Will Keith Jones Thrive Overseeing The Flyers?
Will the new era of orange stink like the last shade did? The Flyers are under new management, it’s just hard to be optimistic that anything is going to change. When searching for a new leader of your hockey operations, was hiring the color commentator really the best possible option? Does Keith Jones have what it takes to thrive with the Flyers?
If you watch the opening press conference, a lot of things really stand out here.
A: John Tortorella is going to have a big seat at the table. I’m not sure that’s a good thing. This is a team that needs to go through a full-scale rebuild. Is Torts going to agree with that or will he get in the way and try to bring in vets? Will he let the young players go through growing pains or just bench everyone?
I’m not sure Torts needs to be an NHL head coach either. He’s totally stale offensively (Philly ranked 29th in shots last year). Unless the Flyers are playing 4D chess and building in defensive habits now so they’re ready to go when a real head coach takes over three years from now, Torts doesn’t make sense in the building. He also shouldn’t have any say in personnel.
B: What is the power dynamic between Jones and Daniel Briere? Who has say over who? Is either guy qualified to identify talent?
The part I don’t get is that Jones is still involved in the TNT broadcast for the 2023 NHL Playoffs. Doesn’t he have things to do? This roster needs to be overturned. Why is the priority spending time still doing media? Is Jones really just a face to the operation while Briere does all the hard work behind the scenes? It’s starting to feel like that. If so, why is Jones even involved? He could have done that while still in the media.
We’re going to find out really quick if the Keith Jones led front office has staying power. Will the Flyers do the right thing and acquire meaningful pieces for a future contender? This team has a lot of work to do and if it fails, it’s going to look like such an obvious mistake. You couldn’t hire a better guy than the color commentator? The Philadelphia Flyers are totally irrelevant right now so the bar is low. I’m just not sure the right people are in charge to get this thing back on the rails.
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