Message from the top: No (major) changes in the works
VOORHEES, N.J. >> BREAKING (and apparently not fake) NEWS: The Flyers aren’t going anywhere.
Of course, we all knew that. Even teams that finish with a spate of late March and early April successes aren’t going anywhere later in the spring when the rest of the regular season was mostly mediocre.
“You’ve got a group of guys that are pissed off that we’re finished, that our year is done,” head coach Dave Hakstol said Thursday. “You can go back and change that, so you’ve got to do better in the future. And that’s what’s on all of our plates here as we head into the summer and
change that, so you’ve got to do better in the future. And that’s what’s on all of our plates here as we head into the summer and into next season.”
All well and true ... and for just the third time in five years!
As currently constituted, however, the breaking-bad news is that the Flyers aren’t going anywhere in other contexts.
No picking up stakes and moving the offices to Jersey.
No shuttling out the old core group of high-paid forwards for another new veteran flock.
And no ... no change of corporate leadership, either.
“No plans to sell the franchise,” Comcast-Spectacor chief executive officer Dave Scott said. Now there’s a scoop. On a day traditionally reserved for general manager and head coach season eulogies, Scott, the “new” big boss who has been around a while, made an unusual appearance at the Skate Zone, along with team president Paul Holmgren.
Maybe it was because they heard all those very speculative pronouncements that without the late Ed Snider here, Comcast wouldn’t be so interested in retaining its Philadelphia hockey property, and instead would focus on continuing to try to take over the business world.
But Scott seemed to be making a purposeful visit to not only dispel such notions, but also the published presumption that Ron Hextall — Holmgren’s and Snider’s hand-picked successor to the club’s front office controls — is largely on his own in conducting hockey business here, without the kind of oversight Snider used to provide.
“It was a terrific year from a business perspective,” said Scott, 64, a longtime Comcast Corp. executive who came out of retirement to take over the business reigns of Comcast-Spectacor after the resignation of Peter Luukko in Dec. 2013. “It was probably one of the best years we’ve ever had.”
And so from that perspective, there certainly are things that supercede standings success ... or the lack thereof.
“Ron’s our guy,” Scott added. “We believe in the system, we like the vision, the strategy, the pipeline. These young players coming up, there’s a lot of excitement. From the business side, it’s been terrific.”
So consider that a message of confidence sent.
The playoffs might have yet again eluded the grasp of a team that was built by both Holmgren and Hextall. The core group of veterans with whom Hextall remains pledged while rebuilding the minor league system and team around them — a process Hextall admitted was a “slow one” — have won one playoff series since they were forged as one nearly six years ago.
From the four corners of the team’s locker room on out to the Wells Fargo Center seats that are still mostly filled for games, there should be a growing sense of impatience. You get the feeling it exists inside the general manager’s office, too.
“We’re going to fight through this,” Hextall asserted Friday. “We had a little setback here, damn right. Are we happy about it? No way. Are we going to get better? Absolutely. Are we going to demand better? You’re damn right. We’re a better team than this and we’re going to be better in October.”
So the head coach and GM are cursing and cross, just the right mindset to have as they prepare for another night of watching the playoffs on TV. But the “new” big boss?
He’s paid to be patient, so long as the dollar-and-cents numbers keep promoting such a state of cool.
“This is really my fourth season with the club here,” Scott said. “I’ve stayed pretty close to it and I’ve got all the confidence in the world with Paul as president and Ron as general manager. My job is to make sure we have the resources and we’re invested in the team for the long run and go for the Cup. We’re the Flyers, we’re going to go for it every year. That’s our heritage.”
Nothing new there.