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Has Time Passed Mr. Snider By?
By Joe Boland
As the Flyers and Sixers continue to struggle, one might look at what the similarities are between the two teams. The most obvious is that Ed Snider is the chairman of both teams.
Mr. Snider is a man known for his loyalty to both his organizations and the men he puts in charge to operate them; the most recent being Billy King and Paul Holmgren, the general managers of the Sixers and Flyers, respectively. That’s a pretty redeeming quality in today’s world of sports, one that seems to be the exception rather than the norm.
And while loyalty is an admirable trait, maybe it is Snider’s downfall. With his teams sitting at the bottom of the standings in their respective leagues (the Flyers have the worst record in the NHL and the Sixers the third worst in the NBA), it is evident something is wrong. It just may start with The Chairman’s blind loyalty.
Ask 76ers fans what the biggest problem with the team is and you’ll most likely hear one answer more than any other: “Billy King.” He’s not respected by the fans, ridiculed by local talk radio and even questioned by national columnists.
During his tenure as GM of the Sixers, he has had miserable drafts that included taking Larry Hughes (when Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce were still available), Speedy Claxton Samuel Dalembert and Jiri Welsch all in the first round. King has also obscenely overpaid players such as Kenny Thomas, Brian Skinner, Samuel Dalembert and the one-dimensional Kyle Korver. Then there was the whole Chris Webber debacle that looked great on paper but turned into a disaster.
All of these moves, among others, have put the Sixers in the dreadful state they’re in now, and all have been done with King as general manager. Still, Snider has given no indication that King’s job is in jeopardy. His loyalty is allowing a man with a horrible tract record continue to keep his job, running the Sixers into the ground.
Mr. Snider’s loyalty to King isn’t the only loyal act that has hamstrung the franchise. He showed the same faith in Larry Brown during his tenure as coach, allowing Brown to trade hard-working George Lynch for the overweight, underachieving Derrick Coleman. He gave Brown too much input into drafts, and his respect for the great job Brown did at molding the Sixers into a winning franchise (which Brown did) led Snider to allow Brown to leave without receiving any compensation. This loyalty to Brown and King has left the 76ers in complete disarray.
The Flyers, Mr. Snider’s baby, have been one of the most successful, profitable franchises in the NHL. They’re his creation, the thing he holds dearest. And while Snider has done a fabulous job over the years, his loyalty to former general manager Bobby Clarke (the current senior vice president of the club) and his successor, Paul Holmgren, has withered the once proud franchise to the worst in all of hockey.
Whether right or wrong, Snider always stood behind Clarke’s decisions during his tenure as GM. Clarke made some great moves, most notably stealing John LeClair and Eric Desjardins, and some horrible ones like the Chris Gratton signing. Still, Clarke tried. If he failed, no worry, the Flyers could always go out and sign some big names to fix the problem.
But as times changed, Snider kept his blind faith in Clarke. When the NHL came back from its hiatus, it seemed as though Clarke had a plan. He signed big defensemen Mike Rathje and Derian Hatcher and brought in arguably the best player in the world in Peter Forsberg. Things looked great, and the Flyers rolled…at first. Then, as the season went on the rule changes continued to be enforced, the Flyers looked old, slow and not very good.
They got routed by Buffalo in the first round of the playoffs. It was clear Clarke needed to rethink his old mold of building a big, bruising team. The Flyers needed to get some quick, puck-moving defensemen and more speed upfront. Instead, they let their best defenseman, Kim Johnsson, go. They stayed big and slow on the back line, and didn’t sign any key players upfront. Forsberg continued to get hurt and have skate problems. Clarke did nothing about it.
Then Clarke stepped down and Snider replaced him with his protégé, Paul Holmgren. It’s too early to say whether Holmgren has done a good job or not, but the loyalty shown to Clarke is a questionable one. By replacing Clarke with a man who learned everything he knows about being a general manager from Clarke, it could lead to the same old same old. That would be horrible news for the Flyers.
I did like the move to bring in Alexei Zhitnik, a great skater who is excellent at the moving puck. But if he has the mindset of Bobby Clarke, the Flyers might be at the bottom of the standings for a while.
In today’s sports landscape, loyalty is a rare trait. Maybe someone should tell Mr. Snider there’s a reason for that.
For more Philadelphia Flyers and Sixers news check out PhillySportsline.com
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