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Hhitchcock + Clarke Gone


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BREAKING NEWS: Hitchcock, Clarke Are Gone

Today @ 7:35 AM ET | Comments (2)

By Tim Panaccio Inquirer Staff Writer An era of Philadelphia Flyers hockey has ended. Flyers general manager Bob Clarke has resigned while coach Ken Hitchcock has been fired. The club will announced both this morning at a 10 am news conference at the Wachovia Center. Hitchcock had been starting his fourth season and was given a two-year contract extension in training camp while Clarke had been the team's GM for 19 seasons. The Flyers are 1-6-1, their worst start since 1989-90 = that was the first time the Flyers had fired Clarke. It is believed the club asked for Clarke's resignation. On friday, Clarke said he took responsibility for how poorly the club had began this season.

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www.hockeybuzz.com

BLOGS

BREAKING NEWS: Hitchcock, Clarke Are Gone

Today @ 7:35 AM ET | Comments (2)

By Tim Panaccio Inquirer Staff Writer An era of Philadelphia Flyers hockey has ended. Flyers general manager Bob Clarke has resigned while coach Ken Hitchcock has been fired. The club will announced both this morning at a 10 am news conference at the Wachovia Center. Hitchcock had been starting his fourth season and was given a two-year contract extension in training camp while Clarke had been the team's GM for 19 seasons. The Flyers are 1-6-1, their worst start since 1989-90 = that was the first time the Flyers had fired Clarke. It is believed the club asked for Clarke's resignation. On friday, Clarke said he took responsibility for how poorly the club had began this season.

This is not good for the devils. We needed clarkies worhtless behind at the helm to continue to keep them from being a championship team.

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Here is the article that hockeybuzz was quoting. Seems legit. I guess we find out at 10am.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/15822723.htm

Seems like a panic move to me. Really, can what happens between October 5th and October 22nd be *THAT* bad to banish your coach and GM?

More like 32 years of frustration to take out one the obvious "rescent" culprits.

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Panaccio is pretty reliable. As a fan of a team that is a rival of the Flyers I feel almost bereft without Clarke there to despise. However, I have two overall comments:

1. This probably won't matter if they bring in ex-Flyers with the "we can make them bring back the old NHL" idea to either be the GM or to coach. Yes, Hitch wasn't an ex-Flyer but since he got a team put together by one, he was pretty much stuck, probably his instincts as a coach didn't help, but that defense completely lacks mobility beyond Pitkanen and I'm not sure he's ready to take on the role that's been thrust on him. So what, beyond either sending Rathje and Hatcher to the minors (or buying them out) and starting again, are they going to do, and will it matter if they bring in another ex-Flyer to run the place?

2. Given NJ's performance in the last couple of games, we should probably be more concerned with the state of what's in front of us, not them.

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How do we, as fans, "be concerned about our own performance"? Even if the Devils were 0-8-0, I'd take delight in the Flyers misfortunes.

Rumours are floating around about Pat Quinn coming in, which would be great... we'd still have someone in management to focus our distaste at.

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How do we, as fans, "be concerned about our own performance"? Even if the Devils were 0-8-0, I'd take delight in the Flyers misfortunes.

Rumours are floating around about Pat Quinn coming in, which would be great... we'd still have someone in management to focus our distaste at.

I said we should be more concerned at the state of what's in front of us...meaning the team, not us. The state of the team defense in the last 2 games has looked pretty much like what we saw from them at the beginning of last season.

Well, if it is Quinn, yes, there would still be a management figure we could despise. And the whining level would rise. Quinn actually whines more (at least more consistently) than Clarke ever did. Clarke whined loudly but in short bursts.

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Definite panic move, not that Clarke was a great GM and I'm no fan of Hitch - but he wasn't the problem there, their team is just not that good anymore especially with one goalie playing hurt and the other one alienated from the team. I guess shoving the GM aside wasn't enough of a drastic shakeup to get the players' attention though so they had to throw Hitch overboard too.

I have to admit I'm amused even though two of my three biggest reasons for hating the Flyers are gone now :P

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Definite panic move, not that Clarke was a great GM and I'm no fan of Hitch - but he wasn't the problem there, their team is just not that good anymore especially with one goalie playing hurt and the other one alienated from the team. I guess shoving the GM aside wasn't enough of a drastic shakeup to get the players' attention though so they had to throw Hitch overboard too.

I have to admit I'm amused even though two of my three biggest reasons for hating the Flyers are gone now :P

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.

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How do we, as fans, "be concerned about our own performance"? Even if the Devils were 0-8-0, I'd take delight in the Flyers misfortunes.

Rumours are floating around about Pat Quinn coming in, which would be great... we'd still have someone in management to focus our distaste at.

I heard the name Keenan bandied about.

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Hitchcock will be re-hired by this time next season.

well sure, there will be vacancies and he can ride the cup ring for a while. Doesn't mean he's any good, but he's probably better than somebody like Therrien, Gallant or Gretzky.

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Imagine if Vanderbeek reacted like this after our start last season. I mean Lou has made some questionable moves. Definate panic move, but Philly hasn't done anything in over three decades and firing Clarke is about 10 years overdue. I really hope this somehow becomes the "Bobby Clarke Curse" and they go from not winning the cup to not making the playoffs for years to come. I hate that team, and it's fans, more than anything. They deserve all the failure they get.

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