Making The Best of a Bad Situation

This is why the Philadelphia Flyers are my favorite team. Two nights ago, the team quit in front of goalie Robert Esche against a very talented Buffalo Sabres team that knocked the Flyers out of the playoffs just months ago. The Flyers lost 9-1, in a defeat that both the owner and general manager called humiliating, and all signs point to this game becoming one of the all time worst losses in Flyers history. Two weeks into the new NHL season, and it is the Flyers who are last in the conference in points, very unfamiliar territory.

The Chairman of the Board for the Flyers is Ed Snider. Snider is one of the most passionate owners in professional sports, also one of the most demanding. Philadelphia is a town that needs a winner, and not another disappointment. Snider came out the next day after the loss to Buffalo and said that enough was enough, that he was humiliated, and that he is going to find the problems in the clubhouse and fix them fast. Those words were enough for me, but Ed did not stop there. Snider ordered the waiving of three Flyers (Petr Nedved, Nolan Baumgartner, and Niko Dimitrakos) and he called up three Phantoms who are achieving in the AHL. He may not be done yet. He won't be done until the team is winning again.

When a team deconstructs, comes out unprepared for the season and games specifically, the chain of command is my first glance when asked why the results arent there. I've got two men to blame for the slow start, one is Bob Clarke and the other is Ken Hitchcock. I am finally starting to wonder if the "new" NHL is one that has left the strategies of Hitchcock behind. My problem with Clarke would be the control he exerts on the nightly product on the ice. Clarke's comments in the media are strong, it makes you wonder what happens behind the closed doors? Does Clarke interfer in the gameday planning? How did the team make it through an entire training camp, with a full slate of pre season games, being one of the first teams to cut its roster for the season, and still look totally unprepared, 7 games in? More on this to follow.