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Hhitchcock + Clarke Gone


CMONPETEYD

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I saw some of the details of the press conference. Clarke spoke and did take some of the responsibility for the mess. Sort of. But here's the thing that just shows you he had to be told to resign. You know it wasn't voluntary. He said he was burned out and actually hadn't been making any of the decisions for a while now (he wasn't clear how long a while was) and that, in fact, he couldn't bring himself to make the decisions necessary to be a GM in the NHL anymore.

Basically, what he said was that Holmgren, who is taking over, had been calling the shots and he hadn't been doing anything but yes, it was his fault. HUH???? Anyone who really believes this, raise your hand. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller??? Bueller???

Snider said he had launched an 'investigation' after the 9-1 loss and that Hitch had lost the team and that's why he was fired.

Yeah sure, so I guess we can blame Holmgren for tossing the offer sheet to Kesler? :rofl:

Investigation? :blink: How exactly did he investigate, by asking the players' opinions on the coach and GM? :P

Edited by Hasan4978
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I think it's interesting they chose Stevens over Terry Murray. Steven was the Phantoms coach for the past few years and won the Calder Cup with Carter, Niittymaki, Umberger ect...

This tells me he is no interim coach and the Flyers are going to go young. So I expect all the major veterans over 30 traded or waived, including Forsberg, if he waves his no trade.

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I think it's interesting they chose Stevens over Terry Murray. Steven was the Phantoms coach for the past few years and won the Calder Cup with Carter, Niittymaki, Umberger ect...

This tells me he is no interim coach and the Flyers are going to go young. So I expect all the major veterans over 30 traded or waived, including Forsberg, if he waves his no trade.

I sincerely doubt this. The Flyers have never been a team to do this and I don't expect them to do it now. There's really no reason to - the team is profitable as is, they still have a shot at the playoffs.

They won't be able to get rid of Derian Hatcher or Mike Rathje - they may choose to buy one out at the end of the season, but no one wants either of these players. A lot of the other vets will be UFA at the end of the season, Forsberg included. A guy like Sami Kapanen could be moved - but it's too early in the season to start waiving guys left and right.

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I think it's interesting they chose Stevens over Terry Murray. Steven was the Phantoms coach for the past few years and won the Calder Cup with Carter, Niittymaki, Umberger ect...

This tells me he is no interim coach and the Flyers are going to go young. So I expect all the major veterans over 30 traded or waived, including Forsberg, if he waves his no trade.

Well, Murray once coached the Flyers before during the Lindros era and made that regrettable quote during the '97 Cup Finals making reference to "a choking situation." He was promptly fired after this by Clarke.

Maybe it's better that the Flyer opted for a new voice. It might just work.

SC, Hitchcock without the mustache was just really weird.

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So, when will they announce Esche as the new GM?

Not quite the current backup goalie but it looks like they may go after Ron Hextall for the new GM position.

Already there are whispers suggesting that former Flyer Ron Hextall has been targeted, and time is required for him to consider the role and sift through the legal complications that would exist if Hextall tried to jump from the Los Angeles Kings back to Philadelphia.

http://tsn.ca/tsn_talent/columnists/darren_dreger/

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Here's Mike Heika's take on it:

dallasnews.com

Flyers' failure rests on Clarke's shoulders

04:08 AM CDT on Monday, October 23, 2006

This one is on Bob Clarke.

That's right, the Flyers general manager, who had the second-longest tenure among NHL GMs at 12 years, has to take the fall for the current mess in Philadelphia. And while former Stars coach Ken Hitchcock, who was fired Sunday when Clarke resigned, takes a little of the blame, this is a question of who was buying the groceries and not who was cooking the meal.

Hitchcock does indeed coach a defensive system, but it's a system that will work in the new NHL. It's a system that values players such as Sergei Zubov, Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen. But those aren't the type of players Clarke went after. Too unpredictable, too soft, not near Canadian enough.

And so Hitchcock was given a group of slow, physical tough guys in Philadelphia, and he couldn't coach them in the new NHL. Go figure.

Mix that in with Clarke's absolute failure to get a go-to goalie, and it was time for him to go.

When Ed Belfour came out of San Jose in 1997, he targeted the Stars and Flyers. Bob Gainey got the deal done. Bob Clarke did not. In recent years, Roberto Luongo was traded twice, while Miikka Kiprusoff, Nikolai Khabibulin, Curtis Joseph and Dominik Hasek each changed teams and went on to big seasons.

Clarke missed out on all of them.

And that has to be his legacy as a general manager.

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Good as usual Greg. But to say the Flyers are done seems a bit premature. It reminds me of how many wrote off the Devils last December only to watch them storm back with Lou behind the bench.

Sometimes, a different voice is needed for a team to respond. Do the Flyers still have issues on their blueline and in net? Yes. But if Carter, Umberger and Richards pick it up, they'll get back to winning games.

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