I was beginning to doubt what GM Bobby Clarke and head guy Ed Snider were saying about \u201ctaking care of\u201d Head Coach Ken Hitchcock. He\u2019s a good coach and he\u2019s outlasted several others when the ownership used to blame the coach whenever the Flyers failed to make it to the Stanley Cup after 1997. When they brought \u2018Hitch\u2019 aboard, they (Snider and Clarke) made it clear to the players that any further failures will rest clearly on the shoulders of the team and trades will happen before Hitchcock would be fired. Now he has received a new three-year contract which is awesome. He will be able to continue grooming the promising young talent (Umberger, Richards, Carter, Meyer, Eager, Picard, etc.) into a real Cup contender in the near future because it isn\u2019t going to happen this season. Meanwhile, it will keep the more disagreeable players from being uncooperative (Hatcher, Rathje, Forsberg, Nedved and sadly, Gagne now that he was a 47-goal scorer) since a coach with an uncertain future is easier to can than trading away or buying out a player\u2019s $5 million\/season contract. From what I\u2019ve read he’s demanding and tough in private, so many of the more famous players would rather not play under his guidance; it was rumored to be one reason why John LeClair wouldn\u2019t go to Dallas back in the Nineties and there\u2019s no love lost from Brett Hull. I have to side with this coach. Ken Hitchcock may only have one Stanley Cup, but he is one of the few coaches to have 300+ wins in such a brief time. He does it by getting results too. He\u2019ll need a miracle with the horrible defensemen Clarke got him though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was beginning to doubt what GM Bobby Clarke and head guy Ed Snider were saying about \u201ctaking care of\u201d Head Coach Ken Hitchcock. He\u2019s a good coach and he\u2019s outlasted several others when the ownership used to blame the … Continue reading