Hrmm, I guess some people didn’t like the memo, after all. Seven games into the season the Flyer’s GM Bobby Clarke was allowed to retire (although after all the effluent that has flowed from his mouth the last decade, I think they should have fired his ass), and Hitchcock was shown the door.
Clarke leaving isn’t a surprise, but Hitchcock being yanked was a bit of one. In hindsight, I guess it shouldn’t have been, as he does have a bit of a rep – similar to Keenan – of his players tuning him out after a few years. I’m guessing that Esche wasn’t the only one who had had enough.
I guess this means it’s officially a rebuilding year in Philly. Sorry, yeh yeh (for the rebuilding year, I’m thinking you’re happy seeing Clarke fade away).
i kinda agree with that last guy.
Huh?
not fair u deleted!!
Oh, that. I delete them without seeing context first.
The defining moment for me was how the whole Roger Neilson situation was handled.
Roger gets healthy. Roger isn’t allowed to coach. This alone brought so much shame to the franchise that it truly made me sad to see how the situation was handled.
But then when has Bobby Clarke ever been about class? Yes he’s still a hero in many people’s eyes, but I am simply not old enough to be in that group, and to me, all I see is a man who has failed. Most general managers do.
As an A’s fan, I want to clearly state that sometimes your victories aren’t championships, but in the Flyer’s case, with the payroll that they sustained during the non salary-cap era…
It was an outright failure.
I look forward to a new era of Flyers hockey, anchored by the tremendous talent of Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Stefan Ruzicka, Joni Pitkanen, and in a year or two, maybe Claude Giroux. That kid is tearing up the Q.
I do have a few questions.
They call the QMJHL the Q. Do they call the OHL “the O”?
Do they call the WHL “the W”?
Also, I kind of want a jersey from a team in the Q. Any suggestions? How hard would this be to acquire?
James AND priior!? Egad, this blog’s really going downhill…
Ha ha – different James 🙂