Paul Holmgren and the Philadelphia Flyers are underway on their search for a new GM after the team fired Ron Hextall yesterday, and early indications were that Chuck Fletcher and Ron Francis were on the list of candidates for the job. Add Steve Greeley to that list, as Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that the Buffalo Sabres assistant GM is on the Flyers’ radar. The team has not reached out to the Sabres for permission to talk to him, but it’s easy to see why they would be interested.
Greeley, 38, is a former minor pro player who spent several years with the Los Angeles Kings as a scout under then-GM Dean Lombardi, who happens to now be a senior advisor with the Flyers. He then joined David Quinn’s staff at Boston University as associate head coach, before moving to the New York Rangers’ player personnel department. Jason Botterill hired him after taking over in Buffalo, but it was easy to see that Greeley was on the fast track to run a team of his own one day. Whether that happens in Philadelphia is still obviously undecided.
At a press conference today to explain the Hextall firing, Holmgren explained that while the organization is still in a fine position going forward the upper management felt that a new voice was needed to take them “to the next level.” One has to wonder whether that will be someone without any experience in the GM role like Greeley, or a more veteran name like Fletcher or Francis. For what it’s worth, neither of those two could ever get their franchises—Minnesota and Carolina respectively—to that next level when in the GM position.