The Philadelphia Flyers officially announced that the organization has hired Keith Jones as the new President of Hockey Operations and Daniel Briere was officially named the new general manager of the team with the interim tag removed. The news confirms that the Flyers have essentially stayed in-house as the franchise moves forward with its future. Jones worked Flyers’ broadcasts for years and Briere was already working in management for the team.
The team is taking some criticism for the decision, but the Brian Smith of NHL.com noted in a statement about the hires: “Criticism is out there that the Flyers have again hired two former players to run their hockey operations. “The reality is that such a status is merely semantics.” They added, “When it comes to working connections to the Flyers hockey operations of the past, they are minimal for Briere and non-existent for Jones aside from anecdotal relationships.”
Briere was already with the team and while he’s never been a full-time general manager before, and Jones has never worked as the President of any NHL organization, the Flyers are going in on Briere to make all major hockey decisions and that Jones was the right guy to support that vision and give opinions.
It will be interesting to see how the management structure will fit together, but early reports are that this will be a non-traditional arrangement. The idea here is that everyone in their executive roles will collaborate versus work as people who have seniority over others. In other words, Jones will not necessarily be Briere’s boss. Instead, he’ll be more of an equal, with Briere having a ton of power in all hockey operations decisions. The Flyers also announced head coach John Tortorella will “provide input on various management topics.”
The question people will ask now is if this is a good idea. Is it wise for a team that has struggled over the past few seasons to go with such inexperienced leaders? Jones has never been in this kind of role before. Briere is responsible for overturning this roster and he’s a new GM. Tortorella is emotional, at the best of times. Is this the best new leadership structure for the Flyers moving forward?
Jones spent the past 23 years as an analyst on Flyers broadcasts for numerous outlets, most recently with TNT. He’s well-liked and has a ton of contacts, including within the Flyers alumni, having played for the Flyers during his NHL career. He’s the kind of person who gets listened to when he expresses an opinion. But, how much power does he actually yield? Jones said he was honored and excited about the opportunity. He noted, “I consider the Philadelphia Flyers organization the gold standard of the NHL and professional sports. I’ve seen how this city and these fans can rally around their team and there is nothing that compares to that feeling.”
Will Sharing Power Among Three People Work?
Can all three people work together to steer the Flyers ship in the right direction? The Flyers are certainly comfortable knowing they’ve got three names that have previous ties to the organization running things, but will they see eye to eye on decisions? Who makes the final call and who is the ultimate decision-maker here? In other words, who reports to who?
The Flyers will hold a news conference Friday to explain the decision.
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