Just back in February, we were all ready with pitchforks in hand to storm the Wells Fargo Center and rescue our beloved Philadelphia Flyers from the scourge of the front office.
Since then, Chuck Fletcher was relieved of his duties, Dave Scott and Valerie Camillo have stepped down from their lofty positions, and the New Era of Orange is starting to take shape.
Ron Hextall pushed the Flyers into purgatory, and Chuck Fletcher brought them as close to the hellfire as possible, with the club missing the postseason in consecutive seasons for only the second time in franchise history and first time since the early 1990s.
With his trade deadline debacle that brought about the complete ire of the fan base, the Flyers fired him from both his stations and brought along Daniel Brière for the ride.
Dave Scott then announced he would be stepping down and retiring at the end of the season, paving the way for Dan Hilferty. Scott was a fantastic businessman, the Flyers were extremely profitable during a tough economic stretch, and he pushed the Flyers into the billion-dollar club for the first time in franchise history. However, on the hockey side of things, he looked to be without a clue most of the time and entrusted his senior advisors and Chuck Fletcher to fix the mess they made.
It became a debate of sorts because numerous outlets kept reporting that the senior advisors in Bobby Clarke, Paul Holmgren, and Bill Barber didn’t hold much power and were there more or less for status, other than perhaps advising on smaller tasks.
Personally, I find it very hard to believe that 3 Flyers Hall of Famers, who have been around for decades upon decades, had very little say and sway with their storied franchise plummeting on a yearly basis. Nevertheless, it was reported that their impacts would be severely mitigated this season, but it doesn’t seem like they’ll be cut out of the loop entirely.
Scott walking into the sunset was expected and came at the perfect time because his tenure with the Flyers specifically was tumultuous at best. Dan Hilferty seems like the prime candidate for the job and he seems to have a much better understanding of the sports aspect of this business.
Valerie Camillo stepping down came as a surprise however, and it’s stranger by the minute when you go back to their recent press conference when they ushered into the New Era of Orange. She was up front with Hilferty, Brière, Jones, and John Tortorella – the quartet responsible for leading the team back from the abyss – and they almost made it seem like she was going to round out the group as a quintet.
In saying that, she was part of the old regime that brought about a lot of disdain and bad taste to the city of Philadelphia. Brière and company had mentioned that they wanted to change the makeup of the front office and how they were keen on modernism, and so far they’ve done just that.
The only caveat seems to be the hiring of former players is still a priority. On the surface, it looks like you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. However, alumni hirings happen all over the league, and this time around things look and feel a lot better than previous hirings.
The Flyers are no longer hard-pressed about experience being the bottom line of a hire. Daniel Brière had no general managing experience in the NHL and was an assistant or a special assistant for a few years, Keith Jones has a ton of experience in the bottom and broadcasting but virtually nothing when it comes to front office management, and Patrick Sharp and John LeClair, who were just recently hired for player development, fall in the same boat as the aforementioned duo who are set to lead the Flyers as General Manager and President of Hockey Operations, respectively.
The Flyers also promoted Alyn McCauley to Assistant General Manager and is supposed to have more authority than Brent Flahr, with the latter sticking around for his drafting knowledge with the former taking on the added roles of an AGM.
Riley Armstrong and Nick Schultz were also promoted to Director of Player Development and Assistant Director to Player Development, respectively. In addition to Armstrong and Schultz’s promotions, Sharp and LeClair are going to be overseeing the player development department as well, with the Flyers focusing on and putting a lot of eggs into that one basket.
You can’t blame the new management group for focusing on player development with how the last several years have gone for their touted prospects. Whether they were reaches during the draft or just couldn’t make it on the big stage, the Flyers have a lot of failed prospects since 2013.
First rounders in Nolan Patrick, German Rubstov, and Jay O’Brien come to mind, add in second round picks like Pascal Laberge and Isaac Ratcliffe with mid-round selections like Maxim Sushko, Matthew Strome, and Wyatte Wylie, among so many others, and it’s hard not to be pressed about the developmental aspect of the organization.
The Flyers have always been good to their own over the years, and that’s why a lot of players who retire remain with the organization in some manner. There are even players who finished off their careers in Philadelphia, perhaps in their twilight, that like to be known as “Flyers” compared to the other teams they spent more time with. The new regime wants to bring in passionate people who care about the city, the team, and knows what the fan base wants – because they played here. Brière was the big fish free agent signing that became a playoff icon and LeClair was a 50+ goal scorer and one of the best of his ilk in franchise history.
Jones might not have been the most skilled hockey player, but he’s been around for a very long time and just based on his broadcasting, you can tell the last few years have been rough on him and Jim Jackson.
Sharp was traded out of Philadelphia because of Ken Hitchcock so he wasn’t around for that long, however “once a Flyer, always a Flyer” seems to ring true with him. When it comes to player development, it helps that you’re bringing in Stanley Cup winners, point producers, goal scorers, and playoff performers. So while experience may be lacking, you have to start somewhere, and beginning your journey with the rebuilding Flyers might be the best starting point for your new career.
I understand that it might seem like they’re doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past with the recent hirings that they have made, however there was never much optimism around the moves they made in prior years. No one ever rejoiced in the idea that Paul Holmgren was sticking around as President, people were extremely content when Hextall took over – partially because it rid us of Holmgren – many were excited about Chris Pronger’s role after his career ended, and the same faction were gleeful when Brière was promoted to assistant general manager. Hiring former players is one thing, but hiring the ones who want what is best for the city, team, and fan base is another thing.
Holmgren didn’t seem overly gleeful, Fletcher had no idea what he was doing or saying, Hextall shut the door and pulled over the iron curtain, and everyone in between was more so focused on the business side of things than the on-ice product.
They were more so worried about getting fans in the arena and selling out tickets, rather than noticing or focusing on the middling performance on the ice, that it was keeping us away in large numbers. Our cries for a rebuild, for a fresh start, and new beginnings were falling on deaf ears with the constant retools and aggressive rebuilds that were happening on the flip of a coin.
Brière and Jones have heard those cries, they want to change everything about this organization and bring it back the old glory days from the 80s, mid-90s, and all the way to 2010. They won’t be doing that by playing prehistoric hockey, nor will they be trying to go for size and strength instead of speed and skill.
They have focused on the blueprints of successful modern teams and will be looking to mimic their success through the draft, developing their prospects, and actually building from the ground up. Getting rid of some of the younger players right now who have yet to reach their prime might be the casualty to long-term success but if the packages and offers are too good to refuse, Brière has to pull the trigger with eyes focused on 2025, 2026, 2027 and beyond.
Maybe more former players will be hired throughout the summer, but if it’s players like Chris Pronger, Eric Lindros, or even Robert Esche who have tons of experience and love the city of Philadelphia, how can you be upset about that? We all want what’s best for this team, we all want to see them succeed, and it’s started to feel that we took all the playoff hockey for granted in the mid-90s up to 2010.
Looking back on it now, we always knew they were going to qualify for the playoffs, and we were more focused on how far they could go in that particular season. In recent years it was all about trying to improve from the previous basement-dwelling season, yet somehow things got worse every single year.
The new regime is firmly implanted and gone are the days where they focus on size and strength and trading picks for possible improvements.
It’s just going to take some time to clean up this mess.
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