The Philadelphia Flyers are searching for a president of hockey operations to join the organization and Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic laid out the criteria the team is looking for to fill the role. O’Connor mentions that the team will be looking for a president of hockey operations to lead their management team while Daniel Briere, a relative youngster in the front office, will be the team’s general manager. With that in mind, the criteria the organization are using to fill the vacant position are experience, strong communication skills and a smart hockey mind. That last one should go without saying, but the team always wants someone who can communicate better with season ticket holders and fans, as well as someone with experience to help Briere along as he learns his new role as well.
O’Connor continues to list a handful of potential candidates who include Ray Shero, Doug Wilson, Scott Mellanby and Dave Poulin. Shero surely has the experience required thanks to his resume as an assistant general manager, general manager and senior advisor roles dating back to 1993. He is also the son of Fred Shero who coached the Flyers to their two Stanley Cup wins. Wilson was the general manager of the San Jose Sharks for nearly two decades giving him plenty of experience in this type of role. Mellanby has been working in front offices since 2012 when he was a director of player personnel and later an assistant general manager for the Montreal Canadiens. He also played for the Flyers for the first five years of his playing career. Poulin’s experience involved both working as the Toronto Maple Leafs vice president of hockey operations for five seasons as well as extensive experience working games as an analyst, which checks off the communication and experience boxes.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning have reassigned one of their prospects, per a team release. Roman Schmidt saw his OHL season end when the Kitchener Rangers were eliminated from the postseason by the London Knights, but his season is not over yet as Schmidt will join the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. The Lightning’s third round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft scored 28 points in 64 games and provided a big, physical, defensive presence for the Rangers using his 6-foot-5 inch and 216 pound body to win battles and protect his crease. The Crunch currently lead their Best-of-5 Division Semifinal series with the Rochester Americans 2-0.
- Detroit Red Wings prospect Ethan Phillips has found a new college hockey team for the upcoming season. According to Mark Divver of NHL.com, Phillips will leave Boston University and transfer to Western Michigan for the 2023-24 campaign. The Red Wings fourth-round pick in 2019, Phillips scored four goals and 11 points in 29 games last season.
If the Flyers hire anyone else who played for the team you will hear PLENTY of crying about it, but Poulin feels like a great fit, especially leaving the personnel decisions to Briere.
The problem with the search so far has been they hired one of those executive search groups and the hockey guy they brought in for the search also has an agency that represents coaches. So far all the people they interviewed are, big surprise, clients of his other company. It’s been a joke.
50 years without the cup prove that the problem in Philadelphia is a cultural problem. The gritty culture and ”Flyers for life” motto doesn’t fit anymore with winning.
If you want to win today you need to be fast, talented and big and you need to put the best person at the right place, whatever you’ve been or not a flyers before. The flyers are a joke, we can see among the scout names, Clarke and Shero, they’ve took the best scouts???Martin Gendron drafted his son…they need to make a stop to that, Bobby Clarke have to leave for good, we need to cut the grass from the root.
Just the intention to keep Brière is a weird thing because he’s in the old losing culture and you will say to his boss you will keep Brière. Comcast need to bring a new president that will change the culture, he can’t change the culture, lead the hockey and communicate as a bird. They need someone that can come from management or business sector and this guy will have the total control on his moves, he can hired a good communicator and a good hockey strategist later. But to understand how to change a culture, it need to be done by someone who can do that, not an hockey guy, otherwise the flyers are going for an other 20 years of losing.