Photo Credit: The Flyers
Yesterday, the Flyers hired Patrick Sharp to a Senior Advisor role, who will report directly to Flyers’ General Manager Danny Briere. He will also be part of Player Development, as he became the fourth big time member in the Flyers Hockey Ops Department.
The four horsemen era now begins in Philadelphia with the likes of Keith Jones, Danny Briere, John Tortorella, and Sharp. Not the WCW version of the four horsemen that featured Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, or Tully Blanchard.
Keith Jones
Keith Jones officially became the new President of hockey operations last Friday for the Philadelphia Flyers. He has a clean slate and a fresh new look, the “New Era of Orange” is upon us in the Fall.
With the NHL Draft slated for Wednesday June 28th and Thursday June 29th, Jones will be taking part in his first NHL Draft as President of the orange and black. This is a draft that is top heavy with Forwards for once, and when I say top heavy it’s hard to envision multiple defenseman being selected within the top 7 picks. Matvei Michkov is a shoo-in, and he could be a top three selection if it weren’t for geographical or political reasons. But, it’s hard to envision David Reinbacher or Axel Sandin Pellikka being selected with the 7th pick by the Flyers.
Jones was filmed talking with a good reporter in Frank Seravalli, and he stated “The blue line, to me is the most important thing. We want to have a really advanced back end.” I’m actually not surprised to hear these words, as I’ve been indicating in some of my articles for the past month or so a proper rebuild is building from the net out. Can it be done? Will that remains to be seen, but it appears the Flyers are headed in a good direction with Jones at the helm.
“We know you’re gonna do a great job in Philadelphia. I know Mr. Snider’s looking down and he knows he’s got the right guy to do that job. Good luck to you, Jonesy” – The “Great One” Wayne Gretzky said to Jones last night on the broadcast when the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup
John Tortorella
Look at what John Tortorella brings to the table, “It’s the f..kin Philadelphia Flyers. The first time I went over the Walt Whitman Bridge, I’ve been stuck here in Voorhees, it’s f..kin Philly. I got so f..kin excited.” – John Tortorella
If this can’t pump up a team, I don’t know what will. The quote above reminds me of Herb Brooks talking to his American team before playing the Russian team “Tonight is your night, there night is done,” and the rest is history. Tortorella gets it, and he’s trying to build a connection with the fanbase of Philadelphia. The Flyers hired a former Stanley Cup winning Head Coach John Tortorella to a four year deal, worth $16 million. Some forget he won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning back in the 2003-04 season. Tortorella is known to be a hard-nosed coach, who commands the most from his players. He is not afraid of benching or calling out star studded players either. This was one reason why the majority of the Flyers team reported early for training camp last season. They knew it was going to be grueling, they know it was going to be a very “Difficult Camp” as John Tortorella said earlier that offseason.
A difficult camp is what transpired, and the team really played their butts off night in and night out. They made no excuses, as they became tougher to play against. The lack of success was due to the lack of overall high-end talent, it had nothing to do with a lack of effort.
Danny Briere
Onto Danny Briere. The term “Rebuild” was not allowed to be used from the prior regime of the Flyers front office. From the former Board of Governor Dave Scott on down, the word “Rebuild” was like a curse word that wasn’t allowed to be used.
Enter Danny Briere, he has collaborated to repair the relationship between the front office and fans. In doing so, he throws the word “Rebuild” around like water.
The good thing is he has shown good faith that this is indeed a rebuild with trading Ivan Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets last week. Yes one trade, one trade has made good on that promise that the Flyers are enduring a rebuild. Now it’s time for Briere and company to finish the job.
Briere has little to no experience at the NHL level as an exec, but he is all too familiar with how to build a successful team through a proper rebuild, “From the time I started playing, I always saw myself more in the management role than a coach. I was always more interested in how teams were being built,” Briere said. “I probably started that when I was with Buffalo, Darcy Regier had an influence. Then I came here and saw how Paul Holmgren was building his team throughout my stay here. Then I went to Montreal with Marc Bergevin, followed there and we got to the Conference Final. I saw how Joe Sakic started his rebuild in Colorado. I was there early on when, probably the second year, maybe, of his rebuild, so I saw how he was doing it. I’ve always been studying that. That’s always an area that I was passionate about.”
Briere continues, “I was not doing it expecting to be a GM one day, but that was certainly something that I hoped that one day I’d have the chance to build my own team.”
Communication is one key to keeping the fans on your side. In the end, it’s still too far early to tell if this will improve, but he is off to a good start towards building that relationship, “We’ve said it before, I don’t want people around me that are just yes-men or yes-women. It’s including everybody. I want different opinions,” Briere said. “I want people to bring their own vision, and we’ll come up with the right answer.”
“With this leadership group in place, we’re going to do this right and together. If there’s one message that I want to send out today, especially to our most loyal fans, is that you have my full attention. It’s been an incredible honor to serve the last two months as the GM of the team, and the fact of the matter is that it’s only made me hungrier to turn this thing around. We are on our way already, and I consider it my highest duty to rebuild and restore this team to it’s winning ways for years to come. Thank you, and I look forward to this summer and the start of a new Flyers era. Thank you.”
Patrick Sharp
The Flyers hired Patrick Sharp as a Senior Advisor and he will report directly to Danny Briere. In this role he will, “Report directly to Briere and will be involved in all aspects of the club’s hockey operations department with a strong focus on player development with Flyers prospects,” according to the Flyers official press release.
“Patrick knows what it takes to win, he understands how to convey that to our players and is a relationship maker. He will be a vital component as we continue to build the foundation of the Philadelphia Flyers,” Keith Jones said after hiring Sharp in a Senior Advisor role
“I am proud to announce the addition of Patrick Sharp to our hockey operations team,” said Flyers’ General Manager Danny Briere. “Patrick is a well-established veteran on-and-off the ice and his incomparable hockey knowledge will be a valuable asset to our organization and young prospects.”
Now it’s time for the four horsemen to get dirty and busy from now until the draft. How this will end is anyone’s guess, but it’s refreshing to hear these words by the Flyers top echelon. It’s a bit different from year’s past, but actions speak louder than words. Now it’s time for the team to go out and perform to the best of their abilities.
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Hey… add one more advisor… The Flyers will have their own version of the Marx Brothers. Real possibility
How can you rebuild your team when your management supports School teachers dividing children and their parents. Getting children on hormone therapy leading to mutilating the sexual organs of a child. As long as this is your mission statement your team will be nothing but a pile of crap. The flyers management has to first get out into the world and experience some reality and stop living in a fantasy media world we’re 99% of us do not exist.
Being a lifelong flyers fan, I still have not been able to venture out to a game. The FBI has never informed the public that they have apprehended the terrorists that were burning down our cities and assaulting our citizens hopefully with your influence you could get the FBI to bring this information to the public, so we could breathe a little easier, and feel safe going to a flyers game.