It’s a nice trick or treat kind of night for Paul Holmgren, the current interim Flyer GM discovers that the boss Ed Snider, has approached a league official to take over the duties of rebuilding the Flyer brand in Philly.
Holmgren claims he knows nothing of the offer to Colin Campbell by Snider to pick up where Bobby Clarke left off and right the listing Flyer squad and turn around the fortunes of the former monster of the East. The first news of the supposed job offer came from Sportsnet on Tuesday night, citing sources in Philadelphia who apparently have the ear of the Flyer’s president.
"I have no idea about that," Holmgren told The Canadian Press Tuesday.
This is not a good sign for the one chosen by Clarke, to try to move the Flyers back to their dominant position in the NHL. The Flyers Boss man didn’t even provide the obligatory “vote of confidence” in Holmgren, which is normally how a GM or coach knows that his days might be numbered. The sorry state of the Flyers so far this year is the kind of thing that attracts attention, and with each passing day the situation becomes dire for anyone with any control over the direction of the team.
While Holmgren tries to read the tea leaves in the Flyer offices, Campbell has to make a decision of his own. Does he want to leave his executive office in the NHL head office, (and rumours that he would like to be a GM have been floating around for months now) and if so does he really want to take on the task of taking the challenge of the Flyers on.
The upsides are obvious, Philadelphia has got to be one of the more desirable of franchises to try and make your own. The city is a hotbed of sports from the Eagles, the Sixers and the Phillies, the Flyers have always been in the thick of things, a symbol of a tough scrappy city that doesn't like to lose. The Flyers have a fair amount of history of their own in the city , they have faithful fans and they’ve had the will to win in the past. Return them to glory and the town could be yours.
The downsides: Fail and well, the swamps of New Jersey aren’t too far away!!
It will be interesting to see how this develops over the next few days, already the impression has been set that Holmgren now is a lame duck GM, just biding his time until Snider finds who he really wants at the helm.
If Campbell turns down the Flyers, then one wonders how fast Snider will go to a plan B, with the word out that he’s looking, Holmgren may wish to get his resume updated, he may be looking himself as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment