has, then I can certainly understand why the team would feel a need to move on. I would argue however that there are more serious issues for the Flyers here than hurt feelings, for example like the abysmal level of goaltending they received this season from netminder Carter Hart. Hart went from looking like the teams goaltender of the future to posting a 3.67 goals against average and an .877 save percentage over his 27 appearances this season, some of the very worst numbers in the league.

Vigneault certainly can't be expected to slap on a pair of pads and play in goal for the Flyers, but it sounds like he could soon be the man to bite the bullet for the Flyers failure to deliver this season.