Wayne Simmonds and John Moore get tangled up in front of the net in Game 3.
Credit: Getty Images
The Flyers lie so much, they must think no one is paying attention. There’s no other logical explanation for the ridiculous news conference they held last week to announce the promotions of Paul Holmgren and Ron Hextall. As usual, chairman Ed Snider was orchestrating all the moves and serving up all the baloney.
Snider — with great pride, of course — named Holmgren president even though the former GM admitted he has no experience in the business end of hockey. The usual term for this kind of move is getting kicked upstairs, but Snider made it sound like a resounding coup for all parties. After all, who doesn’t want to be president?
Unfortunately for Snider, Holmgren was on the record exactly five days earlier — after the 39th straight season without a Stanley Cup had ended in a first-round playoff loss — saying he had no desire to leave his GM job. He also said he would know when that time came. Obviously, Snider made the decision for him.
And then there was Hextall, who is probably an upgrade at the GM position but who has changed his tune dramatically since leaving the Flyers and winning a Cup as the assistant GM in Los Angeles. Success is not defined just by championships, he now says. At least when Snider is in the room.
If you want the real truth on what’s going on with the Flyers, here’s it is: Snider was tired of failing to win the Cup with Holmgren, so the boss replaced him as GM with yet another beloved player.
The more things change with the Flyers, the more they stay the same.
