Photo Credit: Our very own Michael Reaves
Dan Hilferty was tabbed as Dave Scott’s replacement, a move that went into effect on April 1, 2023. Hilferty took over as CEO on April 17, 2023, while becoming the Board of Governor for the Philadelphia Flyers on July 1, 2023. In just his first year the organization has made progress with the fans, and Hilferty believes it went well, “I feel and I think, Keith, you would agree that this first year was all about creating an environment, a culture, where we accepted nothing but the best, where excellence is what we’re striving for,” Hilferty said pof a fresh perspective in the New Era of Orange. “If you look around this practice facility and all the work that’s being done now, will go on for the next year or so, it’s about creating an environment where players, coaches, us in the management part, strive for excellence. That’s going to continue. It’s continuing with the Wells Fargo Center.”
The Board of Governor in Hilferty continued, “We were thrilled that Front [Office] Sports named us one of the top arenas in the country. I don’t know if you’ve noticed. We’ve got billboards up about it around the city for no particular reason. We’re just doing that. I’m just really excited about where we are. Thrilled with Keith’s leadership, thrilled with Danny’s leadership and how the two of them work together. Thrilled with Coach Tortorella. The way the three of them can finish each other sentences, and how together, we’re going to build a winner.”
Hilferty graduated from Saint Joseph’s in 1978. He has held leadership roles with Independence Blue Cross, AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies, and Mercy Health Corporation. Hilferty even led a bid on behalf of the City of Philadelphia to become a host city for the 2026 World FIFA World Cup. Hilferty added in February in a statement released by the Flyers, “It’s an honor to have this opportunity to be a part of Comcast Spectacor. As a longtime Philadelphian who has admired the company for decades and is a tenacious Flyers fan, I’m excited about Comcast Spectacor and its future. I look forward to working with Dave and Valerie and the many other talented leaders of this storied organization.”
Transparency became a keyword that was used heavily by Flyers’ General Manager and Head John Tortorella throughout the course of the season. Now Hilferty believes that the Flyers are truly building something special, “If you look at the track record that we’ve had over the past decade, it’s been not a great one. I felt that we needed to do three things, we needed to change the discussion around “Oh, here they go. Again, it’s a losing environment,” to “What are they up to? They’re not overpromising, but they’re looking us in the eye and having a conversation about where we’re headed.” And that’s what we’ve tried to change,” Hilferty said of his first season within the Flyers organization. “The whole ‘New Era of Orange’ was about, we’re going to, as much as we can, look each of you in the eye and have an honest conversation about where we are. Do the same thing with the region and the fan base to make sure we bring them around on the journey. We saw a dip in attendance. We saw on social media or whoever you run into, just not an excitement about the team. I feel that although there is critical folks out there, the truth of matter is, across the board, people feel better about where we are. They feel that the things that Keith and Danny in his role as GM have done over the course of this year, are about building for the long haul, and doing it in a way that is as transparent as possible. And in an environment where not everything can be transparent.”
One pertinent tidbit from his presser, he says the Flyers are building a “Culture of Collaboration”. He said he has never once seen egos get in the way, while speaking about Danny Briere, Keith Jones, and John Tortorella. Hilferty says the trio communicates well pretty much. He later exclaims that the Flyers are building a winner here in Philadelphia, and ticket sales are up for a reason, “Ticket sales are up. We were 92 to 95 percent on renewals from last year. That’s a good number. We’re having great success in going out and having conversations about sponsors, about suite purchases,” Hilferty said.
“I’m not knocking the New York Rangers, but I long for a day that people are so excited that not a Ranger fan can get a ticket at a home game at the Wells Fargo Center,” Hilferty continued. “We’re not there yet but we are seeing more enthusiasm when we talk to people. For me, look, I was in healthcare for umpteen years, and I could walk, unless it was in the business community in Philadelphia, I could walk anywhere and nobody, nobody had a clue who I was. People stop me on the street now. They just say Dan, I want to say thank you. You’ve got a long way to go but I’m back. I’m on board. And it’s not once or twice a week. It’s once or twice, three times a day. It’s a gut. We haven’t done a study but we’re looking at the results of season ticket sales. Todd Glickman, our Chief Revenue Officer was here looking at the results of conversations around sponsorships from helmet namings rights to folks who want to buy more tickets.”
Keith Jones, on the other hand, said it’s important for the Flyers to remove the dead cap space. He said it’s important to rid of this for their timeline of the rebuild. Moreover, he said it will give them critical decisions that they need to get right. It appears from this statement that no one will be bought out.
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“I do think that if you’re looking further down the line, that is where we’re going to start to have some real key decisions to make. We have to get them right,” Jones said. “There’s no room for error on whatever players we add to the mix in a couple of years. Those are things that we have to pay a lot of attention to right now. And that’s something that we’re really focused on. Some of that is growth from within, some of our younger players, and whoever we draft with the two first round picks we have this year, and then the multiple first round picks next year. That’s going to be key. At the same time, the removal of money off the cap, the dead money, is something that we’re going to be able to use to our benefit, as long as we do everything right here and make sure that this is a place that people want to play. It’s really important for us to get that message out.”
Jones wants the Flyers to be ensure that this is a destination spot for free agents when they do decide to spend some of the cap space they will be afforded in the coming year(s). In the same token, Jones did admit that the Flyers played down to their competition towards the latter parts of the season. He said it’s something that they just have to learn from, do not take any team for granted in the NHL.
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Jones was emphatic as he talked about Michkov, but in reality, he knows he may not be able to come over to North America for the 2024-25 season, “Yeah, it really doesn’t affect it because, when we drafted him, the expectation was that he would finish his contract with SKA. We are listening, as well as reading many of your articles, and kind of following along. We have no update on it,” Jones said. “We would welcome him with welcome arms. We absolutely love what he is going to bring to the Flyers. If that timeline is sped up, that would be wonderful, but we don’t know. We will watch along closely like you guys are as well, and when he arrives, our fanbase is going to be pretty excited about getting a highly talented player that is different then what we have right now. I think our fans are looking forward to that, for sure.”
“When he arrives, our fanbase is going to be pretty excited about getting a highly talented player that is different then what we have right now. I think our fans are looking forward to that, for sure.” – Keith Jones said at his presser in June
