The Flyers’ Problems In Two Letters – G and M

*****UPDATED: This was written in March of 2013. Not much changed, aside from Hexy coming back. That’s a good sign….Hopefully.*****

The Flyers lose ugly to the New Jersey Devils.  #firelavy floods my Twitter timeline.  This feels all too familiar.  A Flyers team disappoints and another coach is sacrificed to the hockey gods. This insanity has to stop.

How many more coaches will have to be slaughtered because of Flyers teams not living up to their expectations? Why would any top-level coach want to come here? Have we forgotten that of all the executives in the Flyers front office, Peter Laviolette is probably to most recent to have won a Stanley Cup.  He’s proven he can win as a coach in the NHL, even with a small-market team like the Carolina Hurricanes.

Is he really the problem?

The Flyers have had 15 coaches in the last 35 years.  That’s ridiculous.  Of those 15 coaches, two had won Stanley Cups before arriving in Philadelphia–Ken Hitchcock and Laviolette.  One coach had gone on to win a Cup after leaving Philadelphia–Mike Keenan.  That’s 3 coaches who have proven they can win a Stanley Cup, just not here in Philadelphia.  So what gives? What’s the obstacle?

Unfortunately, I’m beginning to think that we are city at the mercy of an owner who is loyal to a fault.  Ed Snider has had tremendous success in the past and he remains loyal to those who helped him reach those glory days.  However, the only team in town that hasn’t won a Championship more recently than the Flyers is the Eagles.  Flyers fans, these are the faces behind your Stanley Cup drought of more than 30 years:

Ed Snider has not gone outside of the organization for a general manager since the days of Russ Farwell.  In fact, Bob Clarke and/or Paul Holmgren have been the GM of the Flyers for 26 of the past 30 years.  This is the constant, local legends Bob Clarke and Paul Holmgren running the show.  That’s not easy to accept since both men were such great players in town.  However, they were not and are not great GMs.

Since 1984, when Bob Clarke first became GM, Pittsburgh, Calgary, Colorado, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, Carolina, New Jersey, and Anaheim have gone on win Stanley Cups.  That’s right, the Ducks, Kings and Hurricanes.  That’s wrong, particularly for a Philadelphia fan-base that continually ranks in the top five in attendance–even with the Cup drought.

Ed Snider is not to blame for lack of effort.  In fact, his passion and desire to win is so great that it only makes Clarke and Holmgren’s GM skills look worse because they are usually operating with a blank checkbook and still can’t get the job done.

This season is Paul Holmgren’s baby.  He couldn’t land Ryan Suter or Zach Parise and had no alternative plan.  Plan B ended being Ruslan Fedotenko and Bruno Gervais, while letting Jagr and Carle walk.  Really?  And again, the Flyers go into the season needing a puck-carrying defenseman.  It feels like that’s been a need since the days of Eric Desjardins.

Holmgren also moved goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to Columbus for draft picks.  Then, chose to go into the season with Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton as the backups.  That’s a joke, particularly in a season where games are gonna be crammed into a shortened season and goalie fatigue could set in.

This has to end.  After this season, no matter the outcome, Ed Snider has to step up for this most loyal fan-base.   Stepping up would be getting his checkbook out and telling Jim Nill to write in whatever amount he wants to become General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers.  Nill is in his 15th year as Assistant GM with the Detroit Red Wings.  Nill runs the Red Wings amateur scouting department and oversees their selections in the NHL Entry Draft.  During his tenure in Detroit, they have remained competitive and won 4 Stanley Cups (1997, 1997, 2002,2008).  Four, that’s 4 Stanley Cups!

At 54, insiders speculate that he’d be willing to leave for the right offer.  Please, Ed Snider, make him that offer.  As a bonus, Philadelphia city is going through mustache withdraw with Andy Reid’s departure and Jim Nill’s badass stache would fill that void as well.

And, by no means, do I want Holmgren unemployed.  I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.  That’s a VIOLATION.  Surely he can remain with the organization in another front-office position, just not GM.  He’s a good guy and been a loyal soldier for the fans and franchise.  He’s just not right for this job at this time.

Even though it’s the right thing to do, I doubt this will ever happen.  Ownership is too beholden and loyal to the philosophy of “Flyers Hockey” to go outside the organization.  That’s okay, I’ve got a plan B better than Holmgren’s this year.

Bring Ron Hextall back.  Hexy has worked his way up the front-office ladder from a scout with the Flyers to being the Vice President-Assistant GM of the Los Angeles Kings, who happened to have won a Cup last year.  He seems like the perfect mixture of new hockey and “Flyers hockey.” He’d also charge up the fan-base.  Who doesn’t love Hexy?

Nill is clearly the right choice and best person out there to direct the Flyers toward a Stanley Cup, but Hextall is a satisfactory consolation prize.  Either way, a combination of Nill/Laviolette (both Cup winners) or Hextall/Laviolette (both Cup winners) seems more appealing than the GM/Coach combinations of Holmgren/Ruff or Holmgren/Berube.

Please do the right thing….we Flyers fans need it.