Holy crap, this came out of nowhere. I just didn’t expect either of these things to happen. Sure, the Flyers are horrible this year, but it didn’t seem like either would be in trouble. And Clarke wasn’t, from what he said at the press conference. He did it on his own 10 days ago, saying he was just too burnt out and was hurting the team by staying on as GM. Hitchcock WAS fired though, and it was done by Ed Snider. Snider just thought a change was needed, even though Hitch is a good coach.
Simply a huge move, and where do the Flyers go from here? Paul Holmgren is the new interim GM and John Stevens is the new permanent head coach. I feel for Clarke. The guy bled Flyers, they were in the playoffs almost every year under him, and he tried everything he could to get them over the hump. They never won a Cup under him, but they were a consistently good team, and had some great playoff runs. In the end, the team was better having him lead the way the past 12 years.
Whoa. I’m not really a fan of Bobby Clarke, but this is a surprise. The Flyers need to make changes to their lineup if they want to make the playoffs. Hitchcock is a good coach, but I don’t think he’ll be behind a bench for a while now.
About DAMN time!
Thank god Clarke is gone!! I feel bad for Hitch–nice guy, but it was time for a change. Time to turn the season around!!